Khaad: The Abyss

Film maker Kaushik Ganguly delivers yet another beautifully crafted twisted tale in Khaad. This is not one of those stories that dwell in the known avenues of story-telling. It is art. It is craft! And everything is fair in love, war and well, craft. And our director has a reputation in being crafty. Kaushik Ganguly doesn’t need a recheck when it somes to his credibility as a director. His ‘Shabdo’ and ‘Apur Pachali’ have already established his skills and made him left a mark in the Bengali film industry.

Like his earlier movies, Khaad also has a set of characters that mark the stereo-types in the society. His characters are people who wouldn’t be very hard to find in our city or the society as a whole.

There is this newly married modern couple, Jeet (Saheb Bhattacharya) and Poonam (Mimi Chakravarti), always fighting with each other but too much in love. There is this family comprising the father, mother a young son and an older daughter who has already started walking on her way to ruin her life. There is this mother and son (played brilliantly by the director himself), the mother too old to carry on with the dreadful journey and a very warm heart and her son too clingy to the only woman in his life. Then there is this doctor and his sister (so called, no spoilers), quite a normal couple of siblings to look at, but with a very twisted background. Next comes the popular actress Aparna (Gargee Roychowdhuri) who is travelling with her differently abled but very much loved brother Abhik (Rajdeep Ghosh). There is this single retired Hindi school teacher with strictness in his stride and benevolence in his soul. There is also a church father (Ardhendu Bannerjee), whose purpose in the movie is not very clear. 

Rudranil as a bus conductor also lives worth his role.

Next is one of the main characters in the movie, a single man with a hobby of trekking, played by Kamaleshwar Mukherjee who also shows excellent skills in taking initiatives and leadership.

In the earlier scenes of the movie, each of the characters is introduced. Next, they have an accident (they were travelling in a bus together) and fall down from a cliff (to a Khaad). Next is the story of how they come closer as a group in the midst of adversity and help each other pass the hours till the time expected help comes their way.

Then, as night comes along and they are too afraid to sleep, they decide to share their darkest secrets with the entire group. They believe that all their secrets will be buried forever in the cliff (Khaad) and their souls will be free of the burden. As revelation comes from the characters one by one, each of them is freed from the rusty chains of darkness. It goes something like that show on Star Plus, Saach ka Saamna. The characters come along happily and are left in tears by the end of it, with shame and guilt but free of the burdens in their hearts.

At the end, all of them are freed of their secrets and all should have been well. But here is the brilliance of Kaushik Ganguly. He spoils our prediction and saves the movie an ill-fated ending with a brilliant twist in the tale.

The acting is good, locations, well let’s go ahead ignoring that, and script is brilliant. Photography too is worth the script. With a fewer number but striking songs, the musical aspect of the film also looks good. What didn’t work is the impracticality in the story. Why would a group of people who have been harsh to each other all the while sit down to share their secrets? The logic provided by the film is NOT enough for me.

At the end, the movie is nice and should be worth the while to spend a dull, uneventful night watching.   

Acting: 2.5/5

Script: 1.5/5

Direction: 2.5/5

Overall: 2/5

Verdict: An average movie with a different vision, not quite brilliantly executed.