All audience reviews of Kahaani 2

Kahaani 2 - Durga Rani Singh Movie Review by DC

So, this is the year of (Forced) Sequels to yesteryear's hits, Raaz Reboot, Rock On2, Force2, Tum Bin2, and Now Kahaani2, probably in an attempt to setup a Franchise just like Dhoom, Golmaal, Murder etc, but turning out to be completely forced and unnecessary. Kahaani2 is an entirely new plot with Just a couple of Actors from original kahaani in this one - Vidya Balan and Kharaj Mukherjee! So, in this race of Sequels, will kahaani emerge as a winner? Read More to find out..

Kahaani2 starts on a very promising note with First Scene setting the tempo. A Good Thriller should keep the Audience engaged while Layers are peeled one by one and then the climax should be Mind Boggling and for the first Half, Kahaani2 seems an absolute winner on the cards, as it keeps us guessing for the most part, with few subplots in parallel. Its the melodramatic second half and the quite Predictable Climax, that makes Kahaani2 lose out on a Great Opportunity. So, what could be another classic like original Kahaani, that had the Audience spellbound with fabulous Kolkata and then helluva shocker Climax, Kahaani2 remains only Good instead of Brilliant. The film has its loopholes, that you can notice on the go, unlike the first installment that was so fast paced and so many characters kept the Audience guessing till the end. kahaani2 loses out on lose script

For the performances, Vidya Balan like Kahaani, is the heart and soul of Kahaani2 as well, can be easily termed as a HERO of the film. Its kind of a comeback film for Vidya, who gave some mishits such as Bobby Jasoos and Hamari Adhoori Kahaani in between, and she doesn't disappoint. She makes good use of the opportunity and is spot on from start to finish. She might be nominated for her performance as its female oriented film and she leads it with confidence.

The other females, Naisha Khanna as Kid Minnie, Tunisha Sharma as young Minnie and Manini Chadha as Arjun Rampal's wife did good job in their respective roles.

For the male cast, Tota Roy Chowdhary was good in that small appearence. Jugal Hansraj is seen after a long time, and despite small role, he looked confident.

Arjun Rampal, is seen after Rock On2, and seriously had nothing much to do because of a poorly written character but he still makes good use of the opportunity and fits the bill. But, honestly, nothing special and clearly overshadowed by Vidya's Character and performance.

The man who stands out is Kharaj Mukherjee as Pranob Haldar (Played similar role in original kahaani) despite a small role. So Natural and makes you laugh with his punches. Superb!

A special mention and Applause for the director Sujoy Ghosh, who touched upon the Subject of Child Sex Abuse with such precision handling, that movie disturbs and haunts you more questions than answers. We have seen that in the past also with some small mentions in other films like Manorama - Six Feet Under, Highway, mardaani etc., but Kahaani2 pinches in right spot. Though with a better script, Sujoy could have weaved his Magic again, but falls short.

Overall, kahaani2 is a decent enough thriller to be given a Shot, now upto you if you want to watch it in theater for Vidya Balan and superb first half, or leave it for TV viewing.

My rating : 3/5 less

The movie under review began after the respect paid by the audience to the playing of the national anthem.
By and large Kahaani 2 is a film where women are both the protagonist and the antagonist.It focusses on sexual child abuse within the four walls of households,how do the elderly women themselves provide the cover,they have no remorse to call the girl child as a 'bad omen',they go to any end to 'eliminate ' the girl child as 'honour killings',there's a 'woman assassin's as well.Yet one tends to blame the patriarchal system for the maltreatment of women.
On the other extreme of the spectrum is a single mother who faces the system to protect her disabled daughter .
What's the plot? Durga Rani Singh( Vidya Balan) works in the office of a school.Besides office work,she has to ensure that all children are counted before they have left for their homes.She gets inquisitive about a 6 yr old girl student's reticent behaviour( Mini ,played by Naisha Khanna).In probing she learns that she's a victim of child abuse by her uncle( Jugal Hansraj,whose no Masoom herein).All attempts are made up to cover up,including allurements,threat,intimidation and attempts to eliminate her.But she stays firm.In a sequence the girl gets injured and gets paralysed waist below.
8 yrs have passed.The girl( Mini,played by Tunisha Sharma) has also grown up and is staying with her adopted mother ( Vidya Sinha ,again played by Vidya Balan).The trauma however continues.
The outlaw has now become the victim.How she meets the challenge,is rest of the story.
What are the positives?1.Mention of a crime ( child abuse) is contemporary,but shed under the carpet.2.There are several shades of women's characterisation( discussed in the first para).3.Vidya Balan has shone herself both as Durga and Vidya.4. The format of a thriller keeps one glued.5. Even whe she's no young ,Vidya catches the attention of three suitors at different ages.To me this is believable .6.The spoken word is simple and effective.7.The viewer definitely empathised both with the girl child and her mother.
The negatives? 1-The theme gets revealed as soon as the child utters 'mujhe raat bhar soney nahi dete'.2- Vidya survives a car crash which is severe.3-The cops are more interested in their promotion than investigating .4-Arjun Rampal( as the cop Inderjit Singh) is not as assertive .Partly because of knowing a character in the film( kept hidden in the review),partly because he himself has a family to card for and partly because of seeking promotion.
Wah kya Scene hai? The way Durga probes the child about her silence is well handled.No where it looks filmy.
Wah kya line hai? ' Woh zindagi kya jismey ummeed na ho'?
All in all.I would have preferred a court scene climax( a la Pink or Rustom) to shake the society of it's treatment meeted out to the girl child than shown in the film.
Just an observation.It seems that Vidya drew cash from the bank pre- demonetization.The bundle of currency withdrawn contained thousand rupees notes.
The film could pick up by word of mouth.Atleast the discerning must watch. less

