Horror and comedy are globally time-tested outstanding genres that also have been mixed with great success around the world. In Hindi cinema itself, we have had classics like the Bhool Bhulaiyaa and Stree franchises, and last year, we had Munjya as well. There have been other single outings as well, like Golmaal Again, but that’s barely the point.
The point I am making here is how we have got awful travesty of this genres twice in this month itself! We began the month with The Bhootnii (note the two ‘I’s instead of one at the end) and are ending it (almost) with another imbecile ‘hor-com’ (if I may coin the word) named Kapkapiii (with three ‘I’s!). The term means shivers or chills, but there are none really here, and sporadic one-liners and a situation or two (in the entire 2-hour and 8-minute narration) that elicited minor chuckles.
This film is a remake of the 2023 Malayalam blockbuster, Romancham. It’s another matter that few remakes are so bad, and I wonder now how the original must have been, for it did business of almost 20 times its cost!!
The late Sangeeth Sivan, who has made multiple films in many languages, and amused us in Kyaa Kool Hain Hum and Apna Sapna Money Money almost two decades back, falls flat here, and that is regrettable. This is his third foray into horror (after Click and the web series Bhram) and, as always with such films, the core idea is interesting but the execution is not.
A group of vella (idle as well as unemployed) friends sharing an apartment are inspired to conduct séance on a Ouija board along with two neighboring damsels. Only one of them, Rivin (Abishke Kumar) is employed, and the rest live off him. He is also involved in a telephonic romance with a mystery girl. The neighboring rented place is shared by two girls, one of whom, Madhu (Sonia Rathee) is his secret lover, though he does not know it.Manu (Shreyas Talpade) is the cocky ‘leader’ of this coterie, and at one point he invites his friend Kabir (Tusshar Kapoor) to stay there for a few days, and he is weirdness incarnate!
The guys are warned that seances should not be conducted as a whim and that such improper and disrespectful rituals can be dangerous. That warning is not heeded and dire consequences follow.
Other than Shreyas and Tusshar trying to salvage the script with some consummate performances, and most of the other cast doing a decent job, the film has nothing to offer. But the worst part is that the film does not even offer a denouement or conclusion at the end, optimistically telling the viewer that it will be found in Kapkapiii’s next chapter.
But this, I think, is just wishful thinking. Will a second part be made at all?
And yes, there is nothing else to talk about in this movie.
Rating: *1/2
Zee Studios & present Kapkapiii Produced by: Directed by: Sangeeth Sivan Written by: Saurabh Anand & Kumar Priyadarshi Music: Ajay Jayanthi Starring: Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Sonia Rathee, Siddhi Idnani, Abishek Kumar, Varun Pandey, Jay Thakkar, Dinker Sharma, Dhirendra Tiwari, Zakir Hussain, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Manmeet Kaur & others
