Kai Po Che is an entertainer. Abhishek Kapoor delivers yet again after the resounding success of ‘Rock On!!’ in 2008. Adapted for the screen from Chetan Bhagat’s novel ‘The Three Mistakes of My Life’, the film is set in Ahmedabad, India and is centered on the lives of three friends Ishaan, Omkar and Govind.
Ishaan is the passionate cricket lover who never managed to get beyond playing for the district level, Omi is the town Pandit’s son and Gobi is the one with a burning desire to earn money and make it big. There is Ali, the boy who promises sixers every time he picks up a batand this talent infuses Ishaan with a new passion.
The friends open a shop cum sports coaching cum tuition place for Maths, and dream gleefully of bigger things. The boys’ earnestness will make us want to root for them as they traverse around the challenges life has to offer. As the friends push each other and start to focus their attention on what they individually do best, their friendships and beliefs get tested.
Like in the book, the film touches upon the beginning of the 2002 Gujarat riots. Omi’s uncle is the local party leader whose political rival is Ali’s father. The boys, especially Omi, unwittingly get entrenched into politics and it is then we see Omi slowly transform into a man with a purpose.
A successful TV actor, this is Sushant Singh Rajput’s film debut and he’s done a fine job, leaving the viewer appreciating his presence. Amit Sadh and Raj Kumar Yadav take us along in the perfectly believable daily going on of their small town life that is punctuated with little victories and big catastrophes. In fact, the cast of the film develop into credible characters and their lives in the small town are ordinary without any speck of glamour.
What works in ‘Kai Po Che’ is the effort to present the characters within the image of the small town boy. Ishaan’s frustration with his inability to take his love for cricket further and the subsequent squabbles with his father over the lack of any apparent ambition; the hardworking Gobi whose sole intention is to earn money and move on to better things; Omi who is very attached to Ishaan but is slowly drawn into his uncle’s way of seeing things. The focus of the film remains the friendship amongst the boys, which though tried and tested, manages to come through.
There are no routine Bollywood dances, just some pleasing music. After ‘Three Idiots’ and ‘Kai Po Che’ perhaps it would be safe to assume that Chetan Bhagat’s books are better suited to the big screen?
Screening at QFX cinemas
source: Rai, Pramila(2013),"Kai Po Che: A bag of goodies ", republica,11 March 2013
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