The problem with sequels is that they set expectations way too high especially if the first movie was very good. Sujoy Ghosh has set himself an impossible task of pleasing the audience with Kahaani 2.

This time around we are now sharp and beady eyed and ready to look for clues in everything after the first a clue catches us unawares at the beginning of the movie. We are like detectives, suspicious of everyone and every move. The movie is a complying witness to our questioning unfortunately, providing us with answers willingly so that you can guess a lot of stuff easily. Luckily for us, he does manage to pop a few rabbits out of the hat which prevent the story from being totally predictable. I don't want to say anything about the story beyond what you have already read in the umpteen articles doing the rounds, more so because it is a suspense movie and I don't like spoilers.

The movie also deals with the issue of child abuse which is rampant in society and hits home the bitter truth that sexual abuse happens mostly inside the home and is perpetrated by people the child knows best. It is a sensitive topic and it is handled extremely delicately here. We need movies to bring such issues out of the closet and into open spaces for discussion if we have to get anywhere close to addressing them.

The cast delivers. Vidya in her deglamourized avatar is fantastic. She is vulnerable yet strong, fragile yet tensile and ready to take on any adversity for love. Arjun Rampal as the cop who doesn't get anywhere in his career because of his 'gut feel' but treats his life still as a bit of a joke is extremely likeable apart from looking great in a cop's uniform. Kharaj Mukherjee as his senior provides some light relief. Jugal Hansraj makes a good villain with his baby looks. Naisha Khanna as the young Minnie looks cute though is a bit wooden.

The music by Clinton Cerejo is outstanding. Mehram and Aur main Khush hoon are two tracks that are already on loop on my iPod. Wait for the end credits for his beautiful rendering of the famous Tagore song 'Anondo Loke'.

Kahani 2 is a decent watch. There isn't much mystery but the quick action makes up for that. It doesn't have the bells and whistles of the first one and so will disappoint you if you compare it to that. But go with a bit of short term memory loss on that account and you will enjoy this kahani. less

If you love mystery,suspense and intelligent thrillers. Throw everything else that you are doing and rush to the theater near you which is playing Kahaani 2. Like now. Before spoilers and spoilers in the garb of friends sms and whatsapp shares make your fun of this thriller lesser than what it can be.

Writing about a movie which is bad is tough ,what do you write about a movie which is in your face bad. Writing about a movie which is brilliantly executed is even more tough in comparison. Kahaani 2 belongs ,thankfully to the latter category.

Writing about this one is going to be tough because every scene that I can talk about here might be a spoiler for those who are going to watch it. I am still going to try.

First thing at the cost of sounding totally bombastic but I write it with a lot of conviction. Given Kahani,Te3n , the less celebrated Bang Bang (which he only wrote) and now Kahaani2 , Bollywood has found its Alfred Hitchcock in Sujoy Ghosh. This man is now the king of suspense by a big big margin.

Kahaani 2's biggest challenge was to live up to the brand promise of Kahaani and let me tell you with the glorious example of only Lage Raho Munnabhai ,this sequel is as good as the original.

