WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
Hiding from the truth. Or, perhaps, attempting to hide from a questionable past, filled with questionable deeds, even if chosen for seemingly legitimate purposes. Yet, whether it be days, weeks, months, or years, more often than not, the past catches up with a vengeance. For one enigmatic woman, Vidya Sinha (Vidya Balan), life has been anything but normal. Finally having settled into the semblance of a life with her now teen daughter Mini (Tunisha Sharma), who lives in a crippled, wheelchair-bound state from an undisclosed accident, Vidya tries her best to control the precocious young girl while earning a living via a local office job. But, things change for the worse when Mini is inexplicably kidnapped.
Frantic to locate her daughter and discover who her unknown captor is, Vidya experiences her own unforeseen and drastic experience that puts her out of commission. With this event having attracted the attention of newly arrived Sub-Inspector Inderjeet Singh (Arjun Rampal), he begins digging into the case when circumstances place a much higher priority to do so when first seeing Vidya. As a greater mystery starts to unfold through reading Vidya’s diary, a tangled web of deception, hidden identity, the true background of a then child Mini (Naisha Khanna) involving her uncle, Mohit Dewan (Jugal Hansraj), plus actions then taken by Vidya, paint a grander picture of murder, revenge, and choices that will impact everyone touched by this tragic yet ultimately hopeful tale.
Next, my Mind:
Not specifically a direct sequel to the 2012 effort “Kahaani” but rather a continuation of the overall series, writer/director/producer Sujoy Ghosh’s newest entry packs an emotionally charged and intensely dramatic punch, wrapping the viewer up in the complexities of facing one’s past mistakes while also showing the willingness to fight for what’s fundamentally right for the sake of another. With no shying away from a very potent, highly sobering primary theme which underscores the other events depicted, the film’s well-planned out pacing and thriller-infused writing keeps the viewer guessing the whole way through to a tension-laden finale sure to invoke shock and awe. Crisp cinematography provides solid visual stimulus, and the plights of each principal character are ones that you become fully invested in as the narrative pushes forward.
Balan simply excels here, bringing to bear the full range of her acting prowess in delivering the character of Vidya with a passionate, committed, spirited performance sure to draw at least some attention come awards time. The veteran actress embodies every fiber of a woman desperate to save her daughter, who will do anything to accomplish it, and whose reliance on an unexpected ally only adds more potency to the character’s fate. Rampal also presents well with his role as Singh, a man driven be the dogged determination to discover the real story behind Vidya’s actual identity, her daughter Mini, and the circumstances that lead them to the dilemma they find themselves in, all while battling against his own department and strained marriage to stay the course and see true justice done. Khanna and Sharma each play their specific enactments of Mini solidly here, though Khanna’s younger Mini has a bigger amount of screen time and is seriously affecting throughout.
Hansraj’s Mohit is well-played, giving us yet another kind of villain we very much want to see get his, given his character’s portrayed proclivities. Overall, “Kahaani 2” is a fantastic addition to what has already been a banner year for Bollywood cinema as a whole, and more than a worthy effort to be included among the other films in the dramatic thriller genre. It is the ongoing signal that Bollywood has seriously grown up and will not be fading into the background anytime soon.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
