Kai Po Che

After the charming story of a rock band in Rock On, director Abhishek Kapoor is back again with another deep rooted friendship story. This time it’s the best seller of acclaimed writer Chetan Bhagath, “The 3 Mistakes of My Life”. With some alteration and omissions from the book, Kai Po Che is indeed a pleasing entertainer for its depth and intensity.

The plot as we all may know is familiar through the book. Three friends are planning to make it large and they decide to start a sports shop along with cricket coaching academy as one of them is a district level player who is passionate about cricket. The gang Ishaan, Omi and Govind gets financial support from Omi’s uncle who is a leader in hindu political party. Ishaan finds a talented boy Ali and trains him to reach higher levels of excellence. The smooth journey of the boys faces trouble through two things that really shook Gujrath in the history. The earth quake at Kutch in 2001 and the riots that happened after the Godhra train burning in 2002. How it badly affects them and how they eventually succeed in fulfilling their aim is what Kai Po Che all about.

The film delights for its multiple shades and also the incorporation of the actual incidents into the content in a very convincing manner. The intensity of friendship with cool talks and the cricketing portions with impressive technical research makes those portions cheesy. With the actors performing brightly as the down to earth guys with normal emotions and reactions Kai Po Che never really lets you down. The inclusion of the famous Kolkata test was really a pleasure and Abhishek Kapoor has captured it perfectly and within the small frame he has showed that in India cricket is a bonding factor.

On screen every new talent has done extremely well. Raj Yadav as the nerd Govind was my favorite among the protagonists. The way he bursts after seeing the destructed mall was indeed touching. Sushant Singh Rajput fits into the skin of Ishaan. Amit Sadh also did a great job as Omi, especially in the riot portions. Amrita Puri was also charming as Vidya. Manav Kaul also makes an impressive screen presence as Omi’s uncle.

In the making, Abhishek Kapoor has handled the movie smartly. Largely uncompromised making style with sensible style makes this movie more engaging. I loved the way he captured the cricketing sequences in the first half. But the climax scene had a lot of things annoying in terms of technicality. Screenplay is engaging and for the movie making purpose I think they have skipped some portions from the actual content. The relationship between Govind and Vidya was captured nicely. Cinematography is quite impressive and the lighting had a charm throughout. The VFX team did a good show except for the climax. Edits were fine and the music of Amit Trivedi is too good.

Kai Po Che is indeed a memorable experience and the changes from the book won’t annoy you for sure. I am giving 4/5 and thumbs up for this multi colored emotional journey that will stay close to our heart. Don’t miss these Kites.