Movie Review: Kai Po Che

When the script is the undisputed star of a cinematic project, a film like Kai Po Che is bound to be the result. The principal pivots of the plot are predictable – cricket, religion, kite flying, male bonding and entrepreneurial ambition. But there is nothing remotely fusty in the efficient manner in which they are woven into the film’s engaging and heart-warming tapestry. 
 
Kai Po Che is in the main faithful to the source material – Chetan Bhagat’s The 3 Mistakes of My Life – and turns the written text into a well-crafted film that thrives on restraint amid all the dramatic flashpoints at its heart.

Three buddies, Ishaan, Govind and Omi, want to set up a sports goods shop and a cricket training academy. Ishaan is a district-level cricketer-turned-coach while Govind is a man adept at playing with numbers. A property owned by a temple trust is acquired, thanks to the good offices of Omi’s maternal uncle, a rightwing political activist. The threesome’s bonding is also severely tested by two cataclysmic events – the devastating earthquake of 2001 and the post-Godhra riots of 2002.     

   
Director Abhishek Kapoor, who is also the co-writer of the screenplay with Pubali Chaudhuri, Supratik Sen and Chetan Bhagat, does not resort to the kind of melodrama usually associated with stories of buddies caught in the emotional eddies of life. Especially impressive is the unfussy way in which Kapoor rings the curtains down on his story of love, humanity and hope.

The performances of the lead actors exude an air of naturalness that adds to the film’s appeal. Sushant Singh Rajput, in his first role on the big screen, makes a deep impression as the no-nonsense Ishaan. Amit Sadh, playing the impressionable Omi, articulates the confusion of a man torn between his commitment to his pals and his rising allegiance to a seductive new cause with minimal effort and maximum conviction. But the actor to watch in this film is Raj Kumar Yadav. As the calm and focussed Govind, he traverses an entire gamut of emotions with the ease and confidence of a seasoned screen performer.

'Kai po che’ is an exultant Gujarati cry that kite fliers let out to denote triumph. The film measures up to its title.

TSI Five-O: A lustrous little gem well chiselled

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