Rating : Very good (4.3/5)
Genre : Suspense
Year : 2020
Running time : 1 hour 48 minutes
Director : Rajat Kapoor
Cast : Ranvir Shorey, Mansi Multani, Rajat Kapoor, Kalki Koechlin, Tara Sharma, Shruti Seth, Sagar Deshmukh, Cyrus Sahukar, Palomi Ghosh, Nupur Asthana, Chandrachoor Rai
Kidwise : PG-15
Kadakh starts off with Sunil (Shorey) and Malti (Multani) preparing for a Diwali party at their home. When Sunil is alone at home, he has an unexpected visitor – Raqhav, the husband of a woman, Chaya, Sunil was having an affair with. An affair that his wife knows nothing about. Chhaya’s husband says he wants to chat but once inside the home brandishes a gun. Then all hell breaks lose!
Kadakh, from director Rajat Kapoor (he also stars in the film) is unpredictable in a very good way. After its initial surprise, the film develops into a very interesting thriller. There’s a Diwali party in full swing, and in the bedroom there’s a dead body. The guests are close friends, close enough that one of them has brought food to cook. As the evening progresses, little skirmishes arise leading to a most unexpected betrayal.
Rajat Kapoor is a talented actor-director; I look forward to his films because he manages to always depict such great human drama. Whether it is the lovely, philosophical “Ankhon Dekhi” or the suspenseful Mithya, Kapoor shapes each work with skill, creating organic situations and realistic characters, and pulling you, the viewer, into his onscreen world.
In Kadakh where we have a gathering of friends, and some outsiders – the friends bring other friends, and Malti’s Chacha and Chachi drop in because they are in town – who while close to Sunil and Malti, are still very dissimilar people in their behaviors and worldviews, and can and do rub each other the wrong way. During the party we are privy to multiple conversations, some one-to-one and some group, where we get a good idea of the personalities, by what they say and the way they react to what’s being said around them.
The star-cast is large and impeccable. There’s Ranvir Shourie and Multani who are just fantastic as the beleaguered couple. Their friends are played by Shruti Seth, Tara Sharma, Cyrus Sahukar, Kalki Koechlin, Sagar Deshmukh and Manoj Pahwa, to name a few, and do very well.
Kadakh is a fantastic, wild ride, and a film to be relished. Highly recommended!
Kidwise: There’s a gun, a dead body, some bloody violence and some talk about sex/relationships. This is a classy, clean film though and would probably be fine for older kids.
