MOVIE ANALYSIS

THE MOVIE -“KAHAANI”

          Done by

RESHU AGARWAL

INTRODUCTION

Kahaani is a classic action thriller directed, co-written and co-produced by Sujoy Ghosh. It has been shot extensively across the nooks and crannies of Kolkata. It was released worldwide on 9 March in 2012. The film features Vidya Balan, Parambrata Chatterjee and Nawazuddin in lead roles. Balan portrays the role of Vidya Bagchi, a pregnant woman in search of her missing husband in the city of Kolkata during the Durga Puja festivities, who is helped in her quest by Satyaki "Rana" Sinha (Chatterjee) and Khan (Siddiqui).

SCENE

The scene that I have chosen is the climax where, Vidya goes to meet Damji, with Rana and Khan in pursuit. During their negotiations about the documents and the whereabouts of her husband, Damji attacks Vidya hitting her in the abdomen. He points his gun at Vidya to kill her, but is thwarted by the prosthetic abdomen which Vidya has been using to fake her pregnancy. She kills a baffled Damji and flees into the crowd nearby before the arrival of police, leaving a thank-you note for Rana and a pen drive containing data from Sridhar's computer. Rana, based on several past incidences, deduces that no Vidya or Arnab Bagchi ever existed. It is she who has been using the police and the IB for her task. The data from the drive leads to Bhaskaran's arrest. Vidya is revealed as the widow of Arup Basu (Abir Chatterjee), an IB officer and a colleague of Damji, who was killed in the poison-gas attack. In her mission to take revenge of her husband's death, Vidya was helped by retired IB officer colonel Pratap Bajpayee (Darshan Jariwala), who suspected the involvement of one of the top IB officials in the attack.

ANALYSIS

The scene starts with the sound of dhols that is being played in Kolkata. The scene is shot through a close up and a panning shot. The sound of Dhol communicates to the audience the ongoing of the festive season i.e. the Durga Puja. In Kolkata Durga Puja is celebrated with a lot of zeal as it’s the main festival of the Bengali’s. The straight shot, close up shot, long shot and the angle shot is used to capture the entire scene of the celebration of Durga Puja. The idol of Durga ma was well decorated showing the authenticity of how the Indian women look in their traditional form. The entire scene is very vibrant and colorful. The use of the color red is symbolic as it conveys to the viewers the power and the boldness of the women. The shot used is mid shot. A high key lighting was used to create the feel of the location and to bring out the intensity of the festival mood.

Then in the scene Vidya is shown getting out of the car in a typical Bengali outfit. The scene is captured through a straight shot. The entire festival is captured through extreme long shot. Vidya’s movement is captured through a dolly shot. The sound of the Dhol and of the crowd that has come together to celebrate this occasion is non diegetic.

In the same scene point of view shot is used to capture Vidya’s view of the audience. The camera moves and captures the people of the crowd through an close up shot, dutch angle shot and oblique angle shot. Then Vidya’s hears a virtual voice and she follows it as this voice was the mystery she wanted to solve. Here again panning shot is used to capture Vidya’s movement.

The next scene shows us a shot where two shots are cleverly connected without letting the audience have a inconvenience. There is Vidya in one shot and Rana in another shot looking for Vidya. Vidya then meets Milan Damji in an empty street. Close up shot is used to capture the expressions of Vidya and Milan. The lighting is low. Milan and Vidya inquire about the documents and Vidya’s missing husband.  This shot is captured using reverse angle shot and oblique and dutch angle shot alternatively.

While their talks are on, Milan kicks Vidya on her abdomen and points a gun on her head. It is then that Vidya releases the prosthetic abdomen which she has been using in the entire movie to fake her pregnancy. This scene is the best part of the movie as the audiences are made aware of Vidya’s fake pregnancy which was least expected. This scene involves a lot of drama, emotions and suspense. The scene is captured through a few close up shots, low-angle and high angle shots. Vidya injures Milan by using a hair needle and eventually kills him by several gun shots. In this scene Vidya symbolizes the Durga ma who kills the evil through her weapon. Added to the action is the music where enhances the scene.

After killing Milan, Vidya flees into the crowd. She leaves a thank you note for Rana who has helped her throughout her mission. Along with the note she leaves the evidence in a pen drive containing data of people who were involved in the metro attack. Rana’s going through the envelope is shown through a point of view shot.

Rana recalls the previous incidences and figures out that there did not exist any Arnab Bagchi and any Vidya. He then realizes that Vidya has been taking help of the police to complete her mission.

The data from the drive leads to Bhaskaran's arrest. Vidya is revealed

as the widow of Arup Basu an IB officer and a colleague of Damji, who was killed in

the poison-gas attack. In her mission to take revenge of her husband's death, Vidya was

helped by retired IB officer colonel Pratap Bajpayee who suspected the involvement of

one of the top IB officials in the attack.

CONCLUSION

The screenplay, the cinematography and the performances of the lead actors are worth praising. The film has renewed interest in Kolkata as a filming location, and the character of contract killer Bob Biswas became an internet phenomenon in India. Ghosh has rightly employed the art of guerrilla filmmaking to avoid unwanted attention. There was use of several allusions to Satyajit Ray's films such as Charulata (1964) and Aranyer Dinratri (1970). Additionally the twist ending of the plot to the Hollywood film Taking Lives (2004). The film was also noted for a deft portrayal of Kolkata and use of a significant number of crew and cast members from the city. Though the crew members were beaten up, stripped and faced death threats by locals who were disturbed by a 'pregnant' Vidya Balan attracting attention on the roads of the city, the film managed to do excellent work grab the attention of the audience. Kahaani explores themes of feminism and motherhood in a male-dominated Indian society. The movie is an complete thriller. It builds the suspense and manages to maintain it till the end as a result of which the audience remains intact to their seats. The film has made a blockbuster hit and has won many awards.