Kaanchi (2014)

Excellent but underrated film

Absolutely brilliant

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

The Showman of the 80's & 90's, Subhash Ghai, delivers a rather ordinary film with 'Kaanchi'. Though Ghai manages to churn out impressive performances & even a fairly engaging first-hour, he fails by delivering a dull second-hour, which completely under-whelms.'Kaanchi' Synopsis: A rebellious girl seeks revenge of her lover's death, but faces opposition from a strong political family.'Kaanchi' begins well & has a few sparkling moments in the first-hour. The romance is nicely build-up. The second-hour is problematic. The track involving Rishi Kapoor falling for Mishti, the protagonist, is plain ridiculous. Also, the excessive running-time over a 145-minutes, needed some sharp trimming.Ghai is not in command this time around. His Direction, though lavish, has an outdated vibe to it. The Screenplay loses pace in the second-hour completely. Cinematography is good. Editing needed to be sharper. Music by Ismail Darbar is super.Performance-Wise: Mishti as Kaanchi, has the intensity & the fire, this character demands. However, she needs to work strongly on her voice. Kartik does a decent job. Rishi Kapoor, in an ill-written role, is over-the-top. Mithun Chakraborty is excellent as the wicked politician. Chandan Roy Sanyal is effortless. Rishabh Sinha is impressive.On the whole, 'Kaanchi' is an half-baked effort from Subhash Ghai.

The struggle of a girl against "the system". When her beloved husband to be is killed by a wealthy suitor, Kaanchi refuses to simply accept it and move on with her life. Despite her family's pledge to not fight she, convinces everyone se is dead and begins her struggle against the corrupt system.This film deals with an age old issue that is still prevalent in some cultures today. If you are rich and influential it makes you above the law. If you like a girl, you can have her and if her heart is won over by someone else you just kill him.Kaanchi might appear as a hopeless and helpless poor girl but she will not take a no for an answer. The system is manmade and men can fall. Losing the man she loved, meant that she has nothing to live for and therefore nothing to lose.It is rather unfortunate when a powerful story and moral is not conveyed in the right light on the big screen. The presence of tension is somehow subdued by way of prevalence of a rather shallow acting and plot development, minus the leading lady, of course.

I am so glad I went to see this movie... A great story of true Love caught up in corruption and politics, with a real message to the young that is trying to put out a message to them to revolt against the SYSTEM of corruption, and all with a cracking cast to boot. The first half of the movie is set in a beautiful village in Nainital, where you would expect the locals to tow the line when corrupt land developers come into town. Here you see Rishi Kapoor introduced and as always has a presence you always love to be a part of. To me Rishi in whatever he does is like seeing and an old friend and I often think why can't we see more of him on screen, so I can revisit that old friendship again. He shows his enjoyable quirky nature and timing, even on subtle levels that show how seasoned he is. A supreme performer. Well his son(Rishabh Sinha) falls in love with a local woman Kaanchi(Mishti) that has her true heart on a local boy(Kartik Tiwari), she has grown up with. Here Kaanchi's love is tested but her real heart comes through in the end. As usual Bollywood comes through with great love scenes that only they know best how to do. Hollywood obscure approach to Love never seems to come close these days. However his OBSESSION takes over and because he can't get what he wants decides on the unspeakable. Here the movie comes to the point of the story where the law, news media, politicians who are driven by a corrupt SYSTEM fall over and cover up. Even families are resigned to the fact of what can we do to change and seek justice.Well they have met there match with Kaanchi, who won't give in and decide to try to set things right. At this point let me say with fervor how enjoyable is it to see Mishti on screen. Mishti is personality PLUS and every scene of her on screen is like a magnet pulling you into her magic. The only other actress with this pull to me is Rani and if you want to feel that world that transcends acting then this movie will be a breath of fresh air for you.After the INTERMISSION the second half of the movie doesn't disappoint, we find ourselves in MUMBHAI and Kaanchi cleverly infiltrates the dangerous and sleazy world of corruption at all levels and stops at nothing to expose the world of Corruption. This story has impact on many levels and her determination as a woman to achieve what everyone else decides to give up is inspirational. The scene of Kaanchi's mother coming to try and convince her to return to the village, but again being refused shows emotionally how deep her determination had to go to achieve success in the end. Again I am glad I did see this movie, and all in all a great movie. Highly Recommended.

The showman re-creates his magic of powerful cinema again. But this time with issue of women-empowerment.Beautifully captured scenes. Songs, especially Tu Hi Sab Kuch Re are melodious. Debut performances are excellent. Mishti's varied spectrum of acting is just worth applauds.Chandan Roy Sanyal again shines and its good that he gets a meaty role especially in 2nd half, almost of a 2nd lead. Rishi Kapoor and Mithun are decent. Rishi Kapoor is uninhibited in his Vijay Mallya inspired corrupt businessman character. Mithun Chakrobarthy again shines. Beautiful cinematography. Crisp editing.Worth watching for sake of old times!