Trailer Time: Sujoy Ghosh and Vidya Balan Return in KAHAANI 2
Director Sujoy Ghosh and actress Vidya Balan are back this winter with Kahaani 2, the sequel to their hit thriller Kahaani from 2012.
When Kahaani was released, it was a major surprise hit at the Indian box office and eventually found some life on the film festival circuit afterwards. It's the story of a pregnant mother named Vidya (or Bidya as it is constantly mispronounced in the Bengali dialect/language) searching for her missing husband in Kolkata, all while trying to avoid a hitman/serial killer looking to clean up after some of the dirty deeds that led her there in the first place.
Kahaani's tight pacing and creative script packed with twists led to it being hailed as one of the best Hindi films of the year by many, including me. It was only a matter of time before the creative team behind the film got back together for another project.
2012 was a big year for Vidya Balan. In addition to Kahaani, she starred in several films around this time as a lead, sometimes alone as in Kahaani and The Dirty Picture, and sometimes as co-lead as in the well-regarded Ishquiya. It was this fruitful time that led to Balan becoming one of the most in-demand actresses in India and getting more and more chances to show off her talents. With Kahaani 2, it looks like she's going to have another chance to stretch her wings and dive into the kind of meaty role that not many actresses get.
One major difference between the first film and this sequel appears to be in the casting of Balan's supporting characters. While Kahaani utilized not only the locations and customs of Kolkata, but also local talent like Parambrata Chaterjee as the cop helping "Bidya" and Saswata Chatterjee as the now iconic Bob Biswas, Kahaani 2 has enlisted Bollywood pretty boy Arjun Rampal as her co-lead.
The trailer looks solid, though, so I'm ready to love this film. Ghosh and Balan did an amazing job with the first film, and this sequel looks to amp up the action while hopefully retaining most of the mystery/thriller aspects that made Kahaani such a hit.
Kahaani 2 opens on December 2.
