It is the story of four different lives, each fighting its own battles and dilemmas, shown in parallel tracks.
Saif just discovers that he’s with a terminal illness and has 2-3 months to live.
His cousin Akshat Oberoi is developing cold feat on the eve of his marriage and dealing with commitment issues.
Shobhita Dhulipala is leaving for America and trying to avoid the ring her boyfriend (Kunal Roy Kapoor)is insisting upon.
Two gangster henchmen Vijay Raaz and Deepak Dobriyal are at crossroads, planning to dupe their gangster boss or maybe each other.
This is the directorial debut of Akshat Verma, the writer of well received Delhi Belly. He retains his love for quirky and bizarre even in this story. While the makers claim it as a dark comedy but I think it qualifies more as a thriller with a tinge of humour that could be completely owed to the quirky dialogues and performances.
The word “Kaalakandi”means “mayhem“ or “screw up”.
In an “Iss raat ki subah nahi“ style, the story is all about happenings of one night. The dark and wet Mumbai night has been well used to create that feel of uncertainty and bizarre that could happen in the city. A Happy wedding family revelry, a wild rave party, a police raid,an underworld killing, a double cross and some relationship issues have all been blended to create the mayhem that happen through the night.
The actors’ performances were all natural and blended with the style of story telling. But the one who stood out was Saif who was so much at ease with the his character. The actor deserves credit for taking up the bold experimental roles and projects. His natural ease at wackiness is a plus too. Saif ‘s encounter with the transgender (superbly played by Nary Singh ) is specially worth mentioning. The sequence was dealt with finesse of humour and emotions.
The dialogues in the movie were great and added that much needed sense of humour.
The movie began on a promising note with an intriguing build up.There was an uncertainty and curiosity that kept us hooked on.But while I admit there was never a bored phase in the movie, there wasn’t any high either. Somehow , the curse of the second half prevailed even here and it seemed the writer didn’t know how to best design the climax.
Overall I would say, the movie was experimental and intentionally bizarre. The hardcore cine buffs could end up liking it for the experimental format or decent performances or just as a wacko time pass.
Score 5 on 10