Kaalaandi [2017]

Language - English/Hindi
Director - Akshat Verma
Run Time - 1 hour, 52 minutes
Genre - Black Comedy
Starring - Saif Ali Khan, Akshay Oberoi, Sobhita Dhulipala, Kunaal Roy Kapur, Deepak Dobriyal Dhaasu and Vijay Raaz


Kaakaandi is a tale of two 'halves'. Kaalkaandi, which means 'gadbad ho gayi' perfectly suits the film. The premise and the characters in the movie are quite interesting and during the interval, you are saying 'this is a pretty great movie', but the second goes the opposite way, with newbie director struggling and stumbling to find a decent ending.

Much was expected from the writer of Delhi Belly, Akshat Verma and the trailer also seemed quite interesting, but in his attempt to weave around different stories and making them all come together (like Guy Ritchie does) he loses the plot big time. In his intention to have all characters finally having an interaction with each other, he even throws out logic by conjuring the absolutely rubbish climax.

All actors perform commendably, Saif giving a sublime performance, but the script and plot and also lack of character depth leave them all empty-handed. Really liked Akshay Oberoi and Deepa Dobriyal's acting. With just a little bit of work, this movie could have been an amazing, but the final product we saw was a Delhi Belly wannabee set up in Mumbai.

The premise of the story is Saif realizes he has cancer and few months to live, and thus decides to do everything 'bad' that he missed out on. Overused much?

Could be a one-time watch just for the first half laughs, but could be avoidable otherwise.

My Rating - 5.9/10