‘DIL KABBADI’- AN ERRATIC DISPLAY OF INFIDELITY ON SCREEN

‘Dil Kabbadi’ is a roller-coaster ride you would not want to take for it is erratic, boring, and slow and certainly does not know the direction it is headed to. It is a movie made with very little finesse and has no structure on which it has been built. It falls flat from the very beginning and does not get up from its slumber inducing progress till the very end.

Made on the very ‘urban’ and absolutely ‘hip’ concept of infidelity in marriages the movie boasted of a stellar pair of actors in Konkona Sen Sharma and Irrfan Khan along with the very intellectual and multifaceted Rahul Bose, banker turned blue blooded actress Soha Ali Khan, underrated and underused Rahul Khanna and ‘Big Boss’ inmate Payal Rohatgi. Though the cast is quite impressive to begin with it remains superior only in name and on paper. It is disappointing to see such wonderful actors being given a raw deal in a movie which in its promotions promised a lot.

The screen play goes haywire from the very beginning and nothing in the movie seems to be relatable. The narrative takes you aback and is at time confusing. As the script is enlightening us with quite a few stories the confusion is chaotic. At times there are movies which speak multiple story lines eloquently without swirling the audience in a self induced frenzy. This does not hold true for ‘Dil Kabbadi’. There are times that I had to wonder what happened to a certain story while one was on the roll. This affects the concentration of the audience and is not a good feeling. After all we don’t go to the movies to invest our brain cells on the screen. The humour is poor, though not slapstick but not enjoyable at the same time. The fun element does not blossom and leaves you with a very wanted mood.

The actors don’t really impress primarily because the characters are very irritating. The sketch of every role is mopped with eccentricities which are not likable to begin with. To top that the script builds on these with great efficiency this spoils the likable factor of all the character. Turning back I cannot point out even one positive fact of any of the characters. This is truly sad because this translates to the audience not liking the actors themselves even if they do a fine job.

Konkona Sen Sharma is on auto-pilot through out the movie and has nothing really to show from her brilliant repertoire of acting skills. Irrfan Khan is surprisingly irritating while Soha Ali Khan needs to learn how to emote the intelligence of her face through her eyes. They remain blank through out and any effort to trace out any emotions would lead to empty hands. Rahul Bose has an very skirmish quality to his acting in this movie while Rahul Khanna is very plain. Finally, Payal Rohatgi may have acted her part to the T but it was the most nauseating track of the movie. She was neither funny and nor was she cute, though she did look good.

All in all, miss this movie if you can. In the multiplex era tickets can be heavy on a student wallet, better save it for the biggies coming later this month.