Star Cast: Rahul Bhat, Sunny Leone, Megha Burman, Abhilash Thapliyal, Shrikant Yadav, and ensemble.
Director: Anurag Kashyap.
What’s Good: Leave Anurag Kashyap loose, and you will see him show you how far the limits of darkness are with his sharp political voice.
What’s Bad: Anurag’s voice becomes convoluted in parts, and what is supposed to be a big reveal falls flat.
Loo Break: The entire runtime is scattered with touches of Anurag Kashyap, and you don’t want to miss anything.
Watch or Not?: It is a movie that will grow with time. I won’t claim to have understood the entire film. A second watch is needed. And your first is due, so go for it.
Language: Hindi (with subtitles).
Available On: Zee5.
Runtime: 143 Minutes.
User Rating:
An ex-police officer, Uday Shetty (Rahul), is an assassin-for-hire for the now Police Commissioner of Mumbai. The second wave of the pandemic is ongoing, and now a nefarious plan is being hatched in the underbelly of the city. How Uday will fulfill his vengeance, and what consequences he will face, is the movie.
Kennedy Movie Review: Script Analysis
Anurag Kashyap, when let loose without any limitations with an idea that has come out of his brain organically, can run to the boundary, pushing it even further, refusing to believe there is one. The filmmaker, with his distinctive films, has been more than just a storyteller. A voice that wants to talk about his times and give a voice to those who have never gotten on the stage. What he also knows is how to marinate his political stance with humor and fictional spice so that it is entertaining. But does his indulgence with his content sometimes dilute and convolute the purpose of his movies? Let’s dissect.
Kennedy, if you look at it, is a film of our times and much more relatable than any other content around us at the moment. The opening frame tells you how the reputation of police officers in this city has hit a new low after the pandemic outbreak. The next slide is a couplet from William Wordsworth’s poem Resolution & Independence, which talks about the wild nature of youth that turns into despondency and madness as we grow old. Amid all this, there is a once careless cop killing people without thinking of the repercussions, and now an assassin who has lost someone very dear because of his wild carelessness. Anurag conveys Uday’s dejection and loneliness with great precision. All of this is happening while we are quarantined or in lockdown in the building adjacent to the parking lot Shetty is killing people in.
The anger in him seeks blood and not words. He doesn’t speak much. The setup he is in demands the dead bodies of people who are roadblocks. So, he is technically on his dark dream job. But the criteria for getting it were to lose a life once pleasant with children and a wife. It is the system that engulfs his happiness; it is his gesture to the brutality that eats the hope out of him. This is Kashyap of Ugly, finally trying to return after a long time and for good. He is politically brave, not shying away from questioning the system of real-time, talking about the man who serves us electricity and probably runs the country, calling him ‘Bade Papa.’ A scene where some jobless eve teasers ask people, including a man returning from work, whether he lit a lamp or banged a plate has to be the highlight.
Kennedy does lose grip more than once when it tries to constantly tell you what the tragedy was that turned Uday Shetty into Kennedy. Now, the movie is structured around ‘The Night,’ where a significant turn of events probably happened. But the convoluted structure of the screenplay written by Anurag doesn’t really create the desired impact. Like when you see the flashback in its entirety by the climax, you have seen the outcome of it so many times that it fails to yield any reaction. The same happens with the finale, where a man takes down a system, but by then, we have seen so much chaos that a subtle scene doesn’t register. But the last couple of seconds are where the nefarious Anurag is offering some redemption with a climax left hanging while you wait to hear a gunshot.
Kennedy Movie Review: Star Performance
Rahul Bhat needs to work more, and filmmakers should understand his potential. His body of work beyond the Anurag Kashyap universe is not noticeable, and that needs to change. He holds Kennedy together. His almost-dead stare, with little being expressed, adds subtlety to this dramatic story. Bhat even manages to convey the pain of a father missing his children, and he is a great performer.
Sunny Leone is the perfect addition to this cast. For a woman who is clueless as to what hell is burning around her, the only time she can be herself is after she is drunk. She only giggles after she is intoxicated because that is the only way she can make sense of the uncomfortable world she has now lived in. It is a character that isn’t as well developed as it should be, but you can also see potential in it.
Shrikant Yadav knows what his job is and does it to the best of his ability. The rest of everyone is in excellent form and put their best foot forward to elevate the movie.
Kennedy Movie Review: Direction, Music
Anurag Kashyap, this time under his direction, tries to create a ghost. A ghost that embodies the dark soul of this city with no hint of light in him. He sees the spirits of people he has killed; he actively converses with the first person he murdered. Like Ritesh Batra’s Lunchbox, which had a character say, “Is sheher mein marke bhi shanti nhi milti,” Anurag takes that plot forward. His direction is indeed exciting, and the way he jumps between timelines keeps you hooked. He knows where the camera needs to be set.
Talking of the camera, DOP Sylvester Fonseca creates frames that enhance the intense vibe Kashyap aims to create. The chase scenes, indoor confrontations, lighting, and setup are so on point that this world never looks anything but lived in.
Aamir Aziz and Boyblanck together shape an exciting album that suits the Anurag Kashyap brand of music. The poetry adds a mystic layer to this already mysterious world. The lyrics are so politically charged and potent that they question the system like a responsible filmmaker and his team should.
Kennedy Movie Review: The Last Word
It is a film about our times, and Anurag Kashyap is bold enough to ask some fundamental questions. But there are also some flaws that can be ignored otherwise.
Kennedy Trailer
Kennedy is now streaming on Zee5.
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