Kaalidhar Laapata

Kaalidhar Laapata Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Daivik, Mohd. Zeeshan Ayyub

Director: Madhumita

What’s Good: The child actor Daivik Baghela

What’s Bad: The missing soul from the story!

Loo Break: Anytime you want, how many times you want!

Watch or Not?: Not sure, read the review, and take a call! I watched it for you! Atleast do that bit!

Language: Hindi

Available On: Zee 5

Runtime: 1 hour 39 minutes

User Rating:

Another South to Hindi adaptation has hit the OTT world and Abhishek Bachchan has struggled a lot to match the finesse of the original. Did he succeed in making Kaalidhar Laapata the same energetic, soulful comedy drama director Madhumita delivered in Tamil? Well, the answer is a bit complicated! Trust me when I say this: I was totally intrigued by the film trailer when it arrived! I thought, finally, Abhishek Bachchan is back with something that would connect to the soul!

My hopes went high once the music album arrived! Composed by Amit Trivedi, the three songs were so good that I can feed on them every single night till I sleep! But then, did the film translate, into that food for soul kind of cinema? Well, not really!

If I can be generous, then I might totally empathize with Abhishek Bachchan’s struggle to play KD and match the brilliance of his young co-actor, Daivik Bhagela. The child is brilliant! But Abhishek Bachchan seems to have a chemistry that is off. I would give the benefit of the doubt since he was playing a man suffering from the early stages of dementia! But still, you either connect with a child or you do not have it in you! There is absolutely nothing in between! And Jr B falls in the latter category, at least for this film!

Kaalidhar Laapata Movie Review: Script Analysis

The story for Kaalidhar Laapata is simple. A man in 40s, suffers from dementia, and he is abandoned by his family after they slyly take his thumbprints on the important documents required. However, unluckily, the family needs to find him after deliberately losing him after they lose the documents! The entire story revolves around Kaalidhar battling loneliness and betrayal of his family and his family struggling to find him for one last signature!

While Kaalidhar is dumped, he bumps into a boy who shares the same life as him now! A boy aged 12 – 13 or so, who was abandoned by his family on the steps of a temple when he was 4 days old. KD and Ballu connect. They share a warm relationship. But while this should have been a relationship of give and take, it turns out that Ballu turns into a mature giver who caters to all the emotional needs of KD. He finds solace in making him happy, but the relationship does not bloom vice versa. KD is too engrossed in his issues, mental state, fears, and dilemmas. So, while Ballu takes it upon himself to ‘paalo-posofy’ this 40-year-old man, the man in turn does not seem quite bothered by anything for Ballu, not even when he quits school! What’s this behavior, KD?

Let’s be generous. There were moments in the film that tried to create some emotional space! The background score, at times, managed to be unobtrusive, which, in a film like this, feels like a monumental achievement. There were dialogues that seemed to be working fine, mostly because they landed with the young kid! In one of the scenes he says, “Log mandir jaayein ya shamshan phoolon ka kaam to accha hi chalega.” The honesty and sincerety in his deliveries, make them compelling!

The only two things that genuinely work in the film are the songs and the child actor Daivik Baghela. His quirkiness adds a relief to this story that is so dull that you might nap and wake up but nothing significant would have happened!

Kaalidhar Laapata Movie Review: Star Performance

Abhishek Bachchan, in most parts of the film, struggles to connect, not because he is a bad actor, but only because he is bad at choosing scripts! Because this one is clearly poorly written and executed. The story aims high on emotional content and a soulful slice of life drama, but it does not go anywhere. Despite having a barrage of great supporting actors! At one point, the film gets so stretched and confused that I do not understand what is happening!

The characters of Kaalidhar Laapata are half-baked. Even the lead character! The nuisances in the story are missing from the first scene itself! My hopes went high once Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub entered as the man who was supposed to find the Laapata Kaalidhar! But even that arc does not go anywhere – absolutely aimless!

The story further loses its plot once Nimrat Kaur enters the frame! Even her character is poorly executed, with zero connection or likability! Why would she do such an absurd cameo? No idea! Coming to the lead, Abhishek Bachchan’s character Kaalidhar, he makes an honest attempt to connect! But the problem with Abhishek Bachchan is that he is actually an honest actor! His struggle and laid-back attitude are pretty evident whenever he sees the ship sinking! In this case, it was clearly from the word go! So, he surrendered too soon and did not even make an attempt to uplift anyhow! Right from delivering a dialogue to eating a Biryani, nothing seemed to have a purpose in the story!