User reviews

Kaagaz is a biographical drama about a man who was declared dead in Government records, and it took him 19 years to prove that he's alive. So, you can see the story is very interesting.

It's completely a Pankaj Tripathi show, I can't think of anyone portraying this character expect Pankaj Tripathi. The chemistry of Monal Gajjar with Pankaj is delightful to watch. You should definitely watch the film for this interesting yet inspiring true story and of course for The Legend Pankaj Tripathi.

You can watch the film on ZEE5.

© MandalBros.

The performance of Pankaj Tripathi is phenomenal as expected. Over the duration of the movie you start to understand the pain one has to go through due to India's political & judicial system. There are scenes in the movie which literally gives you goosebumps when the background music play. Overall its a decent film to watch.

The story and direction is good but it gets better by acting of Pankaj Tripathi. The story grips you till end and the humor is perfect according to the situation. This movie is must watch.

Biopics are gaining popularity in Indian Cinema as it tells the true incident of a person or event portrayed on the silver screen. Will Kaagaz live up to the hype surrounding the film ? Let us find out

Kaagaz is a true story of guts and glory of Lal Bihari who took 18 years to prove that he is alive officially. It takes nerve of steel to make biography of not-so-famous personality who took 18 years of his life to fight with Indian bureaucracy and prove that he is very much alive. Best known for his works in films like Tere Naam, Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai and Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain, Satish Kaushik could have made a fine comeback, only if the film could have been made without glitches.

The premises of Kaagaz is interesting especially when Lal Bihari (played by Pankaj Tripathi) finds out that his relatives have officially made him dead on the government paper to grab the piece of land under his name. Lal Bihari runs around the court, chasing government officials, lawyers and even bribes cop to have him arrested so that he can prove himself to be officially alive. Unfortunately, Kaagaz suffers from blemishes in writing, poor editing and unnecessary inclusion of songs.

While Kaagaz looked outdated in terms of production values and dialogues, the cinematography, background score and art direction was fine to give the realistic look of a village. Pankaj Tripathi is magnificent. The marvelous actor yet again proves that he can take on any roles with aplomb. He is probably one of the few actors who goes deep-diving into the any character. Other actors did fine job which included Monal Gajjar, Satish Kaushik, Mita Vashishth, Brijendra Kala, Amar Udhayay, Neha Chauhan.

Overall, Kaagaz could be watched once thanks to interesting story of brave Lal Bihari which was superbly played by Pankaj Tripathi. Decent 2.75/5

Kaagaz is currently streaming on Zee5 premium and is produced by Salman Khan under the banner of SKF films.

This is such an inspirational movie the actors pankaj tripati and monal gajjar are so good especially monal gajjar I loved her performance as an innocent supporting wife of Pankaj sir the movie shows how Pankaj never gives up even though he faces a lot of struggles in his life, speaking of monal gajjar I think she is the only one who can fit into this type of roles in Bollywood films

I am a fan of Pankaj Tripathi, so I watched it at 11Pm on its release. Good Story. Good acting by Pankaj Tripathi. Not as Masterclass due to loose story telling and old jokes.. One time watch.

Every one did a great job. Pankaj Tripathi always looks real in his character. We need to assume that we are in 80'S. it gives a great message to audiences.

Good movie to watch for especially the pankaj tripathi has given brilliant performance the movie is a masterpiece shot in uttar pradesh the story is based on true events.

Amazingly performed by Pankaj sir. Direction by satish kaushik. What a film!!! I loved both acting and direction plus naration of story but to make it 2 hrs movie many unnecessary drama was added. I think it losses it's thrill in mid of movie and boredom starts. Eventually you'll start having interest again but it ended so suddenly that the main events like forming an organization or participating in election were left unspoken. That could have added more fun and thrill to joy. Anyways the location of true india was amazing. Nothing much to say.. Go watch it!!! Thank you.

A much watch... enjoyed it throughly. What a acting by Pankaj. You are bless to watch. I would say one of the best talent in the Bollywood has ever produced.

It is a paradox that a piece of paper has the power to certify whether you are alive or dead. If the documents show that you are dead, it will not help even if you are standing hale and hearty in front of authority . Our protagonist , Pankaj Tripathi ( a simple villager with wife and kids ) has been declared dead by local authorities due to the manipulation of scheming relatives who have taken away his plot of land by saying that he has died.. His pleas to record his being alive don't work, and he desperately tries all methods to get himself declared alive. This includes trying to get arrested, getting a FIR against himself and even stand for election with humorous results for us .This however gets him more and more frustrated, but he remains determined as ever to prove he is alive. A simple entertaining film of the type Hrishikesh Mukherjee or Basu Chatterji used to make. No gimmicks of any type, a straight engrossing narrative with down to earth characters. All credit to director Satish Kaushik for his effort. This film is a one man show by Pankak Tripathi who is excellent and beautifully underplays the role. He could walk away with an award this year.

They wasted Pankaj Tripathi. Such good actors and great topic, but Satish Kaushik made a mess of it. The scenes lack continuity and depth. There is not one scene where characters are shown talking about the simple yet powerful issues the movie is targeting. You will feel regret watching this movie.

Based on a true story, Kaagaz is about a band master named Bharat Lal (Pankaj Tripathi), who realises that his cunning relatives *declared him dead on paper to grab his land illegally*.

