Director: Shakun Batra
Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Fawad Khan, Alia Bhatt, Rishi Kapoor, Ratna Pathak Shah and Rajat Kapoor
This is a simple story of a dysfunctional family... complete with all the spats, squabbles, joys and sorrows we experience in all of our own lives.
Directed by Shakun Batra (Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu), Kapoor & Sons is a movie about an ailing, jovial and roguish 90-year-old grandfather (played by Rishi Kapoor although he is almost unrecognizable under all that make-up) who just wants to get his family together for a happy picture. The drama is provided by siblings Rahul (Fawad Khan) and Arjun (Sidharth Malhotra), one a successful author and the 'perfect' child, the other still struggling to find himself and break out as an author; their middle-aged parents (Rajat Kapoor and Ratha Pathak Shah) who are dealing with their own drama and Alia Bhatt as Tia Singh.
When the grandfather suffers a heart attack, his grandchildren rush to their family home in Coonoor from across the globe. They are welcomed home with open arms, but soon the squabbling begins. The mother accuses the father of having an affair, the father is sick and tired of his wife's incessant nagging, the younger brother (Sidharth Malhotra) feels robbed and second-best, while the older son (Fawad Khan) has a secret of his own.
Produced by Karan Johar, the film does have a sense of realism “ this could be any family. Fawad Khan, Sidharth Malhotra and Alia Bhatt have all given marvelous performances, but so have the veterans Rishi Kapoor, Ratna Pathak Shah and Rajat Kapoor. Alia Bhatt has a smaller, less substantial role and no, she isn't involved in a love triangle with the brothers.
Shakun Batra is brilliant as a director as is evident in every pivotal scene in the film, whether it is in the way the first family fight has been shot, or at their first attempt at a family picture (where the skeletons come tumbling outta the closet).
Like all families, the Kapoor family though normal from the outside, has tensions that run high. You will feel for the grandfather as he helplessly watches his 'family' slowly crumble and dissipate, for the parents whose marriage has gone sour and for the siblings between whom resentment constantly simmers. That being said, however, Kapoor & Sons is a predictable (with it's fair share of twists and turns) yet beautifully-made bitter-sweet family drama that deals with all things family “ joyous get-togethers, sorrowful moments, and even shocking revelations.
