If you think that Kapoor & Sons is another frivolous, commercial rom-com that will leave you feeling giddy, you are in for some serious disappointment. At this weekend’s premiere of the much-awaited Bollywood venture, also starring Pakistan’s current sensation Fawad Khan, one experienced just that, albeit happily.
Fawad Khan, who was spotted in Karachi, with his wife Sadaf Fawad, just a day after his film’s worldwide release, attending the premiere, must have left a happy man. The huge round of applause that followed the screening was testament to the fact that Fawad stole the show in the multi-starrer Kapoor & Sons.
CineScope
A seamless script, full of mood swings, and heart-warming performances make this Fawad Khan-starrer a must-watch.
If you think that Kapoor & Sons is another frivolous, commercial rom-com that will leave you feeling giddy, you are in for some serious disappointment. At this weekend’s premiere of the much-awaited Bollywood venture, also starring Pakistan’s current sensation Fawad Khan, one experienced just that, albeit happily. Kapoor & Sons isn’t your run-of-the-mill, masala potboiler (expected of a Karan Johar production) instead it is a heart-warming, bittersweet amalgamation of realistic emotions, familial clashes and identity conflicts garnished with a hint of romance.
What’s interesting about the film is that it does not centre on a hero, heroine and/or a third wheel. It’s about characters; each one of them unique in their emotional wreckage and isolated amidst the abundance of their missed connections with one another. Rishi Kapoor as Dadu is the 90-year-old, often-lecherous but adorable patriarch of an essentially dysfunctional family that consists of his constantly bickering son Harsh (Rajat Kapoor) and daughter-in-law Sunita (Ratna Pathak Shah) and two grandsons Rahul (Fawad Khan) and Arjun (Sidharth Malhotra). Between the two, Rahul is the perfect role model - having become a best-selling novelist - while Arjun is the under-achiever. The film takes off from a reunion that happens as a result of Grandpa’s heart attack, and eventually lets its guard down as each family member’s blatant unhappiness removes the cloak from long-standing grudges, lies and secrets that eventually lead to life-altering instances.
One would expect such an ensemble cast to diffuse the film’s impact, but it is in fact the consistently brilliant performances that add to the soul of the film. Unlike his contemporaries, Sidharth Malhotra has been actively working towards creating a diverse portfolio of roles. He rose from being just a pretty face in Student of the Year to essaying an emotionally distraught widower in Ek Villain. In Kapoor & Sons, he effortlessly makes his character’s wounds palpable and relatable for the many insecure and rebellious younger siblings, who may have felt overshadowed by the elder’s achievements. Rishi Kapoor hits all the right notes with his comic timing in this otherwise emotional rollercoaster of a film but the real stars of the show are Ratna Pathak Shah and Fawad Khan.
Ratna as the miserable haggard is fiercer than ever before. She breezes through portraying a gamut of emotions – insecurity, confusion, envy and warmth – with impeccable skill and outshines in every frame as the less-tolerant, over-critical wife and an equally loving mother. Fawad, on the other hand, displays admirable restraint as an actor. He has been aptly described as a ‘dormant volcano’ by Hindustan Times for he is a master at disguising the lava of emotions that reside within him as the mature and responsible Rahul and only erupts, when the script demands, with remarkable intensity through his wounding insights. The huge round of applause that followed the screening, where Fawad sat concealed amongst an overwhelmed crowd, served as testament to the notion that Fawad is on his way to become the next big thing in B-town. As far as Alia Bhatt is concerned, it is suffice to say that her character is not as influential as one expects but she does justice to whatever time the script invests in her.
Kapoor & Sons is an ambitious film in the typically larger-than-life surroundings of Bollywood. It tackles with Bollywood’s current hot topic – dysfunctional families – without any overbearing melodrama. It is defying the stereotype that Bollywood’s so-called family films have fed into that have defined a perfect, happy family to be the norm and brings reality to the forefront with a gentle stroke of cinema artistry. It reminds us that no family is without flaws and that the benchmarks that Indian cinema has set, over the years, is nothing but a whole lot of fantasy filming. Time for a reality check.
The film also shuns stereotypes set against homosexuals. It does not make Fawad’s character all about homosexuality and certainly not in the ribald manner that Bollywood has done so far but instead focuses on the complexities of his personality, treating him as just another human. It won’t be an overstatement to say that Bollywood is turning over a new leaf and is finally finding value in the reality of this world. Kapoor & Sons is a commendable step in that direction.