The starts his struggle of 18 years to prove that he actually alive and not a dead man.

Pankaj Tripathi continues his winning streak in Satish Kaushik's heartwarming directorial.

Kaagaz is an entertaining and engaging watch. It is funny, heartwarming.

The movie had done best opening of 2021 for the audience.. The BGM of the movie is so good , authentic... All the thumb's up for the BGM

This was a Pankaj Tripathi show, but the other actors did a decent job in whatever limited screen-time they were given. The dialogues were pretty good too, taking a dig at the system without being in your face. The movie is more of a political satire and commentary on how the system only selectively works. It's not easy to tell 19 years' worth of struggles in a < 2 hour movie so you might find the pacing to be weird after a certain point if you're looking to pick mistakes. There were 3 songs (?) in the movie, that I thought were few too many but they didn't seem out-of-place and abrupt. I am surprised Akshay Kumar didn't make this biopic! LOL. He must be kicking himself and his team for not having thought of this story before Satish Kaushik and Salman Khan did. If you're a fan of Pankaj Tripathi's or like watching simple, down-to-earth stories every now and then, this might make it on to your list. It was decent, one time watch.

Really good subject. I never knew such frauds existed anywhere in the world through movies I've learned alot about the things that happen in india. Great performances and the film length is just right. Well paced comedy as well as sticking to the situation of the subject. Really enjoyed it.

Kaagaz review :

A biographical comedy drama on Lal Bihari - a poor farmer from small village in Uttar Pradesh - who was declared dead on official paper (or Kaagaz as the title goes) but he fought the corrupt system for 18 long years to get his name and self respect restored in the Govt. records.

Pankaj Tripathi, in the lead role, is outstanding. So is Monal Gajjar as his wife. Director Satish Kaushik, who also plays a pivotal character, has lend his film a nice comic touch even as he exposes the serious rot in our system where a greedy relative can bribe a Government official to declare Lal Bihari dead just to usurp his property. Later, Bihari forms a political party of all such "dead on paper" mrutaks and contests elections with help from his local constituency MLA. A perfectly cast Mita Vashisht, playing that role brilliantly, states in one scene "Raajneeti mein aise bakre paalne padte hain taaki sahi waqt pe unki qurbani di jaaye" So very true!!

Kaagaz has an uneven pace with an unnecessary item number tucked in; but it is a true story earnestly told. Most importantly, it has its dil and dimaag in the right place. I am glad a hardcore commercial star like Salman Khan has produced it. A parting note for his fans : Dont miss his noteworthy presence at beginning and end of the film.

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.

ABSOULATELY A GREAT INSPIRATIONAL MOVIE. PANKAJ TRIPATHI NEED AN OSCAR FOR BEST ACTOR DEBUT.SATISH KAUSHIK AND OTHER FOR CRITICISING THE EFFORT.🙏🙏🙏

Its good to see this movie to understand that such realities also exist in this society. However the story telling has not been done with coviction. The entire movie has been made in such a way as if now newbies have worked on the project.

In the actiing space the actions didnt do justice to their roles. Satish Kaushiks direction remains below par and hence the acting of the actors as well. This movie could have been made a masterpiece with its real life story

Kaagaz is an enjoyable and important film, held together by its largely assured direction and by Tripathi, one of contemporary Bollywood's finest actors...... Thanks Salman Bhai For Producing Such Good Films.

We all knew what's in the movie by trailors - watching full movie dint added up much to it. No doubt that actors were good, story was good but how story was told seems to be in rush. The plot dint build up, things were understood and dialogues weren't impressive to match up with the expections. Songs seems to be unnecessary and goons/biggies/politician's role was typical cliche. Movie couldn't develope on viewer as direction seems to be in some kind of rush.

Bollywood hardly takes up new subjects, but when they do..they should do justice to the same..even though the movie is based on real incidents, but hardly comes close to living up to reality on screen... unnecessary songs, not catching the real dialect of the region... Village life in Bollywood means bihari accent, which clearly reflects the lack of research by the director.. Disappointing execution overall...Pankaj sir is the reason i watched this, but sad to say even he is being stereotypical in almost every movie being a humble gentleman, even when playing a gangster in Mirzapur..He needs to evolve and take up new type of challenging roles...maybe a little aggressive sometimes

Satish Kaushik's directorial Kaagaz has an extraordinary story that is presented in a simple way. The editing could have been tighter in the first half, the film can be easily trimmed short by a few minutes. The second half of the film has an engaging screenplay with impactful dialogues.

Pankaj Tripathi shines in his every role and his excellent performance makes Kaagaz worth a watch. Monal Gajjar and Satish Kaushik have quite justified their short roles. Other supporting casts are average in their part.

The film doesn't offer any scope for the music. Sandeepa Dhar's item song was completely unnecessary and other songs are just passable.

Direction 2.5/5 Acting 3.5/5 Dialogues 3/5 Story 3.5/5 Screenplay 2.5/5

Bharat Lal Mritak aka Pankaj Tripathy nailed this Role to be honest..Just to Say that it is the Finest example of The Circumstances faced by the Minor Community...Satish Kaushik and Sk combo Again did it To the perfection..The Songs are Ok "Jug Jug jiyo" gives Goosebumps... Overall you will Find it Interesting..A Must Watch