…for a film that builds up wonderfully, “Kahaani 2 – Durga Rani Singh” fails to finish off in style.

While many Bollywood sequels do not work for numerous reasons, Sujoy Ghosh should be given credit for taking his time and coming up with a solid script rather than dishing out a sub-par film. Unfortunately, he set the bar too high with Kahaani and that is the only reason why the second part isn’t as thrilling. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t watch the movie at the cinemas. Vidya Balan’s riveting performance and the dark, taut first half is enough reason for you to book your tickets for Kahaani 2 now.

Compared to the vivid Kahaani, this film has a blanched look, perhaps in keeping with its dark subject matter. It’s a frenetic 130 minutes, but I never really felt for Vidya Sinha the way I did for Vidya Bagchi. Perhaps I was just too caught up waiting for Ghosh to fool me twice.

The movie lacks Kahaani’s balance of thrills and humour, but it has the same spirit of righteous anger and faith in a female actor’s ability to take charge of a situation. Ghosh shopped the script to other actors before going back to Balan, and the movie is the better for it.