''Kaalakaandi'' is a 2018 Indian
black comedy
Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...
film written and directed by
Akshat Verma, starring
Saif Ali Khan
Saif Ali Khan (; born Sajid Ali Khan Pataudi; 16 August 1970) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi films. Part of the Pataudi family, he is the son of actress Sharmila Tagore and cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi.
Khan ma ...
,
Akshay Oberoi
Akshay Oberoi (born 1 January 1985) is an American actor of Indian-Americans, Indian descent, who works in Bollywood, Hindi films. After making his acting debut as a child in the 2002 comedy-drama ''American Chai'', Oberoi played his first lead ...
,
Deepak Dobriyal
Deepak Dobriyal (born 1 September 1975) is an Indian film and theatre actor. He is recipient of a Filmfare award. He worked in many Bollywood films such as '' Omkara'' (2006), ''Shaurya'' (2008), ''Tanu Weds Manu'' (2011), ''Dabangg 2'' (2012), ...
,
Isha Talwar
Isha Talwar (born 22 December 1987) is an Indian actress and model who predominantly works in Malayalam and Hindi-language films, besides appearing in a few Tamil and Telugu films. She started out as a model and appeared in various commercials, ...
and
Sobhita Dhulipala
Sobhita Dhulipala (born 31 May 1992) is an Indian actress and model who works primarily in Telugu, Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam films. She won the Femina Miss India Earth 2013 title at Femina Miss India 2013 pageant and represented India at Miss ...
.
The film is produced by Rohit Khattar and Ashi Dua.
The film was released on 12 January 2018.
Plot
Rileen (
Saif Ali Khan
Saif Ali Khan (; born Sajid Ali Khan Pataudi; 16 August 1970) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi films. Part of the Pataudi family, he is the son of actress Sharmila Tagore and cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi.
Khan ma ...
) receives news of his growing
stomach cancer
Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a cancer that develops from the lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a number of subtypes, including gastric adenocarcinomas. Lymph ...
, which is at the last stage. He is left heartbroken, but remains quiet in front of everyone. He decides to live life to the fullest, by smoking and taking
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...
from a friend, but yet remains unhappy.
His engaged brother Angad (
Akshay Oberoi
Akshay Oberoi (born 1 January 1985) is an American actor of Indian-Americans, Indian descent, who works in Bollywood, Hindi films. After making his acting debut as a child in the 2002 comedy-drama ''American Chai'', Oberoi played his first lead ...
) is getting ready when he receives a call from his ex-girlfriend, Selina (
Amanda Rosario
Amanda Rosario (born Amanda Pegrum) is a British actress who has appeared in Hindi films as well as Tamil and Marathi films. After appearing in small roles in Hindi films, Rosario made her debut as a lead actress with the Tamil film, ''Saagasa ...
) to a hotel. Angad sets out to meet her along with Rileen under the excuse of a haircut.
In the next story, we see Tara (
Sobhita Dhulipala
Sobhita Dhulipala (born 31 May 1992) is an Indian actress and model who works primarily in Telugu, Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam films. She won the Femina Miss India Earth 2013 title at Femina Miss India 2013 pageant and represented India at Miss ...
) packing her bags to pursue higher studies in the
US, while her boyfriend Zubin (
Kunaal Roy Kapur
Kunaal Roy Kapur is an Indian actor, playwright and filmmaker who works in Hindi films and television shows.
Early life and background
Kunaal comes from a family of mixed Hindu Punjabi and Indian Jewish heritage. His paternal grandfather, Raghu ...
) is trying to convince her to change her plans. Hours before her flight, both of them attend a birthday party, but soon the police raid the place. Tara is nervous as her flight leaves in two hours, but she can't leave as the police have locked the place down. She manages to escape with her friends and Zubin in a car. In the car, Zubin and Tara have a heated argument over Tara kissing a guy, Tara loses control and hits a motorcycle killing two people. Tara feels guilty, but leaves when Zubin and her friends advise her not to go to the police.
Meanwhile, Rileen is hallucinating due to the LSD. He meets a
transgender
A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...
woman Sheila (Nary Singh), and coolly tells her that he wants to see her "
Southern Hemisphere", with no touching or feeling, and succeeds in doing so. Rileen becomes happy and decides to fulfill other things on his bucket list.
The next story is of two goons who want to make it big, Mafia (
Deepak Dobriyal
Deepak Dobriyal (born 1 September 1975) is an Indian film and theatre actor. He is recipient of a Filmfare award. He worked in many Bollywood films such as '' Omkara'' (2006), ''Shaurya'' (2008), ''Tanu Weds Manu'' (2011), ''Dabangg 2'' (2012), ...
) and Rahmat (
Vijay Raaz
Vijay Raaz (born 5 June 1963) is an Indian actor, film director and narrator, who predominantly appears in Hindi films. He debuted with ''Bhopal Express'' (1999) and since worked in more than 90 films. His breakthrough came when he played the ...
). They hatch a plan to extract money from their own boss Raza (
Asif Basra
Asif Basra (27 July 196712 November 2020) was an Indian actor who worked in Bollywood films and TV serials. He is best known to Western audiences for his role in '' Outsourced''. He also appeared in many other films. Basra died of suicide by h ...
) and cook up a story. Meanwhile, during a party, Ustad (
Neil Bhoopalam
Neil Bhoopalam is an Indian television, stage, and film actor. He is known for his roles in films such as ''No One Killed Jessica'', ''Shaitan'', '' NH10'', ''Lust Stories'', ''Ungli'' and the Indian TV series '' 24''.
Career
Bhoopalam start ...
