Kaalidhar Laapata

As the health of the middle-aged Kaalidhar declines, his family attempts to abandon him permanently. After orchestrating a will in their favour, they leave him at a Kumbh Mela. Lost and with nowhere to go, Kaalidhar discovers an unlikely companion in Ballu, an orphaned child from a nearby village, who instils new hope in his life and later reunites with an old flame, Meera. Abhishek Bachchan is finding his groove admirably in his recent outings, more so in the OTT space, with roles that befit his age, physicality and strengths. Kaalidhar Lapata extracts a controlled, mature performance from the actor, who slips into the skin of his role with flair. He has more than solid company in the form of Daivik Baghela as Ballu, who delivers a fabulously spontaneous act. The formidable supporting cast – comprising Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Vishwanath Chatterjee, Madhulika Jatoliya, Priyank Tiwari and Priya Yadav – and the sweet little cameo by Nimrat Kaur, contribute to its overall appeal.

कालीधर अब कुछ-कुछ भूलने लगा है। उससे छुटकारा पाने के लिए छोटे भाई उसे मेले में छोड़ आते हैं। लेकिन ज़मीन पाने के लिए अब वह उसे तलाश भी रहे हैं। मगर कालीधर वापस नहीं आना चाहता। अब वह के.डी. बन कर आठ बरस के एक नए अनाथ दोस्त बल्लू के साथ मिल कर अपनी अधूरी ख्वाहिशें पूरी कर रहा है। एक दिन वह लौटता है और…! 2019 में आई एक तमिल फिल्म ‘के.डी.’ के इस रीमेक (Kaalidhar Laapata) को उसी फिल्म की डायरेक्टर मधुमिता ने बनाया है। मूल फिल्म में 80 साल का एक बूढ़ा करुप्पू दुरई यानी के.डी. था जो तीन महीने से कोमा में था। एक दिन उसे होश आया और उसने सुन लिया कि उसके परिवार वाले उसे मारने का प्लान बना रहे हैं तो वह घर से भाग गया और एक आठ साल के अनाथ बालक कुट्टी के साथ मिल कर अपनी अधूरी इच्छाएं पूरी करने लगा जिनमें एक ख्वाहिश भर-भर के चिकन बिरयानी खाने की भी थी। तमिल फिल्म की कहानी में तर्क दिखता है। 80 साल का बूढ़ा जो कोमा में पड़ा है, उससे छुटकारा पाने के लिए घरवाले उसकी ज़िंदगी पर फुल स्टॉप लगाने की साज़िश करें तो समझ आता है। लेकिन यहां जवान भाई है, वह भी हट्टा-कट्टा। याद्दाश्त भूलने की शुरुआती सीढ़ी पर खड़े बड़े भाई से छुटकारा पाने की ऐसी क्या जल्दी कि उसे मेले में छोड़ दिया जाए। और मेला भी कौन-सा, कुंभ का। यानी फिल्म बता रही है कि कुंभ में आप अपने घर के बड़ों को छोड़ कर आ सकते हैं। यही नहीं फिल्म यह भी दिखाती है कि कालीधर भोपाल के पास भोजपुर के विश्व प्रसिद्ध शिव मंदिर में सोता है, मंदिर में झाड़ू लगाता है लेकिन खाने के लिए चिकन बिरयानी वाले के पास जाता है। तमिल से हिन्दी में कहानी को कन्वर्ट करते हुए लेखकों के दिमाग की बत्तियां अक्सर ऐसे ही मोड़ों पर आकर फ्यूज़ हो जाती हैं। एक जबरन ठूंसा गया सीन और भी है जो दिखाता है कि भंडारे के लिए आने वाला चावल पंडित जी के घर पर जाता है। कत्तई एजेंडा परोस दो पत्तल पर।

Madhumita’s Kaalidhar Laapata (‘Kaalidhar is lost’) is a Hindi adaptation of the director’s Tamil drama, K.D. (2019). But in terms of mainstream Bollywood, it has more in common with that evergreen Indian-parent bible, Baghban (2003). The story of an old, unwanted patriarch finding purpose and belonging away from his greedy family in K.D. is remodelled into the tale of a middle-aged, dementia-afflicted man on the same journey. This bearded and disoriented character, Kaalidhar, is played by Abhishek Bachchan, further supplying the film’s status as a spiritual descendant of the Amitabh Bachchan starrer. Kaalidhar’s ungrateful brothers ‘accidentally’ lose him in a crowd; the identity-less man then befriends an eight-year-old orphan, Ballu (Daivik Baghela), and they embark on a fix-it adventure together. It’s a familiar template: childlike man and adult-like child forge an inevitable bond. It has a few worthy ideas. For instance, the brothers’ ploy to get rid of Kaalidhar features a packed ‘kumbh mela’ — vintage Hindi cinema’s go-to location for plots revolving around separated siblings. Given the man’s neurological condition, there’s no need for him to literally overhear their plan; the heartbreaking shot of Kaalidhar calling out to his brother only to realise he’s being ignored is enough.

Kaalidhar lives with two younger brothers, the older one’s wife, and a sister. He is one of those hapless people who are tolerated until they are useful, and when that comes to an end, a Kumbh mela visit becomes the route for a heartless abandonment. The film is a copy of the Tamil original K D, with some culture-specific differences built in for changes in location and language, starting with the fact that Abhishek Bachchan’s Kaalidhar is more middle-aged than straight-up old. That his child-like innocence and lack of guile could be the result of a medical infirmity, as much as his own nature is left for us to judge: his hands shake, his gait is not very firm, and he looks lost more often than not, unless he’s wolfing his favourite dish, a heaped plate of biryani. Eight-year-old Ballu (Daivik Baghela), a street-smart survivor, comes to his rescue. He’s an orphan, also abandoned by his folks as a baby. He has enough rudimentary education, gleaned from a kindly teacher who uses chalk-and-talk and a blackboard under a village tree, to get by. From now on, Ballu declares to a bemused Kaalidhar, you will be known as K D, even if by acknowledging the abbreviated form, nothing changes.

A shawl. A beard. And traffic-stopping dementia. Perhaps the onset of early dementia. Whatever it is, Kaalidhar (Abhishek Bachchan) is less verbose and a lot more endearing than Nana Patekar was as Deepak Tyagi in Vanvaas last year. The comparison is kosher because the premise is similar. Greedy family members yearning to get their hands on the elderly patient’s property; deserting him in a far-off crowded place where he will neither be recognised nor know how to head home. Tyagi’s children took him to Banaras where an orphan turned conman lavished more care on him than his own family. Traffic-stopping Kaalidhar’s brothers, along with a nasty, foul-mouthed sister-in-law, leave him penniless at the Kumbh Mela. There’s a scene where the sis-in-law even argues that ‘Bhaiya’ has brought home the disease of the rich, “amiron ki bimari”, which they can ill afford.