‘Kapoor & Sons’ comes to town

Big Screen

Islamabad

Director, Co-Writer: Shakun Batra

Producer: Karan Johar

Cast: Rishi Kapoor, Sidharth Malhotra, Fawad Khan, Aaliya Bhatt, Ratna Pathak, Rajat Kapoor

 Dharma Productions' 'Kapoor & Sons' released this Friday has been received well at the box-office. Producer Karan Johar, under Dharma Productions, has directed films on his own as well as hired directors for his banner.  However, his personal stamp is evident on all Dharma productions.  'Kapoor & Sons' too has Karan Johar's stamp evident with high production effects and state-of-the art technique (camera, sound, editing, and art direction).

Leaving technical brilliance and production effects aside, let us get into the plot and more into characters because that matters most in Kapoor & Sons. The cast is lead by Rishi Kapoor who lives with son (Rajat Kapoor) and daughter-in-law (Ratna Pathak) in a decent house   on hill station Cooner. Rishi Kapoor has been made to look over ninety years and his almost believable makeup was done by an expert from abroad. Rishi's two grandchildren Fawad Khan and Sidharth Malhotra, return from abroad to be with Rishi Kapoor who has had a heart attack and is now in ICU.

Having explained all about family, it is now time that family closet is opened, secrets be revealed, and family bickering and inadequacies be brought on the table, one by one. Advance heart treatment for Rishi is due in Bangalore but that is not what Rishi wants. He wants family portraits and be later buried (not cremated) in an army cemetery where most of his friends are resting.

The purpose of this long introduction is not to reveal details of the plot .We must get to know the complexity of the characters. All this follows and remains with us long after the screening is over. And that you must believe in them is best part of 'Kapoor & Sons'.

Director Shakun Batra (in league with Karan Johar) takes on the characters and family incidents as   prime priority. And all the characters, too many of them, shine all the way from beginning to the last frame (Rishi Kapoor in lead). From reel to real life, none of us are perfect and we live with our insecurities.  And if that is the case, why should once expect Kapoor's family to be perfect. The ills, depravity, guilt,, wrongdoings and vices are part of every family. The mother (Ratna Pathak) and father (Rajat Kapoor) are not in best terms with each other. In fact, they would even outburst at each other before the plumber who is fixing the sink. And that is not all. Rajat's girlfriend appears on grandfather's birthday. Rajat later admits that he has been meeting her for almost a year now.  And since his admission can't make the household any better (even after some warmth in the bedroom), he smashes his car in a fatal road accident. Returning to the kids is not any better. Sidharth has never settled and has moved from place to place, largely unemployed, but he has the nerves to get into romantic liaison with Aalyia Bhatt, who appears here in an extended extra role, without contributing the script (or to the family in crisis). Now we are left with Fawad Khan. His insecurities are deeper which he can't even reveal to himself or to his family. The director-writer has scripted his role in a subtle manner. When the mother finds out the intimacies between Fawad and his male partners on laptop, those moments are best part of the film. The mother tells him” you were my perfect son" Fawad replies "I am what I am. Before criticizing me, why didn’t you save your own marriage! I just want you to love me for who I am ".  It is now time for reconciliation.   And even though there have been  too many family portraits, everyone comes together , once again, for yet another  portrait (this time with a  large cut-out of Rajat Kapoor, who now must be resting in the  heaven).

'Kapoor & Sons' is almost a perfect character study. And even with several people around, the director has managed to give them their required and equal space. All of them seem real and close to us .This is a biggest achievement of the film 

The party, and later birthday bash sequences, are too long and needed brisk editing. The film with a powerful character-study hardly needed any music (Read: songs) The music used here is not at par with the film's brilliance.

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