Review of Bengali movie Khaad

If it is a Kaushik ganguly directed movie then there is no doubt that you are going to see totally fresh and unconventional story.With his latest venture "Khaad" director Kaushik Ganguly have made no exception. Once again he has proved that only he can think and choose a really different story without thinking about its commercial perspective. Thanks to the production house Venkatesh Films and Surinder films too for encouraging such talented story teller to tell his story without making any compromise for commercialization.

The story is about 15 passengers who were travelling together by a bus by some hill area of North Bengal while they met with an accident and their bus dropped into a pit (Khaad). As a result all of them got trapped in the pit in the middle of a jungle where they are not even sure how to get out from there. Before this accident these passengers rarely know each other but this crisis situation brings them together as a team as they have to live together to survive and to find an way to get an exit from the jungle. The rest of the story shows how they survive the day and the night in the middle of a jungle far away from the civilization. Their bonding begins with sharing each others identity and food and later the situation turns in such a way that they share the deepest secrets of their life as confession. Finally at the climax their is surprising twist but it may not go well with each audience.

Probably this is the first time that someone has tried such a story and this credit must be given to the story writer. Another challenge with this story was to write a perfect and engaging screenplay and director Kaushik Ganguly has succeeded in that too. The screenplay never tries to give too much information about the characters background or how they will overcome with the crisis rather it has tried to capture the moments in between. the moments where bond with each other in the time of crisis. There is light moments as well as emotional moments too as a result in spite of having the same location same 16 character in their same wardrobe the film never looks monotonous. Another complex part of the screenplay was to give ample scope to all 16 characters and the script has been written fairly enough to give every character something to leave an impression. The characters have different socio-economic background which reflects in their clothes, their dialogues, their body language and in their interaction with each other too.

As a director Kaushik Ganguly has once again proved his brilliance. His narrative style is very much engaging. He knows how to get the perfect job from his actors as well from his technical team. A director like him can assure that Bengali movies can be made without taking help from South Indian DVDs or old Bengali literature. 

Among the actors it can be said it has more than a dozen of actors playing different characters and every actor has been given fair chance to leave their mark. Still among them who have impressed more are Kamaleshwar Mukherjee, Kaushik Ganguly, Gargi Roychoudhury, Rudranil Ghosh, Lily Chakraborty and Mimi Chakraborty.
Kaushik Ganguly has once again proved that he is capable to deliver his excellence both behind the camera as well as in front of camera as an actor. His emotional scene in the confession sequence is heart touching. Gargi Roychoudhury has underplayed her character of an well known Tollywood actress very well. She never goes over the top but still expressed a lot with her silence. Lily Chakraborty has her moments as Kaushik's cancer patient mother who know she is dying but still tries to hide her pain to make her son happy.happy. Rudranil Ghosh has played such role of a poor deprived person earlier too and this time also he has done full justice with his character. Mimi Chakraborty has provided the much needed comic relief as the foul mouthed newly wed bride. Her abusive dialogues may have given the film an Adult certificate but it will surely bring laughter to the audiences faces. Pallavi Chatterjee has made a good comeback. But among the actors the true Revelation is  director turned actor Kamaleshwar Mukherjee. He has done a bit roles earlier too but this is his first full fledged acting debut and he has done a fantastic job as the trekking expert with a secret. One actress who could have done a better job provided the potential of her character is Tanushree. She has a strong character and a well written scene where she outburst out of her mental stress, but Tanushree has disappointed in that scene.

The technical team is also in a very good form here. Soumik Halder has captured the hills and jungles very realistically. The sequences shot in the night  with the light source as the burning flames nearby , are superb.Same can be said for Anirban and Dipak's sound design which has helped to create the atmosphere more authentic. The background score has been used very good way to give emotional sequence the much needed high. Bodhadittya Bandopadhyay's editing is crisp , specially the way the background of the characters has been showed in short and crisp way.

The music by Indradeep Dasgupta is yet another high point of this film. There is only two songs which has been used in the movie and both the song have been written very well by Srijato and Indradeep himself. And both the songs have such soulful melody that it lasts with you for a long time. Special mention should be given for the use of these two songs in the script where there is hardly any scope for songs.

Overall it is a story which has the potential to connect with the audiences. Although the climax is a bit shocking and the pace of the story is a bit slow but the brilliant acting by the ensemble cast and the emotional sequences will always keep you glued to your seats till the end.