), who has helped Raza, is killed on the road by two motorcycle-borne assailants. Mafia and Rahmat witness the crime.
Angad learns that Selina is just using him and feels guilty about cheating on Neha (
Amyra Dastur
Amyra Dastur (born 7 May 1992) is an Indian actress who has starred in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu Films.
Early life and career
Dastur is Parsi and she speaks English and Gujarati at home. She holds a bachelor's degree in commerce from Mumbai's HR ...
), his fiancée. Angad meets Neha and talks to her. Angad learns that Neha is a very nice girl he can get and both of them hug each other and get ready for marriage.
Mafia's greed pushes him to kill Rahmat and he takes the entire money. He then shoots himself in the abdomen and tells Raza that someone has robbed their money and killed Rahmat and in that fight Mafia too got injured. Raza doesn't believe Mafia and is on the verge of killing Mafia, but leaves him. Mafia walks onto the road.
Rileen meets the wedding photographer Rakhi (
Isha Talwar
Isha Talwar (born 22 December 1987) is an Indian actress and model who predominantly works in Malayalam and Hindi-language films, besides appearing in a few Tamil and Telugu films. She started out as a model and appeared in various commercials, ...
) and tells his son too had a birthmark like her on his elbow. Rakhi asks him his name but he states that "People just meet, tell each other their names and then go away, which is of no use". He also tells her about his growing cancer. Rakhi comforts Rileen and they kiss each other. On being asked "What does he mean to her?", she replies "I don't know!" He happily laughs and tells her his name is Rileen.
Tara checks into the airport while Zubin asks her not to think of the horrific night. Tara feels very guilty and decides to approach the police and file an
FIR
Firs (''Abies'') are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family (biology), family Pinaceae. They are found on mountains throughout much of North America, North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The ...
, but the police dissuades her from doing so as the two guys who were killed in the accident were underworld assassins who killed Ustad. Tara meets up with Zubin, who had been waiting for her. Getting to know that he truly loves her, Tara proposes to Zubin and then kisses him.
Rileen marches into the marriage where everyone is dancing mindlessly along with Angad and Neha. Rileen dances along, takes out his gun and fires two shots in the air. One of the bullets strikes Mafia in the head, killing him, while the other hits Rileen's foot, prompting him to scream in pain.
Cast
Soundtrack
The music of ''Kaalakaandi'' is composed by Sameer Uddin and
Shashwat Sachdev
Shashwat Sachdev is an Indian music composer and entrepreneur. He also won the 65th Filmfare R. D. Burman Award, Filmfare R.D. Burman Award for best new and upcoming talent.
Early life
Sachdev was born in Jaipur. He started learning music when he ...
while lyrics have been penned by
Anvita Dutt
Anvita Dutt Guptan (born 20 February 1972) is an Indian dialogue writer, screenplay writer, story writer, lyricist and director of Bollywood films.
Early life and background
Her father worked with the Indian Air Force (IAF), thus she grew in s ...
and Akshay Verma. The first track of the film titled as "Swagpur Ka Chaudhary" which is sung by Akshay Verma was released on 23 December 2017. The music album was released by
Zee Music Company
Zee Music Co. (ZMC) is an Indian music company, a subsidiary of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. It carries its business activities mainly from New Delhi. The company has captured a major chunk of market share in Bollywood music in a short ...
on 27 December 2017.
Critical reception
'Kaalakaandi' received mixed response from critics upon its theatrical release.
Saibal Chatterjee from
NDTV
New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. The company is considered to be a legacy brand that pioneered independent news broadcasting in India, and is credited for launching t ...
gave the movie 3 out of 5 stars stating, "'Kaalakaandi' may not be for all palates, but the film has enough spice for those in the mood for an off-the-beaten-track Bollywood experience".
India TV
India TV is a Hindi news channel based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. The channel was launched on 20 May 2004 by Rajat Sharma and wife Ritu Dhawan. The channel is a subsidiary of Independent News Service, which was co-founded by Sharma and Dha ...
gave the movie 3 out of 5 stars, stating that the word "Kaalakaandi" is Marathi slang for "when everything goes disastrously wrong" and described the lead character as "outrageously humorous yet utterly sensitive".
"
Rediff.com
Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City.
, it had more than 300 e ...
gave the movie 3 out of 5 stars stating, "Saif is a hoot in Kaalakaandi".
Meena Iyer from ''
Daily News and Analysis
Publications established in 2005
Newspapers published in Mumbai
English-language newspapers published in India
Daily newspapers published in India
Essel Group
2005 establishments in Maharashtra ...
'' gave the movie 2.5 out of 5 stars stating, "Saif Ali Khan's 'Kaalakaandi' is worth a try, if you like your cinema experimental and edgy".
Renuka Vyavahare from ''
The Times of India
''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...
'' gave the movie 2.5 out of 5 stars stating, "What begins as a promising and edgy thriller soon runs out of gags, gas and gravitas".
Sweta Kaushal from
Hindustan Times
''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia.
It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...
gave the movie 2 out of 5 stars, praising Saif Ali Khan for his performance, despite the script being half-baked.
According To ''
Firstpost
''Firstpost'' is an Indian online news and media website. The site is a part of the Network 18 media conglomerate owned by Reliance Industries, which also runs CNN-News18 and CNBC-TV18.
The ''Network 18'' group was originally owned by Raghav ...
'', Saif Ali Khan is funny as hell in 'Kaalakaandi' but the film lacks fizz.
References
External links
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{{Portal, India, Film, Bollywood
2018 films
Films set in Mumbai
Films scored by Shashwat Sachdev
2018 black comedy films
2010s Hindi-language films
Indian black comedy films
Indian films about cancer