Kennedy

What happens when a director bends the rules of genre filmmaking so much that a new type of beast pops out as a result? If the film has popular appeal, then studios market it to oblivion but if it is artsy, strange and non commercial then studios struggle to market and distribute this "aberration" they created with their money. If released such "aberrations" may find their audience but they usually struggle....years and sometimes even decades may pass before this "aberration" may eventually get tagged as a cult classic and deemed ahead of its time etc. Unfortunately Kennedy is that movie.....It premiered at Cannes in May 2023 and has yet to find a home in theaters or streaming anywhere on planet earth even after more than two years. Fortunately I was among the lucky few to sit in its screening as the centerpiece of this year's NY Indian Film Festival.

Kennedy is an arthouse, Mumbai Neo-Noir, Graphic Novel-esque, Crime Thriller with one of the most daring character studies brought to (At least the film festival) screen in the Hindi Film Industry. The movie belongs to 2 people - first and foremost its director, Anurag Kashyap who creates a modern, dark, corrupt, realistic, criminal universe set during the pandemic and gives it a stunning dark graphic novel look. And its lead actor, Rahul Bhat who descends into one of the darkest, most complex and unique characters in recent history.

Bhat's portrayal of a social monster who lacks empathy, morality and remorse on first look is so well written and brought to life that it somehow manages to get the audience to feel for him, worry for him and even care for him by the end of the movie. His look, his demeanor, his actions, his secrets, his feelings, his guilt, his cracking psyche and everything that haunt him, makes for an extremely interesting, compelling and complicated character. The way Kashyap captures his movements, his lack of expressions, his deep voice with a very few words to say is reminiscent of Arnofsky bringing Mickey Rourke's Randy "The Ram" Robinson to life in The Wrestler. Kennedy is Bhat's tour de force performance.

In the post screening Q&A Kashyap and Bhat discuss how they brought Kennedy's character to life. Kashyap ensured that Bhat didnt take a bath, stayed awake the night before they shot the movie at late night on weekends and bulked up by 18 Kgs of pure muscles for the role. His tiredness, bloodshot eyes, big built, messy look, no nonsense attitude and apathy towards others feels real and natural. The modest, soft spoken, fit and lean Bhat who interacted with the audience in the Q&A session seemed like a completely different person from the character that he embodied for the 2 hr 22 mins run time of the movie.

The movie is a slow burn, dark and gritty character study of a psychologically scarred ex cop turned hitman for the Mumbai commissioner who is on a focused mission to get to his nemesis.... Saleem, an underworld mob boss whose whereabouts are unknown. Kennedy is an arthouse crime thriller and not an action packed commercial entertainer by any measure. It does erupt into the occasional explosions, car chase and very realistic gunshots from time to time but they aren't meant as shots of adrenaline rush. They increase the tension, raise the stakes and gradually reveal more and more about Kennedy AKA Uday Shetty.

The other characters of the movie also gradually take shape. The commissioner, the cop, the mobster, the guy who just doesn't stop talking to Kennedy after each kill. All played very well by the respective actors. Sunny Leone's character has an important role but neither did it need Sunny Leone to play it, nor does Sunny Leone do any real justice to it. She looks good but odd and ends up being a bit of a distraction because we want to quickly get back to Bhat's character and story. The underground poetry based songs in the club are definitely unique and give the movie a very different and somewhat odd flavor.... I think it is so new that it may require a few additional listening sessions to settle in and find a home.

Anurag Kashyap has created a new sub-genre of crime thriller with Kennedy and Rahul Bhat has created one of the finest and darkest protagonists of recent times. The movie starts with Bhat's Kennedy slowly peeling an apple and its ends with his character fully peeled and understood by the audience, packed with a heart wrenching ending....as the screen turns to black, the audience stays glued and fully attentive to the darkness and the sounds of the movie which are met with random sighs of despair and words like "Oh No" from this side of the silver screen. And then it suddenly ends as the screen proudly reads "Written and Directed by Anurag Kashyap"....the theater erupts into applause.

Like several of Kashyap's "Cult Classics", Ugly, Bombay Velvet, Raman Raghav 2.0 etc, Kennedy is not an easy watch. It is not everyone's cup of "whatever" is being served here. It is an acquired taste. It may never see the light of day in a theater in India and even if it does, it is very unlikely going to even gross a fraction of the box office that so many over the top commercial action flicks earn over their opening weekend. But it is exactly what Kashyap and Bhat set out to make. Art, creativity, a gritty character study. It is what good cinema is all about. A Must watch for hardcore Anurag Kashyap and arthouse cinema fans. Others have been cautioned. 8/10.

One word.. Beautiful.

I was fortunate enough to watch this movie yesterday at London Indian film festival. Will reveal nothing about the story here as words are different to the actual vision. Director Anurag kashyap has poured his soul into making this craft and when that happens , It goes straight into your heart. It's deep. It's a movie that makes you question about yourself ? As the intro says ," Rahul bhat is Kennedy. That itself speaks alot. He has done such a great job that no one else could be Kennedy. Such a versatile actor that spoke 1000 words through his eyes. Sunny Leone as Charlie was a delight to watch. She was fabulous. Infact the casting was done very cleverly and every character leaves an impact on you. Background music was so brilliant. This movie is one of the best ones in many years and I hope it gets recognized. Thank you to the whole team for creating magic on screen.

It is one of the best movies of modern times. Anurag Kashyap has exposed the humanity while highlighting the social nuances in a satirical yet thrilling way.

The movie spellbinds you from the beginning and continues to entertain you while exposing the nexus between ruling elites and corrupt political system of India.

The characters of this Kennedy fit their roles like pearls in a necklace and the lead character's diabolical brain also reveals his vulnurbilities depicting how a monster can be fragile on certain spots just like an oppressing system which despite seeming almighty also has it's Achilles heel.

Ending of the movie is cherry on top and one of those rarest endings which leave you in a state of limbo, hanging to the hand of a ticking clock.

Kennedy is a mid film because all the bits I liked about it came out as peripheral devices like dialogues that take potshots at police apathy or political ideologies. The references are superb and I loved them. I watched this at the 2023 MAMI Mumbai Film Festival and people were hooting for dialogues like "Mi Marathi Mannooss" (I'm a Marathi guy), so you can imagine that what works for the film is not what's in the core. The core is where a hitman, a former cop, who works for the commissioner goes berserk because he's behind a guy for revenge. The rawness and violence that arise as a result are thrilling to watch though I felt the occasional hiphop song and the monoact performance in the middle and Sunny Leone laughing instead of speaking every time a character is aruond her felt sore. I'm not saying it's a bad film but it's not extraordinary.

Kashyap is back in form and probably another one of his movies to get banned or heavily cut by CBFC. When it started, even though there were clear indications of some backstory, the way it began with the almost mundane way of killings, it reminded me of Fincher's The Killer. There was also the humour throughout the movie without losing the darkness. But once everything started to flesh out, it turned out to be much more. When the film wants us to see the world through the emotions of a psychopath(!) it clearly draws the picture and spells out the bigger evil that even hangs above these executioners all the time. The film doesn't spell out the name of the person or the party but essentially does it by describing everything they do and how even with so much money and power, the vilest villains of the movie including the protagonist, are still not evil enough to succeed in their endeavors. The film is essentially Kashyap's exercise in trying to understand the most damned villains in a desperate attempt to exist without fear in this country. This film is a political plea in the guise of a crime thriller.