Kahaani

Kahaani (2012)

कहानी

A mother of a story.

Pregnant and alone in the city of Kolkata, a woman begins a relentless search for her missing husband, only to find that nothing is what it seems.

Date of release
2012-03-08
TMDB
7.2 / 10 (371)
Runtime
2h 2m
Genres
Mystery, Thriller
Director
Sujoy Ghosh
Collection
Kahaani Collection

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: Kolkata

Kahaani is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language thriller film co-written, co-produced, and directed by Sujoy Ghosh. It stars Vidya Balan as Vidya Bagchi, a pregnant woman looking for her missing husband in Kolkata during the festival of Durga Puja, assisted by Assist Sub-Inspector Satyoki "Rana" Sinha and Inspector General A. Khan.

Production

Sujoy Ghosh approached novelist and script writer Advaita Kala with the idea for the film. Kala took inspiration from her experience in Kolkata, where she had moved in 1999, akin to the protagonist in the film. She reported that despite facing a language barrier and the chaos and poverty of the metropolis, she was charmed by the warmth of the people, which was reflected in the film.

Ghosh, who co-wrote the story and the screenplay, began to plan the film while awaiting the release of his previous film Aladin (2009), but the dismal response to Aladin was a setback. He had to approach several producers to finance him for Kahaani, but was refused and discouraged from making the film owing to three factors: a pregnant woman as the lead star, a bunch of unknown Bengali actors as the supporting cast and Kolkata as a backdrop.

Bengali film actor Prosenjit Chatterjee encouraged Ghosh to shoot in Kolkata. Ghosh finally selected Kolkata for several reasons: the director's acquaintance with the city, its mix of modernity and old-world charm, and budget constraints. Kolkata is a cheaper location than Mumbai or Delhi, where most Bollywood films are shot.

Ghosh admitted in an interview that after his two preceding directorial ventures—Aladin and Home Delivery (2005)—performed poorly at the box office, Kahaani was his last chance to create a niche as a director. He added that the film's plot twist came somewhat accidentally. Having described the skeleton of the story to a friend during its development, the friend called him back a few days later to enquire about his film.

According to Jyothika, she was initially offered the role of Vidya Bagchi, but declined; the role eventually went to Vidya Balan. Unimpressed with the plot outline, Vidya refused, only changing her mind after having read the completed script.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended