Biryani never tasted better. Director Madhumita’s Kaalidhar Laapata, adapted from her own Tamil film K.D., which was about an 80-year-old abandoned patriarch “adopted” by a precocious little boy, sails across its sedate, unadventurous landscape.
With Abhishek Bachchan helming the remake, the original protagonist’s age is knocked off by half. A romantic angle, quite unnecessary, featuring the ill-cast Nimrat Kaur, is also added to the original. Luckily, the core of the fable—a man finds his bearing after getting lost, tackled earlier with less rewarding results in Vanvaas—remains intact, untouched, and largely unspoilt.
Kalidhar Laapata has a remarkably stout heart. The writing is sometimes clunky, and the restricted budget shows up on screen with distracting frequency. For example, the Kumbh Mela is recreated in a studio with the portable bustle of a crowded bus stand.
But the rapport between Abhishek and his young co-star Daivik Bhagela is unmistakable. Though the young actor tends to over-act, he has some quotable lines to deliver (“Khud hi tv aur khud hi remote ban jaa”) which he does with agreeable casualness. And Abhishek Bachchan is very good in his onscreen rapport with juvenile actors (remember Anurag Basu’s Ludo?). His Kaalidhar is a broken but not a ruined man, who realizes in the nick of time that he needs to live for himself and not his ungrateful family.
Understandably, the most disarming segments in the uneven though not choppy storytelling feature Abhishek and the boy bonding with a winsome integrity. The locations look lived-in and aptly stagnant.
There is an inviting innocence in the storytelling. The plot of a disillusioned patriarch reclaiming his lost life reminded me of Asit Sen’s 1972 Annadata, which coincidentally starred Abhishek’s mother, Jaya Bachchan.
Not everything in Kaalidhar Laapata works. What does work is its artlessness. This is a work that doesn’t try to impress, and not necessarily out of choice. It is an inherently well-meaning endeavour, at times roadblocked by its determination to stroll on the straight and narrow path.
Besides Abhishek and the child actor, the third mentionable performance comes from the ever-dependable Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub. He plays a man who thinks he can become a parent if he finds the laapata Kaalidhar—best of luck to him.
The film tries its utmost to stay on the righteous path. Its portrayal of greed and cruelty is less Shakespearean, more mythological. But the right to remain violent is withheld until the end. This is a calm, controlled film which leaves you mildly moved.
And yes, Kaalidhar loves biryani. Not that this would boost the sales of the dish. But it does give the narrative an appetizing edge.
