Kai Po Che Film Review

You can make a half decent, subtle Dil Chahta Hai-esque film, especially if Farhan Akhtar is your co-writer. So when Rock On happened, debutant director Abhishek Kapoor’s contribution was probably underestimated. Rock On went on to get great reviews.

You can also make a mass-based masala entertainer, if Rajkumar Hirani is co-writing it. So when 3 Idiots happened, novelist Chetan Bhagat’s contribution was probably underestimated too. 3 Idiots became the highest grossing Bollywood film that year.

But to make a film that outclasses and outshines both Rock On and 3 Idiots, without having an Akhtar or a Hirani, without having an Arjun Rampal or an Aamir Khan... Wow! Sheer vindication of talent for director Abhishek Kapoor. And writer Chetan Bhagat who has constantly been the butt of all jokes for the dumbing down of Indian literature.

Even after Kai Po Che, the hubris of Bhagat critics will insist that if the film is as classy and sublime as it is, it’s not BECAUSE of Bhagat but IN SPITE of him. (The film is based on his bestseller The 3 Mistakes of My Life.)

That would be unfair.

While he might not be the greatest writer alive, Bhagat certainly knows middle class India better. He knows to capture and pack many facets of young India into simple characters that truly represent the complex realities of the country.

Kai Po Che reminds us of another mostly fantastic approximation of India — Mani Ratnam’s Bombay, a melting pot of culture and boiling communal tensions. A film that resorted to a Utopian ending after neatly facing off one community against another, through strategic character types in a microcosm of India.

Kai Po Che that’s set in Gujarat, another volatile melting pot (known for both Sabarmati Ashram and Sabarmati Express) does what Bombay does more realistically, minus the Utopia, and goes beyond the type.

Three friends in Kai Po Che, each represent one side of India — the capitalist (Rajkumar Yadav as Govind Patel), the political (Amit Sadh as Omkar Shastri) and the emotional (Sushant Singh Rajput as Ishaan Bhatt).

Govind lives by math, probability and profit, Omi by his loyalties, allegiances and conveniences, while Ishaan is all heart, selfless and easily angered. Yet, they all have echoes of each other and end up shaping each other to do exactly the opposite of who they are, by the time the film winds up.

Abhishek Kapoor and Chetan Bhagat pull this off with refreshing restraint and sublime subtlety and continuously keep us at the edge of the seat with a compelling, unpredictable narrative that’s brewing with the tension and volatility of an India torn between capitalists, politicians and dreamers.

This is us. The real middle class India. Real people, not stars. Real houses, not sets. Real clothes not fancy pants. You’ll fall in love with everything about India. And Gujarat.

Kai Po Che is everything that Rock On and 3 Idiots were, put together — dreams and aspirations, friendship standing test of time, the pursuit of excellence, a commentary of our education system and a coming-of-age film with not a single moment of dishonesty. We haven’t seen stronger characterisation, economy in words, visuals or time, in recent mainstream films.

The three leads are a revelation. Rajkumar Yadav, Amit Sadh and Sushant Singh Rajput are the best things to happen to Hindi cinema in a while — intense performers with an electric presence. Amrita Puri, employed as the compassionate personification of love here, will steal your heart once again, after Aisha.

The screenplay of this flawless film is credited to Pubali Choudhari, Supratik Sen, Abhishek Kapoor and Chetan Bhagat and the technical team of Anay Goswami’s cinematography, Amit Trivedi’s music and Deepa Bhatia’s editing couldn’t have tuned this ensemble better, visually and aurally.

The true triumph of a film is how it makes you feel, when you leave, when you look back at it and when it refuses to leave you long after you’ve seen it.

Kai Po Che will leave you choked and feeling good. It will leave you bittersweet. And breathless.

Go watch it. Again and again.

Years of Innocence or curse??

