Kabir Singh

Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani

Writer/Director: Sandeep Vanga

Producer/s: Bhushan Kumar, Murad Khetani, Krishan Kumar and Ashwin Varde

Plot:

The promo pretty much said it all. It conveyed loud and clear that a romantic drama was in the offering that did boast of the kind of aesthetics that could fit into the big screen scheme of things as well. Thankfully, that turns out to be the case as well for Ekta Kapoor and producer Tanveer Bookwala’s Fittrat, the first season of which has just been unveiled at ALT Balaji and Zee Premium.

Fittrat could well be the first such on-screen experience when it comes to a Hindi offering, be it from Bollywood or the world of web series or a TV serial, where a leading lady is unabashed in admitting that she is a gold digger. Well, even that may well have been possible had she been projected as all evil, opportunistic or, to put it simply, an antagonist. This is what makes Fittrat special as the lady in question, played excellently by Krystle D’Souza, is actually the protagonist of the show.

This means even when her 10-year-old self declares loud and clear that she would want to find a life partner who is Mr. Moneybags, can shower her with the riches, and fulfill everything that she needs in her life, you don’t quite look at her in disdain. That is also because of the manner in which director Santosh Singh fleshes out her personality.

For starters, she is not shown as a cold emotionless girl who could backstab anyone and everyone for her gains. She is friends with the other leading lady, Anushka Ranjan, who is just the kind of Ms. Richie Rich whom she wants to be. However, she doesn’t go and steal behind her back even as her fiancé Aditya Seal, a rich builder from Delhi, is hitting on her left, right and center. Moreover, she tops her state board examinations, tries to at least kickstart a life of her own in Delhi, and is above all an honest woman.

This is where Fittrat differentiates itself from other such stories because Krystle’s character is crystal clear. Pun intended. She doesn’t hide her intentions either from Anushka & Aditya or Anushka’s brother (Aru Krishnash) and her parents (Kaizaad Kotwal, Divya Sheth). All of this happens organically in this 14 part series where each episode lasts less than 20 minutes, hence making it a snappy affair.

The series turns out to be an enriching audio-visual affair too as right from cinematography to set design to locations look rich while sound design, background score and above all music gives a big-screen feel. Just check out ‘Manmuraadein’ and you end up wondering how big it would have turned out to be had it been a part of the biggest musical success of 2019, Kabir Singh. The song is well up there in that big league.

Where the series could well have become even bigger than it already is had the actions of some of the characters could have been a tad better laid down. (Spoilers ahead) At a couple of places, Aditya’s actions are tough to comprehend whether they fall under the category of love or lust. Moreover, Krystle’s emotional inclination towards him also waiver a bit more than what one would have imagined, especially towards the pre-climax and climax. While it is understandable that Anushka loves Aditya, at times one wonders whether she is allowing herself to live in a bubble for way too long. Nonetheless, since this is an entertainment zone at the end of the day and there is another season ready to be seen as well, one waits to see how does the characterisation and the chain of events proceed from there.

Rest assured, one would witness credible performances for sure. For starters, Krystle pretty much owns the show as a central protagonist. She makes a very good impression right from her first to the last scene. Not just does she look glamorous, she also emotes quite well too with perfect dialogue delivery. She is here to stay. Anushka Ranjan has made her Bollywood debut earlier on with Wedding Pulao and is confident all over again in Fittrat. She carries her part well. Aditya Seal was recently seen in a grey part in Student of the Year 2 and with Fittrat, he gets to demonstrate further range through his performance. He is good.

As for the supporting actors, Aru Krishnash has a meaty role and he is quite endearing and loveable. Kaizaad Kotwal looks and acts the tycoon part and should be seen in more films. Divya Sheth is credible as ever and is particularly impressive in the scene where she tries to reason with Anushka on Krystle being a gold digger. Babla Kochhar is quite real as Aditya Seal’s father while Aditya Lal, in a brief role as an emerging media personality, is decent.

Of course, time and again it does happen though that a well-cut promo has all the scale and size out there to entice the audiences but when an entire series is watched, you realise that it wasn’t really as per the expectations. However, Fittrat is different. It, in fact, turns out to be better than expected and that makes one keenly look forward to the second season that would be unveiled soon.

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Star Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Soham Majumdar, Arjan Bajwa, Suresh Oberoi, Kamini Kaushal

Director: Sandeep Reddy Vanga

Producer: Murad Khetani, Ashwin Varde, Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar.

Box Office Expectations: Kabir Singh is the official Hindi remake of Telugu Blockbuster Arjun Reddy. The film directed by same director Sandeep won the hearts of the audience ever since its teaser came out. Shahid looked extremely promising and on top of his acting game. Then trailer and some hit songs did the task of amplifying the hype.

Now nothing less than a clean hit or Shahid’s first solo 100 crore grosser is expected from Kabir Singh.

Box Office Impact: I watched an 8AM show of the film amidst healthy amount of enthusiastic audience.

First half of the film gives a lot of clap-worthy and ‘seeti-maar’ moments to the public. After a long time, I witnessed multiplex audience hooting during the film (some of the scenes didn’t deserve applause honestly, but, our audience works that way only). So, the conclusion is that people were connecting with the flawed character of Kabir.

