Director: Arindam Nandy
Producer: Joy Ganguly
Starring: Kay Kay Menon,Sonali Kulkarni,Parveen Dabbas,Simone Singh, Rajat Kapoor,Sandhya Mridul,Prroshant Narayanan.
This Friday has been a disappointing one for the cine audience. Though three movies have been screened but none of them meets the expectations of the movie watchers. And, 'Via Darjeeling' expected to be a good one because of its natural scenic locations; the whole effort of the director has gone waste for lack of a script.
Even good actors have suffered on this account. Yes, this is the director's first movie but his cast was a talented one. So, there is a hidden lesson that the actors should not lap up any movie unless they are satisfied with the script and then with their role.
'Via Darjeeling' is a movie about a married couple, played by Sonali Kulkarni and Kay Kay Menon in the roles of Ankur and Rimli, respectively. They are honeymooning in Darjeeling and Kalimpong. One fine afternoon, just when they're packing to leave Darjeeling for Calcutta, Ankur disappears without any trace from the hotel.
Thus, the movie turns a mystery or semi-mystery and remains so until the end. Incidentally, inspector Robin Dutt played by a competent actor like Vinay Pathak tells this mystery kind of incident to a small get-together, called an adda in Bengal.
This is to recall that the adda is a custom of Calcutta where friends gather informally to exchange views and gossip over drinks and dinner. Inspector Dutta investigates the case with no results. Those present there start chiming in with their version of the story, of course over scotch and speculation.
Well, their objective is to depict the couple's character as a glimpse into their own lives! It's unfortunate that by a sheer coincidence the debut director that Arindam Nandy is ends up with his good actors turning rank amateurs! Yes, the actors are good enough but the director treats them like his caricatures.
Performance-wise, Rajat Kapoor leads the cast in the role of a newspaper editor. He wins the audience's hearts with his humor and professional maturity. Then comes Vinay Pathak who plays a cop exceedingly well.
The other charming actor is Prashant Narayanan sporting a beard. He is quite deft in handling tricky situations in this movie. Though always shining and perfect Kay Kay is in the main lead, yet he disappoints this time with his not so happy performance.
This is indeed distressing. KK is known for perfection. However, this time he seems to have overacted. Unlike in the past. He needs to look into this lapse. Similarly, an actor like Parvin Dabas has been wasted, perhaps due to lack of a suitable role for him.
Among the females, Simone Singh is okay but Sandhya Mridul isn't in her usual self. Sonali Kulkarni's performance is thoroughly disappointing. Language-wise, the actors do manage a realistic Bangla accent at their adda, but nothing else.
The greatest weakness of the movie lies in its script; presumably there is no story at all. That's why the characters fail to justify themselves due to lack of adequate roles for them though they are good otherwise.
The story doesn't make a sense and therefore fails to fascinate its audience at the adda. The storytelling or story narration is a great art.
We need to remember that our grandmothers or nannies have since centuries kept their little and slightly old children completely mesmerized by the storytelling skill. This is conspicuous by its complete absence in this movie.
