Banner: Globe Filmy Entertainment
Producer: Faisal Kapadia & Arun Bhairav
Director: Anil Kumar Chaudhary
Cast: Vinay Pathak, Mugdha Godse, Raima Sen, Saurabh Shukla, Rajendra Sethi & Amit Behl
Music: Sangeeta Pant & Surendra Sodi
Media Promotion: Dwapar Promoters (Himanshu Jhunjhunwala)
Writer – Producer Faisal Kapadia indeed deserves a pat on his back for weaving an interesting & colorful albeit a relealistic story based on a middle class Punjabi family in all its glory. If only he had handed the directorial reigns to a more skillful director rather than an amateurish actor turned amateurish director like Anil Kumar Chaudhary, whose earlier credits include films like ‘Ye Mothers’ & ‘No Rules For Fools’ and now ‘Kaagaz Ke Fools’. How Symbolic!!!
The plotted scenario of the film starts off with a search operation by Dev (Saurabh Shukla) & Nikki (Mugdha Godse). This brother – sister duo are in search of Nikki’s ‘non – ambitious but honest’ husband Purushottam Tripathi (Vinay Pathak), who leaves the house after a tiff with his nagging (but loveable) wife Nikki. While on one hand, Nikki’s relatives help to reconcile her relationship with Purushottam, on the other hand, the couple’s common friend lays his bets on them getting divorced. Caught in a whirlpool of relatives, friends & emotional turmoil, Purushottam lands up in a gambling den, where he drinks heavily and wins not just the money but also the company of a ‘working woman’ prostitute Rubina (Raima Sen). Despite all her attempts to seduce him, the ‘patni – vratha’ Purushottam refuses to give in to her advances. Seeing a ‘truthful human’ in her, he starts staying with her, but without any intimacy between them. On a professional front too, his life is in turmoil as his book ‘Ek Thehri Si Zindagi’ fails to find any publisher, which further adds to his frustration. One day, when Purushottam is totally out of control emotionally, he again lands up at the same gambling den. Lady Luck favors him to the core and he makes a killing, so much so that he even defeats the owner of the gambling den ‘in his own game’. He, then, hands over all the winnings to Rubina asking her to fund her brother’s education. The next day, a series of incidents happen in quick succession that puts everyone including Purushottam in a tizzy. While on one hand, Purushottam gets kidnapped in broad daylight, on the other hand, someone renames his book from ‘Ek Thehri Si Zindagi’ to ‘Ek Tharki Si Zindagi’, which lands up being a Bestseller’ in no time of its publishing.
Not only director Anil Kumar Chaudhary but most of his technical crew seems incompetent like cinematographer Aniket Khandagale, music composer Sangeeta Pant (but of course Surendra Sodhi’s background score deserves a special mention), editor Kshitija Khandagale, sound designer Suresh Sharma et al. Need anything more be said.
Performance wise It is Vinay Pathak’s film all the way as his act as a simpleton wins the heart of the viewers as he always finds himself not only in the wrong place but at the wrong time too. In short he is ‘Brillanto’. While the rest of the cast like Mugadha Godse, Raima Sen, Saurabh Shukla, Rajendra Sethi & Amit Behl are all victims of serious miscasting and hence fail to impress and deliver the goods.
Tail Piece: Inspite of all its foibles and follies ‘Kaagaz Ke Fools’ is worth giving a try at least once without ending up being regretful.