Kadak Singh Review: Pankaj Tripathi lifts substandard psycho-thriller

Psychological thrillers aren’t an unexplored genre in Bollywood. We’ve seen films like ‘Drishyam,’ ‘Kahaani,’ ‘Talaash,’ and many others delve into this realm. Zee5’s latest offering, ‘Kadak Singh,’ ventures into this challenging genre with a stellar cast including Pankaj Tripathi, Parvathy, Sanjana Sanghi, Jaya Ahsan, Paresh Pahuja, and others. But did the film make it to the list of successful pyscho-thrillers or was it just another attempt gone wasted? Let’s find out.

Pankaj Tripathi, portraying AK Srivastava, is a respected officer in the Department of Financial Crimes (DFC). A sequence of mysterious events leads him to attempt suicide, but he ends up in a hospital with retrograde amnesia. He has lost most of his memories and only partially recalls people and events.He is at his quirkiest best at the hospital and his daughter Sakshi (Sanjana Sanghi) regularly visits him and helps him remember his past. Interestingly, individuals from various walks of life offer contrasting tales about his past and the events leading to his suicide attempt. The central questions emerge: Why did he attempt suicide? Whose narrative will he ultimately trust? Will he recover his memories at all? These questions unfold over the next two hours.

There is a reason Pankaj Tripathi is often considered an asset to the film industry. From his screen presence and dialogue delivery to his charm, everything elevates the film despite its multiple loopholes. Pankaj’s character in the film shows two sides – a stern father (the reason his children call him Kadak Singh) and a jovial patient. Pankaj pulled off both with the utmost ease. If we were to give you a few reasons why you should watch the film, it would be to watch Pankaj at his craft.

Sanjana Sanghi is relatively new to the world of films and had the mammoth challenge of sharing screen space with a stellar performer such as Pankaj. However, she turned out to be quite the surprise package in the film. The fact that she is also working on her acting skills clearly shows. South actress Parvathy returns to Hindi films after ‘Qarib Qarib Single’ with Irrfan. The actress had a meaty role and proved her mettle yet again. Portraying Ms. Kannan, a nurse caring for Pankaj, excelled with her compelling performance. Jaya Ahsan, a rather popular name in the Bengali film industry, has a key role, but her character lacks depth. However, the great actress that she is, manages to shine and stand out.

Watch the trailer of ‘Kadak Singh’ here:

Director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, who has previously helmed films such as ‘Pink’, ‘Lost’, ‘Antaheen’, provides an underwhelming performance in this film. While the movie starts on a firm footing, it gradually loses track as the story progresses. You might dismiss it as another psycho-thriller with answers reserved for the last page, potentially leading to disappointment.

At times, the forced or monotonous moments, coupled with the dull grey-blue screen shade, might cause you to lose interest or track of the storyline. Yet, there’s something that repeatedly draws your attention back to the screen. Apart from suicide and death, there were meaty layers left to be explored, such as the family drama. While time constraints must be a factor and the story leading to the suicide surely needed more focus, Srivastava’s troublesome relationship with his daughter Sakshi could have been given more emphasis.

There were comic reliefs fitted cleverly to cut through the grim outline of the film. And it did work too, but only to some extent. However, ‘Kadak Singh’ suffers from a slow pace and a weak screenplay that significantly detracts from its impact. While the star cast gave a compelling performance, their potential somewhere, was left underused in this substandard psychological thriller.

All in all, watch ‘Kadak Singh’ only if you are a true Pankaj Tripathi fan and can let go of disappointments easily. If not, you always have his other films to compensate.

2 out of 5 for ‘Kadak Singh’.