Kahaani 2

Vidya Sinha lives quietly in Kalimpong with Mini, her daughter, who uses a wheelchair. One day the girl is taken; running after her, Vidya is hit by a car and falls into a coma. The police find a diary in her house. It carries another name: Durga Rani Singh, a woman wanted for murder and abduction. Inderjeet, the officer on the case, knew Vidya years ago. Sujoy Ghosh directs. Vidya Balan plays Vidya and Arjun Rampal plays Inderjeet. It is not a sequel. All it shares with the first Kahaani is the title, the director and the lead; the story is entirely separate. The narrative runs in two times. The past in the diary and the present investigation alternate, and the audience learns who the woman is at the same moment as the police. Its real subject is child abuse, taken on directly, and a subject rarely handled in mainstream Indian cinema at the time. Vidya Balan's performance carries the film; the difference between the character's two states is built by acting rather than by make up or narration. The weakness is the construction of the suspense. The surprise architecture of the first film is not repeated and the last section explains too much. Who it is for: viewers who follow Indian thrillers and Vidya Balan. Who it is not for: the subject is heavy, the first half is slow, and the ending is not as striking as expected.