Kadak Singh Review -Pankaj Tripathi Redeems Humdrum Crime Drama

ZEE5 original film ‘Kadak Singh’ follows Department of Financial Crimes (DFC) officer, Arun Kumar Srivastava (Pankaj Tripathi), who is investigating a massive chit fund scam. A failed suicide attempt lands him in hospital with retrograde amnesia. But is there more to the picture than meets the eye, as his daughter Sakshi (Sanjana Sanghi) thinks so?

 

Kadak Singh is directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, from a screenplay written by him, along with Viraf Sarkari and Ritesh Shah. 

 

Pankaj Tripathi is efficient as ever, in his role of an upright government servant and strict father. He is the one of the two shining lights in the movie, the other being Parvathy Thiruvothu as A. K. Srivastava’s nurse, Ms. Kannan. She brings her trademark pertness to her inventive role. Sanjana Sanghi is good as Srivastava’s touchy daughter, Sakshi. 

 

Paresh Pahuja has nothing much to do as Srivastava’s protégé, Arjun. Jaya Ahsan is pretty and poised as Srivastava’s love interest, Naina. Varun Buddhadev does his job of troubled son well. Dilip Shankar is good as the boss, Jitender Tyagi. Casting director Jogi Malang is a hoot as the superboss. 

 

 

Upright DFC officer Arun Kumar Srivastava is at the crux of discovering the identity of the lynch-pin in the Golden Sun chit fund scam he’s investigating. In the background is his dysfunctional relationship with his kids, Sakshi and Aditya, who’ve named him ‘Kadak Singh’ because of his strict nature. 

 

The first part of the story plays out well, establishing that Srivastava is a decidedly unpleasant character and bad father, with dubious morals and grey shades to his character. The narrative flits between past and present to unravel more details of his life, and the case he’s been working on. 

 

But unforeseen circumstances lead to a failed suicide attempt and loss of memory for the man. The makers switch to deploying the Rashoman style of storytelling, where each character narrates their own version of the events as they unfolded. Only here, as four different people recount their version of recent events in DFC officer Arun Kumar Srivastava’s life, it helps the amnesiac investigator to piece together bits from each version, to arrive at the truth. Interestingly, his nurse Ms. Kannan turns into an efficient sounding board for him, helping him sort facts from fiction. 

 

On paper, the premise is intriguing and worthy of an edge-of-the-seat crime thriller. However, the execution woefully falls short of achieving that end. Red herrings abound, but one is able to see through them instantly. The telling and retelling of the same events makes the storytelling repetitive and tedious. Pankaj Tripathi plods through it all, with his trademark gentle smile and benign personality firmly in place. 

 

Twists and turns keep the plot going, but most of them are quite predictable – you can see them coming a mile away — even the final suspense. The ultimate reveal of the suspense of the story happens without any flourish, thus blunting its effect further. The story is also curiously devoid of any sentiment and feeling. Most times, the narrative comes off as dispassionate. The constant back and forth of the storyline adds to the dissatisfaction. 

 

To sum it up, Kadak Singh is a film that fails to come true to its potential. Watch it if you have nothing better to do, or else, give it a miss. 

 

Music and Other Departments?

Shantanu Moitra’s music for the film is pleasing to the ear, mild and melodious. Avik Mukhopadhya’s cinematography is average, nothing worth mentioning much about. Arghyakamal Mitra’s editing is efficient. 

 

None worth mentioning