Kaalakaandi: Short Film Review

The story of a night in Mumbai where parallel and completely different lives cross each other in a bizarre way, making us laugh at times, and wince at other times, but always pointing at the absurdity of life and the pointlessness of it all. 

A straight-jacketed nice guy dealing with the news of last-stage cancer, with a little help of the red pill (Saif). A young guy tempted to cheat on his wedding night with an ex-girlfriend (Akshay). A young couple preparing for the girl’s departure to study in the US, but getting caught up in a drug raid (Kunaal and Sobhita). A gangster’s side-kicks planning a coup to make fast money (Vijay ‘Dubeyji’ Raaz and Deepak ‘Pappiji’ Dobriyal)

All the makings of a great plot. And the movie starts with a lot of promise. Saif is brilliant, and he makes us laugh almost throughout the movie. But it’s not enough to save the movie from delivering an overall underwhelming experience. The plot builds up too slowly. The dialogues aren’t as funny as they should have been. And there is an overall missing cleverness to the parallel stories, as well as how they interconnect. As a result, we neither feel the darkness nor the comedy, in this attempted dark comedy. Kaalakaandi, apparently, is a phrase in Marathi that means ‘when everything goes disastrously wrong’. The experience of the movie, certainly feels that way.

I am not a big fan of comparing one movie with another, since I feel each movie has it’s own unique story to tell. But, in this case, I couldn’t help comparing it to others in this similar genre that had much more to offer. Go Goa Gone, again with Saif, was hilarious, and even though a copy of ‘Shaun of the Dead’, it offered a mindless laugh riot in a uniquely Indian way. More recently, Death in the Gunj, again struck a chord in the dark comedy genre, with its brooding and melancholy story-telling of adolescent pain. Even Finding Fanny had a story that kept you waiting for the end, with joy in the eccentric characters that are forced to come together in a car journey. 

But, of course, the biggest comparison, ironically, is with Kaalakaandi’s writer-director Akshat Verma’s first master piece, Delhi Belly in 2011. Of all the above movies, Delhi Belly, by far, is one of the funniest, coolest and trippiest movies of our time. And for that Akshat will be remembered forever. And so, it was actually a great idea to do the next movie as ‘Mumbai Madness’. But it misses the mark by a mile. May be Akshat, you need a good director to make your stories come alive in the way you visualised it. Remember, Delhi Belly had one ingredient that Kaalakaandi didn’t. Abhinay Deo, as the director.  

Saif says in a vulnerable moment in the movie ‘what was the point of it all’. And you can’t help but feel that way about the movie too. 

If you haven’t seen Delhi Belly, I’d say go and watch that. (my review of Delhi Belly in 2011, here http://books-booze-boxoffice.blogspot.in/2011/08/delhi-belly-2011.html). That’s what Kaalakaandi had the potential to be, but didn’t become. Alas! 

All The Money In The World: Short Film Review

What could you possibly want when you have #AllTheMoneyInTheWorld  The answer is quite simple and blindingly obvious “More”! as J Paul Getty (Christopher Plummer) announces in the most banal baritone, a response that simultaneously enrages and deflates Fletcher Chase (Mark Wahlberg) and the audience. Were we expecting something more? The meaning of life, universe and everything, perhaps?

This honest realisation about the world’s richest man of his time forms the backbone of the story and the basis for a dispassionate story telling of an other-wise traumatic kidnapping of Paul Getty (the grandson, Charlie Plummer). Yes, there are a few nervous moments of ‘will the boy be rescued’ and ‘are they really going to torture him’. But the main story revolves around the characters going through the ‘process’ of kidnapping-ransom-rescue, because that’s just how any business in an American capitalist set up is done. Negotiations take time, and everything has a value equation. Benefit divided by the Cost of getting it.

And everyone gets it. They hate it, but they get it. Gail Harris gets it, the mother of the kidnapped boy (Michelle Williams). Fletcher Chase gets it, the ex-CIA man sent to rescue the boy. And sometimes we feel even Paul himself gets it (the kidnapped boy). Ironically, the only person that doesn’t get it is one of the Italian kidnappers himself, Cinquata (Romain Duris), who finally gives in to helping the boy escape, with very little monetary gains for himself. Once again money ‘trumps’ emotions. 

One of my favourite scenes is when, to find the money for her son’s ransom, Gail tries to pawn of an antique piece given by old man Getty to her son many years ago as a priceless emotional gift. Only to realise that it was but a fake toy given to a boy to win him over. Low Cost. High Benefit! 

If you’re looking for a kidnapping and rescue thriller, then watch any of Liam Neeson’s “Taken” series. This movie is not that. 

If you’re looking for action (thinking that Mark Wahlberg is there) or for a movie with a super-engrossing plot, super-cool dialogues and a storyline with a climax, then watch “Departed”. This movie is not that.

Even, if you’re looking for a slick movie about money, greed, fame, corruption and interesting characters that make the movie tick, then watch “The Wolf of Wall Street”. This movie is not that either.

But if you’re looking for some powerful performances (Michelle Williams and Christopher Plummer are fabulous in playing their complex roles), against an unconventional kind of story-telling about one man’s world of money and the consequences on everyone around him, then this movie is that. 

In fact, the most edge-of-the-seat moments are not around the kidnapped boy, but around waiting to see what depths of negotiation J Paul Getty is capable of, when the life of his beloved family member is at stake! Because after all, “Money is never just money; it always stands for something”