Kabuliwala Movie Review : A sensitive retelling of a classic tale

Suman Ghosh’s Kabuliwala is set in the mid-1960s, roughly around the second Indo-Pakistan war. Rahmat, a man from Afghanistan, decides to come to India to earn a living, leaving his child and mother behind. He comes to Calcutta and starts off selling asafoetida, walnuts, raisins and cashews. This is when he meets a young girl, Mini, who reminds him of his daughter, Razia. The story revolves around their budding friendship and the prejudice around it.
Though the plot has been loosely drawn from the original short story, the director has developed it to factor in racial discrimination, human biases that grow with idle time, lack of awareness and misinformation. This makes the story more believable but leaves gaps in the narrative that leave the audience wondering about the predicament of certain characters. However, the growth of Rahmat and Mini’s friendship is shown in detail and is rather endearing.
It's difficult not to compare Mithun Chakraborty and Chhabi Biswas as Rahmat, but the former’s gut-wrenching performance lingers in the mind well after the movie ends. Though one might question how Rahmat becomes so fluent in Bengali so quickly, the way Mithun has played the iconic character makes it quite believable. On the other hand, Anumegha Kahali is delightfully natural and effortlessly sweet as Mini. Abir Chatterjee (as Mini’s father Aurobindo) provides a strong presence that helps develop the unlikely friendship between his daughter and Rahmat. Sohini Sarkar as Mini’s worrying mother Sneha is also very convincing.
The music by Indraadip Dasgupta is quite hummable, especially Bhaabo jodi (Arijit Singh), Kabul manush (Anirban Bhattacharya) and Khushi ki Eid (Javed Ali, Ishan Mitra). The props and set design, especially inside Aurobindo’s house, are reminiscent of an older Calcutta that’s rapidly becoming extinct under a concrete jungle. The cinematography is done tastefully, and the costumes are period-appropriate.
Though it has a predictable end, Kabuliwala is definitely a good watch for the entire family.