Kennedy is a former cop who is now a hitman for hire. Set in the dark recesses of Mumbai, aka Anurag Kashyap’s playground, with the director returning to crime noir with gleeful indulgence, Kennedy is distinguished by pulsating action, a deeply brooding core and the Kashyap trademark of anti-institutional protest. Very little in Kennedy is subtle, and the humour, though rare, is often on point, marking Kashyap’s return to form in a genre he has well and truly earned his stripes in.
But Kennedy (streaming on ZEE5) is not for everyone. For starters, despite the surprises that pop up often — including a twist on the “I see dead people” trope — it is a bit of an overindulgent slog. The film often feels stretched and Kennedy’s attempt at an emotional pull that seeks to make you empathise with its tragic anti-hero doesn’t quite land.
Kennedy is the moniker that the film’s eponymous protagonist/antagonist adopts when he becomes a contract killer, largely doing the dirty job of the police force he was once a part of. Given up for dead by his family, Kennedy (Rahul Bhat in fine form) was earlier Uday Shetty, a man with a reputation that far preceded him, his cantankerous ways resulting in immense personal loss. When we first meet the gruff and bearded Kennedy, he is in the apartment of a man he is contracted to kill. He, of course, does the job with ease — with as much fluidity as he peels a fruit just before the killing — and then coolly returns to his ‘job’ of the driver of a paid taxi service. But there is a lot simmering within Kennedy — revenge being one of the primary motives that drives him.
Kashyap — aided by a dark, atmospheric soundtrack composed by Boyblanck and Aamir Aziz, blending gritty rap, intense poetic lyrics and contrasting classical music — employs a ’70s thriller aesthetic (his longtime collaborator Sylvester Fonseca is an ace behind the camera) to tell a story that largely moves from one Mumbai night to the next. Fraught with gore and grit, the film has Kennedy’s grim journey through life (and more tellingly, death) peppered with a host of characters — chief among them being Charlie, a woman both resilient and vulnerable, but unfortunately played in a one-note manner by an otherwise interestingly cast Sunny Leone. Calcutta girl Megha Burman plays Kennedy/Shetty’s wife and gets quite a few scenes to shine.
Kashyap imbues Kennedy with both social commentary and humour, often unafraid to take more than a jibe at the powers that be. At one point, a character tells another: “Desh woh log chala rahein hain jo sarkar ko paalte hain.” No wonder Kennedy was looking for a release for this long.
The humour is just as wicked. When told that the man in front of him is called Kennedy, a character quips: “You could have chosen Donald Trump...you would be a certified a**hole then.” The Indian censor board has reportedly changed that to “Pump Trump”. Sounds more bawdy to me, to be honest. Go, figure.
Kennedy is ultimately lesser than the sum of its parts, promising a ride which could be an acquired taste for many. Hop on and see how far it takes you.
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