Kadak Singh

The good:

An intriguing premise and interesting treatment where the narrative cuts between the present and the past.

A superb sound track by Shantanu Moitra.

Good performances. Pankaj Tripathi who can do nothing wrong on screen shines as the central character. Parvathy Thiruvothu sparkles in an understated role as the omnipresent nurse. Jaya Ahsan brings her trademark grace and charm to elevate a relatively small role. Varun Buddhadev does a good job as the errant son.

The not so good:

There are way too many threads to be tied up and the director fails to make a neat job. The film could have done with more pace and sharper edits. Sanjana Sanghi flounders in some key emotive scenes.

The only reason I started watching the movie was because the lead actor is one of the few whose acting I respect.

The movie keeps you grasped till the end (not the Breaking Bad kind, but fairly) although the end was done all of the sudden. It felt like they went short of funds, or realised that its already reached two hours and needed to end :)

Pankaj Tripathi kept his promise and lead the movie decently, the script could definitely have been better. Thankfully it was not the Hero, Heroine, Romance, Villan kind (I usually don't watch the trailers of a movie).

Definitely one time watch, when you have time to kill.

Spoiler Alert: The film is based on chit fund scam and Pankaj Tripathi tries to solve it but looses his memory and then tries to recollect it by listening to various stories from everyone's perspective. Story and screenplay both are very weak. Sometimes you would be confused whether you are in present or in the past story of someone. How he solves in end is also not very convincing and abrupt. The scam could have been told in some more detail. Other actors have good role like Sanjana and Bengali actress but overall movie revolves around and is borne by AK Srivastava. Just a time pass watch nothing so great about this movie.

As usual amazing performance by Pankaj Tripathi. Jaya and Paresh were great too. Parvathy seemed a bit lost. She needs to do more research on her given character before accepting a role. Overall enjoyed watching this. Rating a solid 7.0.

Also rest of the cast was perfectly chosen for this. What a perfect vibe. The music was also great, with amazing lyrics, and great composition.. somewhat truly quoted "music is emotion" Through this song I hope we all feel it.. wish this song was a little longer .. Taba chake is just a unique gem.

I know this is not a big-budget movie, but utilized the available resources were well met.

This may have seemed like an interesting premise, but the execution is anything but. The actors, especially Tripathi and Thiruvothu who can both be relied upon to give us joy, are comprehensively let down.

The role that Pankaj Tripathi plays does not push him out of his comfort zone but he does just enough to hold the film together. The actors around him - Jaya Ahsan, Sanjana Sanghi, Dilip Shankar and Paresh Pahuja - have largely reactive roles, confined as they are to closed spaces physically and creatively. Not outright humdrum, Kadak Singh would have had far greater tensile energy had its edges been sharper.

The film's momentum picks up in the last half hour as it connects all the dots and Srivastava closes in on the main culprits of the financial scam and the mystery behind his colleague's suicide. But by then one may have already guessed some of the suspects in the game. However, on the whole 'Kadak Singh' does qualify as a decent one-time watch over the weekend.