Kaagaz, the movie directed by Satish Kaushik and starring the ever flawless Pankaj Tripathi is a film filled with clichés from the long gone past. Satish Kaushik returned to directing films after five long years and tried to catch up on the genre but still got left behind because of some scenes that depicted how the story hasn’t been written in sync with the interest of today’s audience.
It is based upon the real story of Lal Bihari Mritak played as Bharat Lal Mritak who is dead on paper as a result of conspiracy made by his conniving aunt and her sons to take away the land that legally belonged to Bharat Lal Mritak played by Pankaj Tripathi.
The opening shot where Bharat is seen talking to the mouse before releasing it, establishes his character. He is content with his little shop, a loving wife and a young son. He wouldn’t change it for anything. However, his wife wants him to expand his business by taking a loan from the bank.
It’s now that he realizes after visiting the government officials that he is dead on paper. There starts his journey to prove his existence and that ‘his death’ was a result of the greed that his aunt and his cousins possess.
The film goes on smoothly until right in the first few minutes, an item song comes up where one can find all the typical gestures there could be in a Bollywood movie like zooming in on the dancer’s waist, or guys straightening their moustaches in public to depict dominance and old drunk men passing cheap comments at the dancer.
In the whole movie, Pankaj Tripathi seems to be the glue holding together the weight of the light ‘Kaagaz’ but in all; it’s not so entertaining and doesn’t impress the audience despite the lead’s brilliant performance in acting.