Kaagaz Review: A still from the film. (courtesy pankajtripathi )
Cast: Pankaj Tripathi, Sandeepa Dhar, Satish Kaushik, Mita Vashisht, Amar Upadhyay
Director: Satish Kaushik
Both Pankaj Tripathi and the dead-on-paper rural wedding bandmaster that he plays in
Kaagaz face an uphill task. The lead actor has to carry the weight of the entire film on his shoulders. He does so gamely, occasionally allowing his usual understated style to make way for a more demonstrative mode of acting. He pulls off the back-and-forth movement between the two poles without letting the strain show.
The problems that hobble Uttar Pradesh villager Bharat Lal, modelled on the real-life Lal Bihari Mritak, a man who had to fight tooth and nail for nearly two decades to prove that he is alive, aren t as easily resolved. The antagonist in