Film: Kahaani; Director: Sujoy Ghosh; Rating: ****

Sujoy Ghosh's directed Kahaani is a taut thriller. The film boats of a power-packed performance by Vidya Balan.  The story is of Vidya (played by Vidya Balan) coming to Kolkata in search of her missing husband.  The city plays a character in the film. Vidya is a Tamilian married to a Bengali. Her husband Arnab Bagchi seems non-existent to viewers initially.  She meets a helpful cop Satyoki aka Rana (played by Parambrata Chattopadhyay), who helps her in the search. She also has to face a rude Intelligence Bureau officer Khan (played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui). Other characters of the city seem warm.

The film has been made better with use of memorable tunes of R.D. Burman adding up to the impact of the narrative. Kolkata is shown in its full beauty, with its old buildings, warm people, congested traffic and yellow taxis. Shooting the film on real locations add to the beauty of the film.

The film’s background music adds up to the narrative. The casting director has done a great job. All actors play their roles with conviction. Actors playing smaller character roles excel in the film. Vidya Balan has made us forget her last super performance in The dirty Picture. Vidya delivers all kinds of emotions-nervousness, happiness, surprise, and all other cocktails of emotions with conviction.

The real hero of this film is its script. The script is taut and well-written, offering edge-of the-seat moment.

A must watch indeed!