KAPOOR & SONS (Since 1921) - Movie Review

Kapoor & Sons (since 1921) is directed by Shakun Batra, produced by Karan Johar and the star-studded cast includes Rishi Kapoor, Ratna Pathak, Rajat Kapoor, Sidharth Malhotra, Fawad Khan & Alia Bhatt. The film is a family drama that keeps you tangled in so you get to witness the drama unfolding of the family that does not have everything as 'perfect'. But what makes this film 'perfect' is the creativity within the script, direction and the surprising acting performances. 

POSITIVES

• The storyline is predictable, as an audience member you hope that this expectable family drama does not become cliché, you walk in expecting something different and that is exactly what we get. We get a well-directed film that allows this movie to be a praiseworthy watch. The director showcases the family ties quite well with a bit of laughter, drama, seriousness, hatred, tragedy. A well-compiled film that juggles much more than what you expect.
• As for the script, the scenes and dialogues were well penned, bringing in a variety of emotions to keep you fastened in the drama. The randomness in the film does not distract, it helps to make the concept a moving one. Credit needs to be given to the actors, as there are hardly any distractions in terms of over the top, fake and overly exaggerated acting. The screenplay maintains momentum consistently. The combination of a good script and fantastic directional creativity, lures the viewers in to the family situation, making you feel so glued in to this household. 
• The acting was exciting by all involved, each actor played their roles with finesse; they look believable and show more realism as the story-required sincerity due to the subject matter. The characters are suitable together; it looks like a perfect family in a drama-indulged situation. 
• The film does maintain pace, the first half is sprinkled with laughter and humor as well the seriousness of the past between the families members gets added in. This is carried out exceedingly well by the director who manages to fit it all in and manipulates these sub-genres pretty good. The second half becomes much more serious with problems getting much more deeper and escalating. 

NEGATIVES

• Not much can be picked out from the negative aspects, but if something that did irritate me to some extent was the fact that not enough emphasis was portrayed to the past, we are given touches upon the situations that occurred in the past but due to the nature of the script juggling many elements together, less significance was given to what was the main reasoning for the family arguing and remaining less connected amongst each other. It does not pave too much of a withdrawal, but it is quite evident at times and fingers can be pointed out to this missing.  

CAST

• SIDHARTH MALHOTRA (Arjun) - Playing the younger son, he is shown as the lazy one and less involved, even shown as the one who is last to be told things because of his nature. He still brings in the attention in the scenes despite playing side by side to Rahul who is the older brother. Sidharth manages to leave his mark well on screen. I did feel in one particular scene, when he has the serious one to one scene full of anger with his mum; he was lacking the persona of an angry character. It was good but not great, that is one negative I noticed in his acting, but overall he does justice to the character. 

• ALIA BHATT (Tia) - A cute bubbly character, does not pull the strings in bringing the family together, but sticks around adding a bit of romance to the family situation. She is lively and helps to bring some happiness to the film and keeps the film story to divert from being totally family orientated and adds a bit of love and live life type of feel to it. 
• FAWAD KHAN (Rahul) - Fawad plays a strong character, he is screen sharing with Sidharth but manages to overtake with his superb acting, a fine performer, adding the grumpy and serious brother role to the film as well as the go-to-son character that tries to put things together. He is a slick groomed novelist who manages to provide a strong performance with confidence. 
• RISHI KAPOOR (Amarjeet) - An elderly old man full of make up, but his role is a bright spark in this film as he brings full of joy and smiles, through his dialogues in particular. He has given the humor in the serious film, manages to pull strings in trying to keep everyone together. You will not fail to laugh at all when seeing him on screen; majority of his role is going to keep you smiling and will miss him dearly when he is not in the scenes. 
• RATNA PATHAK (Mom) - Plays a good mother figure, standing tall against any arguments, she sparks the arguments and makes the scenes dramatic.
• RAJAT KAPOOR (Dad) - A struggle father and husband who has hidden lies and struggling to keep the family financially stable. Shows emotions of struggle, frustration and hope as well as disloyalty and lost. It was good watching his fights with his wife on screen and not being able to keep all of the family together and happy. It showed how much he has tired. 

RATING

Overall I would rate Kapoor & Sons 4/5. The film portrays a bit of everything, making you wanting to be a part of the family, they had it all and kept you as an audience, tagging along with all that occurred on screen. Acting was done exceptionally well, the script was predictable but the way it was nurtured on screen by the writer and director, they made this film a fantastic film to watch. It could have been better if more emphasis was put upon the past situations so it is delivered to the viewers much more than what it already was. The film was good family drama film, after a long time such genre film has impressed and it is something that I would be able to go and watch again.