Kahaani (2012)

A pregnant woman's search for her missing husband takes her from London to Kolkata, but everyone she questions denies having ever met her husband.

Director:

Sujoy Ghosh

Writers:

Sujoy Ghosh (screenplay), Sujoy Ghosh (story),

Stars:

Vidya Balan, Parambrata Chatterjee, Dhritiman Chatterjee

5 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Vidya Balan	...	Vidya Venkatesan-Bagchi
Parambrata Chatterjee	...	Inspector Satyaki Sinha aka Rana (as Parambrata Chattopadhyay)
Dhritiman Chatterjee	...	Bhaskaran
Saswata Chatterjee	...	Bob Biswas
Indraneil Sengupta	...	Arnab Bagchi / Milan Damji
Nawazuddin Siddiqui	...	Mr. Khan
Darshan Jariwala	...	Retd. Colonel Bajpai
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sk. Azad Ahmed	...	Drunk at Monalisa
Masood Akhtar	...	Rasik Tyagi
Mohd. Faiz Alam	...	Bob's Boss
Roshni Ali	...	Student
Anindya Banerjee	...	Bimal
Kamalika Banerjee	...	Receptionist
Dibyendu Bardhan	...	Police Inspector
Paresh Bhowmick	...	Drunk at Monalisa (as Paresh Bhowmik)

Storyline

Kolkata is abuzz with the preparations for the annual Durga Puja festival, as seven months pregnant Vidya Bagchi steps off the airplane from London. Her first stop is the local police station to file a missing person report. Weeks ago, her husband Arnab arrived in India for a job assignment. The first two weeks, they talked daily on the phone, and then without explanation, his calls stopped. Everywhere Vidya turns, no one can remember Arnab. There is no trace of him at the guest house or his workplace. But Vidya will not give up her search. Somewhere in Kolkata she will discover the dangerous truth.

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Plot Keywords:

kolkata | missing husband | pregnant woman | actress shares first name with character | terrorism | 

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Taglines:

A mother of a story

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi Bengali

Release Date:

9 March 2012 (India)

Also Known As:

Story

Filming Locations:

Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Company Credits

Production Co:

Boundscript, Pen Movies

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Saswata Chatterjee (Bob Biswas) used to play the character of "Topshe" in the Bengali TV adaptations of the "Feluda" until 2001. Parambrata Chatterjee (who plays Inspector Satyaki Sinha/Rana) replaced him on 2003 and since then he plays the role in four Bengali movie adaptations.

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Goofs

At her first visit to the Police station,Vidya Bagchi avoids signing the Missing Person Report she just filed. But according to the Law, one who is filing the missing person report/FIR must sign the report else the report is of no use.

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Connections

References Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Kahaani"
Music by Vishal Dadlani & Shekhar Ravjiani
Performed by Shreya Ghoshal & Vishal Dadlani

User Reviews

A rare combination of performance, script, direction, and aesthetics that will leave you stunned

Leave your bag of popcorn outside the theater. You would honestly not have the time to crunch it as you watch this fantastic film with bated breath. For Kahaani is a ride so thrilling, your mind would be tripping with a million possibilities, even as your tongue invariably ends up either tied, or hanging in the air with anticipation.

Kahaani is essentially the story of a heavily pregnant London based Tamil woman's search for her missing Bengali husband in Kolkata, underplayed exuberantly by Vidya Balan. The supporting cast comprises of a helpful cop Parambrata, a selfish detective - Siddiqui, an eccentric life insurance agent - Saswata, and a bhadralok Police officer - Khwaraj, and last but not the least, of a 300+ year old city

• Kolkata seeped in the throes of celebrating the mother of all

festivals - Durga Puja.

The film unfolds like the pages of a gripping novel by Agatha Christie or Sherlock Holmes and is shot like that of an Alfred Hitchcock or a Satyajit Ray. Using real people, places, and situations to underline the nuances of the story is a task that's handled brilliantly by director Sujoy Ghosh (also the co writer) whose recent claim to shame - an abysmal Aladdin, or a horrendous Home Delivery shall soon be forgotten just as Madhur Bhandarkar's debut dud was.

In addition to the sterling performances and the plot is the terrific technical support. Be it Amitabh Bacchan's rendition of Tagore's 'Ekla Chalo Re', the background songs (mostly of RD Burman), playing innocently as the characters travel the length and breadth of the city, the costumes by Sabyasachi, the 'just right and yet dramatic' background score, the non-condescending cinematography that captures the city as if it were a character, and the supreme screenplay with a spattering of real Bengali, act as just the right spices to turn this into a delicious dish, that's both exotic as well as commonplace.

Watch this film to experience something so satiating, you would surely ask for more (a rare for a thriller!). I give this a 10/10 not just because this is one of the best thrillers ever made in India, but definitely one of the best films to have ever come out of Bollywood. Kudos to the whole team! Trust me! Ami Sotthi Bolcchi!

P.S: Please do not discuss the story with anyone else, unless they have watched this film.