Kadak Singh

Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury's movies are famous for their family dramas. This is the first time I have seen any of his thriller movies. But the thriller did not go well.

The first reason is that thrillers have a pace that is missing here. The director has lost the momentum of the movie by giving more importance to the acting. The second reason is that the ending of the movie is very predictable. The last scene is similar to Sharadindu Banerjee's writing.

Pankaj Tripathi's acting is good but doesn't quite go with the character. Jaya Ahsan's performance was very short. Comparatively Sanjana and Parvaty's performances deserve praise.

Two songs in the movie are very good with Shantanu Maitra's music. Arghyakamal Mitra's work is good in this movie like all movies.

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.

• Every cast in the movie is good except Sanjana Sanghi. She does not looks natural in her role, either its presence of senior actors or lack of acting experience but she was the only missing link in the movie in my opinion.

• Overall movie is around a series of incidents which the director has tried to show with different angels which makes movie a bit slow. The film actually picks pace in last 25-30 minutes, although the climax is not very satisfactory and looks like last minute effort to complete the film anyhow.

• Basic plot is fine but film lack the gripping factors or one can say it lacks sharp edges. Pankaj tripathi is a great actor but you cant give burden of whole movie on actors, usually 50% good story and 50% good acting performance makes great movies but in this film the maximum dependency is on actors and not on story.

• Last point may not be important for everyone its just my view and I am writing for my satisfaction. After watching the movie I searched for the director name and got to know that this is the same guy who directed the movie 'Lost' starring Yami Gautam. I had great initial hopes for that movie too but that film also turned out to be a last minute touch-up film with missing gripping story line. That movie was also based on Kolkata background but lacked the charisma.

Conclusion- It can be watched one time, its not all bad as a product. But you'll feel bad that great actor like Pankaj and Parvathy were not put to good use. Movie opens with good premise but it starts loosing it's grip as it progesses. This film is not worth the hype.

Are you a cinephile like me who has, at some point or another, rewritten/reshot/recut a movie in your head right after watching it? If you are, you'd probably do the same after watching "Kadak Singh" too.

Even with an acclaimed director, an award-winning editor and a talented BGM composer working on this film, I fail to comprehend how a story with such potential could go so wrong on screen. We could've had a taut, darkly humorous thriller made up of a plethora of mysterious and intriguing characters (played by great actors) had the narrative and the editing allowed the same.

Disappointing. Frustrating.

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.