Dil Kabaddi **

STARRING

Rahul Bose, Irrfan Khan, Rahul Khanna, Konkona Sen Sharma, Payal Rohatgi, Soha Ali Khan, Saba and others.

DIRECTION

Anil Senior

STORY

The story revolves around two modern day couples Samit (Irrfan Khan)-Mita (Soha Ali Khan) and Rishi (Rahul Bose)-Simi (Konkona Sen Sharma). It deals with their post-marriage boredom and the irresistible lure of having fun outside the marital lakshman rekha.Irrfan Khan is one of those souls who love to experiment outside marriage without realizing the agony and pain it causes to his wife Mita. Mita does not like his promiscuous ways but silently suffers. Similarly, Rahul Bose, too, tries his hand at having some fun outside his marriage with Konkona Sen. All this forces Konkona to think if she was made for all these stuff outside wedding or not.While these two couples were struggling to come to terms with their marital life, there comes Kaya (Payal Rohatgi), who spices up the goings on between Irrfan Khan and Soha Ali Khan for a while. Saba (Raga) does the same in the arid life of Rahul Bose and compels him in taking next step.Soha Ali Khan’s short stint with Rahul Khanna (Veer) confuses Konkona Sen Sharma about the whole relationship and its ramifications. How, these four end up with their different quests and what happens to them forms rest of the story.

PERFORMANCE

Irrfan Khan, who plays the character of Samit, is in terrific form and lives his role realistically on the celluloid. His going out on a date with office colleague and later enduing up doing shirshasan is worth watching. Soha Ali Khan, who plays Irrfan’s wife Mita, has been improving with every new film of hers. She has given a fantastic performance.Rahul Bose, as always, is fabulous in the character of Rishi. His interaction with wife Simi is very good. Rahul’s reaction to his student, demanding a passionate kiss on her birthday, is also worth seeing. Konkona Sen Sharma, who plays Rahul’s wife Simi, excels in her role. Her interactions with Rahul Bose are superb.Rahul Khanna looks natural in the character of Veer and plays his part well. Payal Rohatgi provides the oomph factor to the whole proceedings with her sexy presence. Saba, as student of Rahul Bose, does a superb job.The direction of Anil Senior is not up to the mark. His style of storytelling seems to be an abstract. The director seems further handicapped by plot of the film which lacks a beginning, middle and end. However, it must be admitted that the director has taken a bold step by touching a taboo subject like sex and tried to do justice with it. The music of the film is also just passable. But cinematography is very good.

STARDUST VERDICT

Despite of sterling performances by seasoned actors like Irrfan, Rahul and Konkona, the film will be liked only by a niche audience at multiplexes due to its being based on a bold subject like sex. Not much chance at the box office. An average fare.

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