Kahaani is Bollywood’s most recent thriller to be released worldwide. Directed by Sujoy Ghosh, this film is no clichéd romance. The film is a woman-centric thriller that takes viewers through lanes full of deceit, distrust and suspense in the metropolitan city of Kolkata, India.

When pregnant Vidya Bagchi (Vidya Balan) arrives in Kolkata, rather than heading to a hotel or tourist site, she goes straight to the police station.

The camera acts as her eyes and takes the audience through every nook and corner of Kolkata. It captures the poverty, Bengali signboards, women in bright colored saris, street vendors and the heat and the dust that add to the essence of being in a big Indian city. Unlike some Bollywood films, there are no fancy mansions and no couples dancing behind trees in skimpy clothes.

The film is essentially about a woman’s search for her husband. Before she knows it, Vidya is embroiled in a web of crime.

There are nuances to the film that are laudable. The director knows when to make his actors pause, frown and cry. The editing is crisp. The film, however, has its set of problems. The violence is unnecessary and crude. An aggressive Intelligence Bureau officer tries to give the message that any number of people killed for the sake of the country is completely justifiable if only one criminal is caught in the end. I found this to be over-the-top, unrealistic and unreasonable to incorporate in the film.

What I liked about the film was that it did not include item songs, objectified women wearing skimpy clothes or over-the-top romance, yet still managed to keep the audience engaged. In Kahaani, Kolkata becomes the heart of the story. Ghosh chose to shoot the film in one of the busiest and most difficult cities of India, which is commendable. Hearing the one and only song in the movie, “Ekla Chalo Re,” made me want to buy my return ticket to Kolkata.

There will be several questions that go unanswered in the film and to some people the end may seem quite unreasonable. Yet the film succeeds as a thriller. Watch this movie to take a break from the mellow Bollywood mainstream films and appreciate the magnificently skilled actors.