Childhood- the most amazing time of life. The only time in life when we don't have to worry about studies or people.When Life is all about playing with friends and getting pampered by parents.
Those innocent yet naughty years of my life are long gone. But it still brings a smile on my face when I flip the pages of my childhood albums. It also makes me remember those friends who have just vanished into the world and never met me again.
When I see the hypocrisy and the pride of the grown-ups, I sometimes feel it would have been better if I was a kid and would have never understood all these things. But after all that has happened in the past week it just scares me to become a kid again.
For me, babies or kids are the cutest thing on Earth and how can someone even think of raping them? I feel sad that people could even think badly about innocent kids. I was shocked by the news of a 5-year old girl getting raped. I feel sad that people could even think badly about innocent kids. I was shocked by the news of a 5-year old girl getting raped. Seriously, people are becoming animals day by day (Oops! I don't wanna insult animals by saying this, animals are much better). I'm sick and tired of hearing from people they should be given this punishment, they should be hanged to death immediately. I understand this is their way of showing anger or disappointment. But is there any other way to stopping all these cruel and inhuman activities in our society?
We have tried "dharnas" or fasts after the 16th December rape case which seemed unending but it didn't change the scenario much, other than creating commuting problems for ourselves. We give speeches, we write(like the one I'm writing now), we have long debates about it and we also get to hear some precious words from our Ministers like we are very sorry, girls should dress properly etc...etc...(it seems to be a very long list)...But is there an actual solution for it? Can this society change or will it get worse?

THINKING OUT LOUD

People often come up to me and say you seem to be upset or where are you lost or why are you so quiet?  So today I thought I would sit down and write about it.
Many times even though I am surrounded by many people my mind just wants to wander in my own world and just to make it clear most of the time I'm not upset. It's not because the people around me are boring but sometimes my world seems to be more interesting.  I feel there is something  more powerful inside my head than the outside world. And other times I prefer to avoid gossips.

We usually term people who talk less as "boring people" and we all prefer to be in the most entertaining groups. In today's time introverts or may be thinkers are not given the required space. In schools, people who talk less are often left out by teachers. I'm not saying communications skills are not important but introverts need to be given a platform to express their ideas and thoughts about different things. According to a recent study introverts perform better in academics and other activities than extroverts.

Even on social networking sites I feel suffocated because I feel its no longer a communicating platform but rather a window through which people love to peek into others life or other's who are just bragging about their so-called interesting lives.

I feel  it's good to have interesting extrovert people with great sense of humor but because of it don't ignore the introverts. Sit down and talk to them may be they have something amazing to share with you. Even though they might not make you laugh but they might just struck a chord and it might become a life changing experience for you.

A WORLD OF PERFECTION

A few days back, one of my aunts visited our place and was having a chit-chat with my mom(her sister). I was just reading newspaper and listening to their stories. My aunt was telling my mom about what kind of ‘bahu’ she wants for her son. The description list was very long but I would like to tell you the few important ones: she should be beautiful, educated, highly paid, good cook and from the same caste and religion. I was just thinking does she want a girl for her son or was she bargaining with God to come down and become her perfect ‘bahu’?

Aren’t we all like this we prefer things which would be accepted by the world or our community and it should seem perfect in the eyes of our people? Haven't our traditional ideologies kept us away from the meaning of true happiness? Are we living for ourselves or the world around us?

Perfect- does something like this actually exist? Its literal meaning is complete and flawless. I can’t relate this word to any part of my life. Does anything seem to be perfect around you? Your life?relations?your room?our country?politics? No. Anything that seems to be perfect today might turn out to be a disaster after a few days. Like an amateur writer whose first piece of writing seemed perfect to him at the time he published it but after he became a well-known writer his first piece just seemed to be the worst piece of writing to him. Even a perfect dress fades off after few years.

We just lose half of our lives in showing how perfect as a person we are or how perfect our relations or how perfect our homes or other materialistic things are. Aren't imperfect things great? I think they are. Because imperfection leads to perfection. We all are imperfect but we all work hard daily to reach that level of perfection(that level exists or not is a doubtful thing).
Is perfection and perception related? Perfection depends on perception. The worst thing in our life can be transformed into the most beautiful experience with slightly changing perception. A flower might seem useless to us but for an artist or a photographer it is the most beautiful thing in the world.
One day I was just waiting for my bus and suddenly there came a special child with her dad as she got into her bus the other kids in the bus were so happy, all were clapping hands and cheering for her. I just asked her father doesn't he feel bad to see her like this. He smiled for a few seconds and then replied that it took him few months to accept her. But now she is an angel for their family. She is purer than anyone of them as she can't lie or see them upset. Because of her their whole family stays happy as she can't see anyone upset. She has made their lives complete and she's flawless. He said she's the perfect gift by God to them.
That special child might be imperfect in our eyes but the way his family sees her like a blessing there lives have turned out to ‘perfect’ because of her.

If you keep on cribbing about every other thing or person in your life, you would only be dissatisfied and feel useless. But if you keep looking for goodness in people and things around you, you would surely end up having a perfect life even though it has many imperfections.