‘Kaalidhar Laapata' review: An effective tale of losing and finding a family
The ZEE5 release is led by 49-year-old Abhishek Bachchan as 40-year-old Kaalidhar, who appears to have early onset dementia. Tired of caring for Kaalidhar, his greedy brothers Manohar (Vishwanath Chatterjee) and Sundar (Priyank Tiwari) and Manohar's wife Neetu (Madhulika Jatoliya) dump him at the Kumbh Mela.
Only Kaalidhar's sister Gudiya (Priya Yadav) mourns the disappearance of a man who has sacrificed his life and his love Meera (Nimrat Kaur) for his family. All seems lost for Kaalidhar until he runs into the precocious orphan Ballu (Daivik Baghela).
Ballu adopts the disoriented Kaalidhar and encourages him to have the experiences he has denied himself. Meanwhile, government official Subodh (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) sets out to find Kaalidhar, his motives as murky as Kaalidhar's kin.
By directing the Hindi version and co-writing the screenplay with Amitosh Nagpal, Madhumita stays in charge of the film's emotional beats. The core relationship between two cast-aside souls who find that they have a lot in common was the chief draw of the original film and is the reason the Hindi retooling works too.
The choice of a younger protagonist means that the adaptation needs to justify itself more vigorously. The exact nature of Kaalidhar's ailment isn't clear, not are his symptoms consistent with his behaviour.
Subodh feels shoehorned into the story, rather than an important neutral witness to Kaalidhar's journey. While Kaalidhar Laapata is sluggishly paced and doesn't capture the sheer ordinariness of its anguished hero or his milieu, the remake does portray the ways in which love and empathy transcend familial ties.
Abhishek Bachchan and Daivik Baghela bring out the warmth and mutual respect that develops between Kaalidhar and Ballu – the older man vulnerable and confused, the boy confident and cheerfully cynical.
Bachchan has played this type of sad sack character in recent films, including I Want to Talk (2024) and Be Happy (2025). Under Madhumita's careful direction, Bachchan delivers one of his more affecting performances.
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