The movie begins with such slow pace for the first 4-5 minutes that you actually get a feel that has Sujoy Ghosh lost it? Is he showing us a mother-daughter emotional cheesy drama in the garb of the thriller and suddenly , this will only be my spoiler in this review, the girl disappears. Here onwards you cannot take either your ears or eyes off the screen. Subtle clues are dropped by the director which if you work from the typical "least-suspected-is-the-villain" premise from thriller will make you go completely in the opposite direction of this suspense thrillers real plot. That leaves you with a smile on your face while walking out. Ghosh makes us love this movie more once it ends and you keep thinking of those clues.

The mother goes after her daughter and from there on one twist after the other keeps taking place. Arjun Rampal's cop Inder is a class act of restrained acting, the simmering energy and the sarcastic cop ,who is also a doting father and a loving husband is played with such balance by Rampal that you would want to hang those critics who found him wooden in his initial days.After Rockon and this one Arjun Rampal can one day look back at his career with some satisfaction.

The differentiating factor of Kahaani2 is that unlike its predecessor it's a story of justice and redemption. The way past of all the principal characters gets connected and how they come in touch with each other again is the biggest genius attribute of this plot.

Kahaani2 is also the story of actually how the goodness of human nature will prevail against all odds and how the loser is actually a winner. Emphatically told through the case of inspector Inder in the climax.

I could go on and on about the brilliance of the screenplay of Kahaani2. If there ever was a example of a screenplay which seemingly moves at fifth gear actually while giving you a feeling that this one is going at a third gear speed. Confused ? you will get my point when the last 5 minutes of this movie unfolds in front of you.

The other part of Kahaani 2 is the role reversal , in the original the cop friend of Bidya was more a side kick ,here the cop gets a more meaty role.In fact Bidya and Inder are the two pivotal characters of this movie.They never really interact much with each other but the connect between them that gets established through the diary is again a brilliant plot idea.

Often critics use a word for a bestseller where they call it unputdownable. For Kahaani that word could be "uneyesshiftable" from the screen once it starts.

Take a bow Sujoy Ghosh my Christmas will be bright just for this one from you. less

It was back in 2012 when the Bollywood junkies were gifted a gem of a thriller after a long time! The film gave us not just a top form Vidya Balan, but also brought Nawazuddin Siddique to the bigger picture. We are talking of Kahaani! And well however much one would want to watch Kahaani 2 without the shadow of its previous part, you just cannot completely do away with the baggage of expectation that it comes with!

But this movie will not just succesfully fulfil all your expectations, but will leave you feeling absolutely awesome. Because hey, Kahaani2 is simply a brilliant cinematic gem!

Let's first start with the fact that Kahaani 2 has nothing to do with Kahaani. It is a completely different story about a mother-daughter duo. Speaking any word more will have the risk of giving away even 1% of the story, so I will refrain from it!

For starters, this movie too is set in the locales of Bengal. This time it is the small town Chandannagar and the picteresque Kalimpong that the film has been shot extensively in. And it is this setting that helps set up the initial mood of the film.

The storyline gets through a number of twists and turns! And keeping up with the classic Sujoy Ghosh style of writing and direction, be sure to be surprised every moment. The storyline is taut, which will keep you hooked till the very end. The first half creates a perfect build-up. The second half gets a little diverted in one or two scenes, but you can easily pass them off.

The best part about the story is the edge of the seat suspense that will make your hair stand. And Sujoy Ghosh has used a very classical method to ease you even in this kind of movie- through comic relief. The comic elements are so seamlessly put togther in between the story that it will give you the much-needed momentary relief.

Talking of the cast, well Vidya gives one of her career best performance. She is absolutely brilliant as the strong headed, independent yet vulnerable mother who can go to any extent to protect her child! And she has mastered the body language to look convincing for the role, so much so that you will forget that you are watching Vidya act and will actually believe in the character.
Arjun Rampal plays a cop and he too slays it in the film. It has been long since we saw Arjun perform this brilliantly! You will never know till the end what he is really upto!
The actors of the side roles do justice to the film. But the best amongst them would definitely be Naisha Khanna who plays the kid Minnie. Harshali Malhotra, you have a competition!

Another big aspect of the film is the music. It is the background music that does a lot in building the suspense. The songs are blended in the film and perfectly timed. They are soft and easy on the ears! Also the film ends with a rabindrasangeet!

There is also a very important issue that the film deals with. This movie is definitely one of the best thrillers made this year, and you should not miss this one! less