Kaalakandi: Saif’s black comedy gets mixed reactions

Saif Ali Khan’s Kaalakaandi finally released on Friday. The dark comedy directed and written by Akshat Verma was stuck for months, thanks to the content of the film.

Hindi films and audience hardly have an appetite for dark comedies. Very few filmmakers try their hand in the genre. But Director Akshat Verma seems to be excelling in the genre. His previous film Delhi Belly too had received mixed reactions though the film had attracted attention with its controversial song ‘bhaag DK Bose..’

Kaalakandi too is getting mixed reactions. For those who lament the lack of skilful screenwriting, the film is an earful and an eyeful. A feast for the senses, this beast of a film is hard to tame and even harder to define.

Bollywood actor Aamir Khan recently watched the film at the special screening and he seems to have totally enjoyed the script and Saif’s comic timing. He tweeted:

The multiple tales unfold in parallel arcs. It is only in the penultimate scenes and a zany final shot that the plot connects a few of the characters but only in a tenuous manner. Kaalakaandi takes a while to warm up but when it does it sets a lively pace, especially in the second half.

Saif Ali Khan brings to the table just the mix of befuddlement and cockiness that is needed to make the character work. The performances around him (notably from Dhulipala and Dobriyal) are in the right zone.

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., reported NDTV.

Kaalakandi have opened to disaster. Kaalakandi looks a C grade european film with an Indian setting. The film has very dull figures but it is better than Mukkabaaz. As per the reports of the former in Mumbai and Delhi the film has a lot of English which seems to be a problem in the main cities so it will be worse for the film in other cities, reported Boxofficeindia.com.

My memoir opened up my soul: Karan Johar

From his films to his relationships in Bollywood, Karan Johar opened up about a lot of things through his memoir "An Unsuitable Boy". The filmmaker says talking about all the things "opened up" his soul "even more".

The memoir, which Karan co-wrote with Poonam Saxena, created waves with its chapters describing his fallout with actress Kajol and for candid talks about his sexual orientation.

Karan will also share his life story through his show "Calling Karan" on Ishq 104.8 FM, read a statement.

"Sometimes, opening about the minor or major details takes you back in time. Every time she (Poonam) made me describe my old bedroom, house, people and the relationships, I went back and analysed and spoke about so much that I probably I had kind of blushed over," Karan said.

"Things that I didn't want to address and look back at but I knew I wanted to because that's the whole idea of writing a memoir. I think I spoke about all those things and it kind of opened my soul up even more. Sometimes, talking helps, just conversing helps and that's what I realised when I spoke to Poonam," he added.

'Monsoon Wedding' has become a period film: Mira Nair

The critically-acclaimed "Monsoon Wedding" has become a period film in this day and age, its director Mira Nair said on Friday.

Based on romantic entanglements during a traditional Punjabi Hindu wedding in Delhi, the 2000 release, which won the Golden Lion award and received a Golden Globe Award nomination, also had child abuse, middle class aspirations, adultery, and a distinct picture of the country's underbelly.

Nair, one of the panellists during a discussion on India 70 years into independence, was asked how she would see the movie if it was released in 2018.

"Monsoon Wedding has almost become a period film in a certain way even though it was in 2000. You don't have homemade wedding anymore, just starters," the 60-year old Indo-American filmmaker said.

Giving an example of how her husband (Mahmood Mamdani) while attending a sangeet ceremony in the city recently found it hard to fathom there was actually no one singing, Nair said families today are only pursuing money and that is killing everything else.

"My husband is not from here and he attended a sangeet the other day. He said 'sangeet tha toh maine socha log gayenge' (I thought people would sing in sangeet ceremony)... so there is no longer anybody who sings in a sangeet except Shah Rukh Khan, who has flown in or whoever is the latest flavour of the moment, if you're rich.

"If you're not, you will be pounded by these DJs who kill you. So in the pursuit of money, there is enormous levels of things that are affected. Transport, traffic, cars, pollution... all of that. But essentially also not time.

"The levels of stress are enormous. The health of the family also (is going down)," Nair said.

On if "Monsoon Wedding" were to be a contemporary film, she said it would "focus on the pursuit of money and what comes with the pursuit is a sense of actually not having any time and enormous amount of stress... in every angle of the family".

"It is no longer that the men go to work and women sit at home. Everyone is on the make in a very direct sense. It impacts several things," she added.

Nair has enthralled the audience all over the globe with films like "Salaam Bombay!", "Mississippi Masala" and "The Reluctant Fundamentalist".

With inputs from IANS