The film begins in
the present day setting where Govind
Patel (Raj Kumar Yadav) makes a slick presentation
on his academy 'Sabarmati Sports'.
He then picks up Omi Shastri (Amit Sadh) from a prison and they drive towards a stadium. On the way,
the film cuts back to 10 years in the past, to a story of three friends, the third one being cricket freak and otherwise lazy Ishaan Bhatt (Sushant Singh
Rajput).
The trio, who are
otherwise not gainfully employed full-time, start off a business. While Govind is the more calculative businessman, Omi brings in the bucks by way of support from a doting uncle Bittu Mama who
is a local politician and is keen to see Omi joining the party. Ishaan is the emotionally driven one and coaches
cricket, something he loves most and from his experience as a district level player.
The business takes wings quickly and they are about to expand too. In the meantime,
Ishaan has identified a local talent
Ali, a shy boy and the son of Omi's uncle's political rival. And with Govind teaching Maths to Ishaan's
sister Vidya (Amrita Puri), sparks fly between them and a new romance develops, unbeknownst to
Ishaan. Suddenly, things are set to
change when an earthquake strikes and
riots happen!
'Kai Po Che' which
stands for a cry when a rival's kite is
cut in a kite festival, has a very earthly
charm with realistic characters.
In a way, not having star power for
its lead actors works well in the film's favor allowing the script to prevail. While its lead actors and especially Raj Kumar
Yadav & Sushant Singh Rajput do well,
probably the most powerful performance
comes from Manav Kaul as Bittu Mama.
Edited with precision mostly seen in Hollywood, 'Kai Po Che' has
a runtime of hardly over two hours
and manages to capture a whole gamut of
events, transformation of characters and still managing to leave an overwhelmingly heavy feeling in the end.
Nowhere is time lost for songs as Amit Trivedi's soundtracks blend into the setting and the story. The song 'Manjha' is already popular and
works as its soul.
Real life events,
the 2001 Gujarat earthquake and the
2002 riots that happened in the aftermath
of the inhuman burning of pilgrims at Godhra where one of the key characters is
shown to have lost his family in the
fateful coach that was burnt. In what could be described as controversial, the film takes the liberty to portray one religious
community as an aggressor and the
other, mostly as a victim, thus
playing it safe.
To sum up, 'Kai Po Che' is definitely recommended, irrespective of whether you watch it with
friends or family. Let the hype around
the movie not raise your expectations beyond what the movie can deliver. All
that it has to offer is a drama that
dwells on the lives of three friends
and some events that seem to change
their lives forever.
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