Kai Po Che is a winner all the way. Meticulously crafted, it's neither a spellbinding celluloid marvel nor a half-baked Bollywood potboiler. The story of friendship, heartbreak and redemption through a stormy ride of betrayal by fate and history transforms Chetan Bhagat's mediocre work into an honest and heartwarming crowd-pleaser. The three towering aspects of the film are - the casting, cinematography and music. Anay Goswami does a terrific job with the camera. Amit Trivedi, yet again, vindicates his position as the most consistent and bankable music director in the industry. If A.R.Rahman is the Sachin Tendulkar of Bollywood, Amit Trivedi surely is Michael Clarke. Sushant Singh Rajput delivers a stellar performance as Ishan who is mercurial and temperamental, infectiously warm and gullible, trapped in a bubble of naivety. Amit Sadh as Omi is a knockout too, bringing out the complex nuances of his character with a steady transformation from unwavering loyalty towards his friends to a gradual, stuttering descent into murkiness. But, Raj Kumar Yadav as Govind, eclipses his other two equally brilliant co-stars. Ambitious and miserly, hesitant and calculative, yet a quiet intensity amidst the incoherent traits of minimalism adds many shades to his character, and he plays out his role with mathematical precision, complementing and acting as a perfect foil to Ishan's volatility and Omi's vulnerability. With GoW, Nawazuddin Siddiqui has taken the elevator-route to capture the imagination of cinephiles and critics. LSD, Shaitan, Shahid and Kai Po Che - Raj Kumar Yadav prefers a ladder instead, taking slow and assured steps to the rightful place where he belongs.
Review of Kai Po Che
