A Road Less Travelled

Ratings: – * * *

Bridging the gap between parallel cinema and masala entertainers can be dicey. Though Vishal Bhardwaj, who tries it in Kaminey, succeeds in his new and unusual storytelling method, there’s no denying that he ends with being a bit too nasty and complicated. Therefore, those inclined towards goody and light entertainers will be disappointed.

Coming straight to the plot the writers and the director have added high doses of freshness in it even though it follows the premise of two twin brothers Guddu and Charlie (Shahid Kapoor) and the comedy of errors arising due to their identical looks. Guddu is a soft-hearted goody boy while Charlie is a gangster and is equally wild. Surrounding the two brothers is a bunch of unusual characters like Sweety (Priyanka Chopra), Bhope Bhau (Amole Gupte), Mikhail (Chandan Roy Sanyal), Lobo (Shiv Subrahmanyam) and Lele (Hrishikesh Joshi).

The whole story, which takes place in a span of 48 hours, keeps the interest alive because of the fast narrative. Bhardwaj shows his touch of class in a number of praiseworthy sequences. Even a host of characters are beautifully woven into the main plot. However, one does wish Bhardwaj had kept things simple instead of being too wild at several points.

Shahid Kapoor and his gutsy performance acts as the major pillar for the film. The actor plays two opposite characters with perfection. After watching him here, one cannot argue against him being one of the most talented youngsters in Bollywood. His character Charlie’s ‘fa’ pronunciation for ‘sa’ plays a big role in the humor content. Priyanka Chopra once again proves that she has come of age lately. Her role required her to be soft and hard-hitting at the same time and she manages it with utmost ease.  

However, Amole Gupte’s negative act comes as a total surprise. The script writer turned actor is flawless and adorable. Where was he all these years? Chandan Roy Sanyal makes a confident debut and promises a lot. The rest of the characters like Tenzing Nima, Shiv Subhrahmanyam, Hrishikesh Joshi, etc provide perfect support.

As a music director, Bhardwaj’s tunes suit the subject perfectly. Apart from the hugely popular Dhan Te Nan, Raat Ko Dhaai Baje is another impressive number. Even his background score is apt for the subject.

Kaminey relies mainly on performances. In fact, it’s because of the performances that one feels satisfied with this one. The satisfaction could’ve been greater if, as stated earlier, the narrative was less nasty and complicated. All in all, Kaminey is laudable for the hatke path it follows.