The point here I want to make personally is that nowhere the film tries to give a message to the audience. Kabir Singh’s character has a lot of flaws but he has an innocent and good side too. Both of them have been shown rightly and at the end it’s just a character. You can judge him for both sides but can’t take him seriously.

Coming back to the point, the film shifts to a new zone in the second half. If the first half is heavy on romance, action and entertainment, second half focus more on the reactions. The way Kabir’s life takes a total turn and how he moves on a self destructing path makes the second half.

Since the mood of the second half is heavy, there are very less funny moments or those which get reactions. There was not much of the public reaction in the second half but it’s decent. I mean it’s not bad but could’ve been much better.

At times, the film takes inspiration from Rockstar and Tamasha (Note the similarities between the scene where Shahid and Kiara have an argument after he is insulted by her father & the cafe scene of Ranbir and Deepika in Tamasha). The resemblance is way too much and. Also, the character that Shahid plays has a lot of shades of Ranbir Kapoor as Rockstar.

But it’s the performance part where the film secures maximum marks.

Shahid is at his best, even though there was scope to be better in few scenes. Be it the scenes in which he is angry or those in which he is just enjoying the bliss of love, he is equally good in both and treat for the audience. The way he jumps from one mood to another, is sheer brilliance.

Kiara Advani as Preeti looks beautiful and is equally good in performance too. She has almost no screen space in the second half but the way she performs in the first half, stays with you. Even though there’s less focus on her.

Soham Majumdar as Kabir’s friend Shiva is lovely. His character sketch is also impressive.

Arjan Bajwa as Kabir’s brother, Suresh Oberoi as father and Kamini Kaushal as his grand-mother have their moments.

Director Sandeep Vanga has done a very good job. He could’ve made a film little short though.

Box Office Prospects: Kabir Singh has everything which will help it do well at the Box Office. The film will cross the 100 crores mark.

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Kabir Singh Movie Review Rating: 4/5 Stars (Four stars)

Star Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Soham Majumdar, Arjan Bajwa

Director: Sandeep Reddy Vanga

What’s Good: The sheer intensity of drama coupled with the perfect amount of humour, Shahid Kapoor’s unparalleled performance & the BGM aided with some beautiful songs

What’s Bad: Might be the pace at some places for some of you out there, but I didn’t mind that too – it was an entertaining ride for me throughout

Loo Break: It’s pretty natural to take one of it in three hours (duration of the film) – none apart from that!

Watch or Not?: If you have watched Arjun Reddy watch this for Shahid Kapoor; if you haven’t watched Arjun Reddy watch this for Shahid Kapoor!

User Rating:

Kabir Singh (Shahid Kapoor) is one angry young man but he’s also a brilliant surgeon & a topper of his college. In a flashback sequence, we know about what led him to this path of self-destruction. As a legend has once said, “Ladki ka chakkar babubhaiya, ladki ka chakkar!”We’ve our leading lady in Preeti (Kiara Advani). A simple, sweet, introvert, who at first didn’t seem, will give her away just like that to someone like Kabir.

Kabir, of course, is the most handsome guy around the campus, is her senior and has all the achievements. Preeti starts falling for Kabir and their relationship arc is built in the first half. It’s the second half that unfolds the dramatic portions of Kabir’s journey through his destruction. How he shuffles through his professional and personal life, how his family backs him and where is Preeti? All this and a lot more is unveiled in the latter half.

Kabir Singh Movie Review: Script Analysis

The script of Kabir Singh is beyond few sheets of paper. Sandeep Reddy Vanga – the man behind it has poured his (pieces of) heart into it. Sandeep, to an extent, has lived the real story of Kabir Singh and that passion is visible. In every heartbreaking scene, you just see the writers vision and how it’s more than being a fictional story. The humour is laced perfectly to the intense sequences; it’s just like laughing on someone’s needless anger.

There’s a pre-climax scene that redefines the entire character arc of Shahid Kapoor; watch it for the conversation with his father after an unfortunate incident (not a spoiler). That scenes changed my entire perspective about the character and Shahid’s performance takes it to another level. Things like the protagonist’s exaggerated anger issues, patriarchy, sexism will come under the feminazi’s radar, but it really will not bother the general cinegoers.

Kabir Singh Movie Review: Star Performance

Shahid Kapoor touches level he has never done in the past. For me, Haider was his best performance till date but Kabir Singh challenges that throne. The former was complex but the latter allows the star to express his emotions in a very expressive way. Just hope he gets his solo 100 crore grosser with this one.

Kiara Advani feels & looks her character Preeti. It’s not about how charming she looks, it’s about how well she holds her space when she’s on screen. It’s not at all easy to make your presence felt when you’ve another performer grabbing all the eyeballs. Kiara manages to hold our attention to her performance very well.

Soham Majumdar as Shahid’s close friend Shiva contributes highly to the humour quotient of the film. He’s good in emotional sequences too. Arjan Bajwa as Shahid’s brother Karan delivers a fine performance too.