76th Cannes Film Festival: Anurag Kashyap’s Kennedy – The Perfect Politics Of Crime Drama

There couldn’t have been a better event for Indian cinema than to see Anurag Kashyap’s film ‘Kennedy’, the first film in 29 years to be screened at the Grand Théâtre Lumiere in the Midnight Screenings section of the Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival since 1994. Earlier in 1994 Shaji N Karun’s Malayalam film ‘Swaham’ was screened at the Grand Théâtre Lumière in the competition section. Not only this, he and his team were literally given an official red carpet with playing music.

The audience kept clapping for Anurag Kashyap

The Grand Théâtre Lumière, with a capacity of about three and a half thousand, was completely filled with spectators at 12:30 midnight. From the start of the red carpet till reaching the theatre, the audience kept clapping for Anurag Kashyap. After the end of the film at 3 o’clock in the night, the audience stood up and applauded for ten minutes.

Center of the attraction

Of course, Sunny Leone was also the center of the attraction. The film is dedicated to Sudhir Mishra as it was he who first narrated the story of the lead character Uday Shetty to Anurag Kashyap. Anurag Kashyap touched the feet of Sudhir Mishra in front of everyone on the unprecedented success of the film in theatres.

Former police officer

Uday Shetty (Rahul Bhatt) was a former police officer who  commits murders of Mumbai Police Commissioner Rashid Khan (Mohit Takalkar). In the eyes of the world, he was dead and has a new name – Kennedy. He was on the lookout for a mafia don named Salim who planted a bomb in his wife’s car and his son was killed in the blast. After that, his wife broke all relations with him. However, whenever he feels lonely, Kennedy watched the live CCTV footage of his house on his phone and laptop.

Killed people without hesitation

He killed people without hesitation and often remains silent. In an elevator, Charlie (Sunny Leone), the forced mistress of the Mumbai Police Commissioner, bumps into her, who was always sipping whiskey. But no relationship develops between the two. At the end of the film, Kennedy kills Salim and Police Commissioner Rashid Khan and commits suicide.

‘Kennedy’ begins with a line from the famous English poet

It is also interesting that Anurag Kashyap’s noir crime drama ‘Kennedy’ begins with a line from the famous English poet William Wordsworth that ‘we poets begin happily among the young’. But soon this happiness turns into despair and madness. Not only this, this story of violence, murder and revenge moved  forward with the help of poetry, hip-hop and rap music.

The murky atmosphere of Mumbai

We occasionally see a poet-performer who sings lofty poems. This crime tale of the Kovid era has the murky atmosphere of Mumbai, double but true images of a corrupt system. Each one of the characters is neatly crafted. Cinematography by Sylvester Fonseca gives depth to the screenplay by Tanya Chhabria and Deepak Kattar. The editing was so precise it’s hard to blink for a moment..

Performances of Rahul Bhat

Anurag Kashyap’s screenplay was sharp enough that it doesn’t deviate from the original story and political satire was obviously his style. The performances of Rahul Bhatt (Kennedy) and Mohit Takalkar (Police Commissioner Rashid Khan) were excellent, though Sunny Leone (Charlie) was average. Anurag Kashyap  focused on the original story and treatment, avoiding unnecessary comments on any subject. There was a dialogue about who runs this country? Government, no.

Nurture the government

Those who nurture the government run the country. He was referred to as ‘Bade Papa’ in the film. In one scene, Sunny Leone tells Rahul Bhatt that” it is strange, isn’t it? I am seeking help from the one who killed my boyfriend.’ The tagline of the film is ‘five nights of five nights’.

The post-Civil period

The time that the film brings to the fore is the post-Civil period after the end of the underworld, in which the police now extort money, get political murders done and threaten businessmen.

Administrative shifting of the underworld

It is a kind of administrative shifting of the underworld in which the politician was at the highest position. The caricature of anchors in the television media was repeatedly shown in the film. An explosive-laden vehicle outside Mukesh Ambani’s house, Inspector Vaze, Police Commissioner Paramjit Singh and Maharashtra’s Home Minister targeted for delivering extortion money was still fresh news whose images can be seen in the film. We will also remember the story of encounter specialist Daya Nayak.

An emotional twist of  murdered hero

Amidst all this, an emotional twist of our murdered hero holds the film till the very end; his completely estranged wife and his loving daughter Aditi. In one scene, he wants to go to the bank and deposit sixteen lakh rupees in his daughter’s account. When the bank refuses, he gives this amount to Sunny Leone and tells her to pass it on to her daughter Aditi. Kennedy sends WhatsApp messages to her daughter Aditi before committing suicide.

Daughter has a clue of the truth

The world has been told that Kennedy is dead. But his daughter has a clue of the truth that he is alive. Before dying, Kennedy uploads a confession of his crimes to the Internet and, remembering his daughter, commits suicide.