I always believed "Dil Chahta Hai" was a Cult Classic and it gave us a new genre of movies about friendship and male bonding. Many movies have come since but only "3 Idiots" and "Zindagi Naa Milegi Dobaara" made it to the list of my all time favorites. Having Chetan Bhagat minus the "3 Idiots" controversy meant "Kai Po Che" was a must watch even before I had read reviews. It did prove a worthy successor to the illustrious movies mentioned.
"Kai Po Che" means "I have Cut" in Gujarati and that is a popular expression used during the iconic 'kite game' that is famous in the state and beyond. The movie deals with male bonding, ambition and lack of it, religious tensions and love with a precocious lead girl.
"Kai Po Che" tells the story of Ishaan Patel [Sushant Singh Rajput], Omi aka Omkar Shastri [Amit Sadh] and Govind [Rajkumar Yadav]. The story as we all know is based on Chetan Bhagat's "The 3 Mistakes of My Life" and the script is credited to Bhagat, Pubali Chaudhuri, Supratik Sen and Director Abhishek Kapoor of "Rock On" fame, another male bonding movie that will be remembered for long.
The 3 lead actors bring alive the friendship, affection, anger, anguish and then repentance alive through the 127 minutes of running time. Digvijay Deshmukh as the super talented six hitting "Ali" steals the show with an amazing performance. Amrita Puri as Vidya, Ishaan's sister and Govind's beau is cute and bold. She looks the teenager she is supposed to be when she is actually close to 30. Rest of the cast is absolutely perfect including Manav Kaul as the menacing Bittu Mama.
The movie chronicles the Gujarat earth quake and then the Godhra and Gujarat riots and how it affects the lives of the 3 protagonists with Cricket playing the fourth protagonist. Authentic chronicling of Cricket events and using Ishaan's passion to nurture Ali at any cost, the movie never allows for a moment of boredom.
Be it the earth quake or the riots, "Kai Po Che" doesn't become judgmental or go over the top like some movies like "Parzania" did. It just becomes part of the narrative and we are thankfully spared from any kind of preaching. The climax is both feel good as well as touching with some kind of poetic justice meted out to both "Ali" and his mentor "Ishaan" !
Amit Trivedi's music and Anay Goswami's cinematography is top-notch. The lighting has been used to absolutely fantastic effect. Deepa Bhatia's editing is razor sharp, especially the Cricket scenes. The cover drive shown in the climax is an absolute delight and shows the hard work of the team to attain perfection.
My Opinion: Definitely a worthy successor to the iconic movies like "Dil Chahta Hai", "3 Idiots" and "ZNMD". Go for it if you already haven't !
"Kai Po Che" tells the story of Ishaan Patel [Sushant Singh Rajput], Omi aka Omkar Shastri [Amit Sadh] and Govind [Rajkumar Yadav]. The story as we all know is based on Chetan Bhagat's "The 3 Mistakes of My Life" and the script is credited to Bhagat, Pubali Chaudhuri, Supratik Sen and Director Abhishek Kapoor of "Rock On" fame, another male bonding movie that will be remembered for long.
The 3 lead actors bring alive the friendship, affection, anger, anguish and then repentance alive through the 127 minutes of running time. Digvijay Deshmukh as the super talented six hitting "Ali" steals the show with an amazing performance. Amrita Puri as Vidya, Ishaan's sister and Govind's beau is cute and bold. She looks the teenager she is supposed to be when she is actually close to 30. Rest of the cast is absolutely perfect including Manav Kaul as the menacing Bittu Mama.
The movie chronicles the Gujarat earth quake and then the Godhra and Gujarat riots and how it affects the lives of the 3 protagonists with Cricket playing the fourth protagonist. Authentic chronicling of Cricket events and using Ishaan's passion to nurture Ali at any cost, the movie never allows for a moment of boredom.
Be it the earth quake or the riots, "Kai Po Che" doesn't become judgmental or go over the top like some movies like "Parzania" did. It just becomes part of the narrative and we are thankfully spared from any kind of preaching. The climax is both feel good as well as touching with some kind of poetic justice meted out to both "Ali" and his mentor "Ishaan" !
Amit Trivedi's music and Anay Goswami's cinematography is top-notch. The lighting has been used to absolutely fantastic effect. Deepa Bhatia's editing is razor sharp, especially the Cricket scenes. The cover drive shown in the climax is an absolute delight and shows the hard work of the team to attain perfection.
My Opinion: Definitely a worthy successor to the iconic movies like "Dil Chahta Hai", "3 Idiots" and "ZNMD". Go for it if you already haven't !
