Ratings:4/5  Kai Po Che Review By: Rajeev Masand  Site: CNN IBN (IBNLive)
Rooting a simple story in a realistic middle-class world far removed from the glossy surfaces of Rock On!, Kapoor can’t shake off his fascination for buddy pictures, but in Kai Po Che we’re treated to a more honest, assured portrait of friendship that never feels as conventional as his National Award-winning previous film. At a crisp two hours, Kai Po Che is enriched by its sweeping score and by Kapoor’s deft handling of the film’s varied moods. Kapoor tackles sensitive issues like the Gujarat riots with equanimity and empathy, and Anay Goswamy’s terrific camerawork complements the director’s vision intuitively.I’m going with four out of five for Kai Po Che. It’s only February, but one of the year’s best films has arrived.
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Ratings:4/5  Kai Po Che Review By: Taran Adarsh  Site: BollywoodHungama
KAI PO CHE, Abhishek brings alive the characters and events most persuasively. He borrows from the novel, but at the same time adds a lot to it with his deft execution. Resultantly, what emerges is a movie that evokes myriad emotions in the viewer. You smile, chuckle, get anxious and jittery, also moist eyed on several junctures. Attention-grabbing in entirety, absorbing you into its world from the onset itself, KAI PO CHE blends fiction and facts dexterously, recreating a story on celluloid that’s credible and noteworthy. On the whole, KAI PO CHE is brimming with solid content. Watch it for the spirit it is made in. Watch it because it’s the kind of cinema that pushes the boundaries. Watch it because movies like KAI PO CHE need to be encouraged. A film that deserves an ovation!
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Ratings:4/5   Review By: Anupama Chopra  Site: Star World (Hindustan Times)
Abhishek’s biggest success is that he and his writers have created three-full bodied characters – these boys with their towering ambitions and aching vulnerability, are people you and I know. And then, most critically, Abhishek has found three actors to inhabit the characters wholly. Sushant, Raj Kumar and Amit become Ishaan, Govind and Omi. Their lack of stardom works in their favor. We believe them. We partake in their joys and struggles. Kai Po Che is beautifully shot by Anay Goswamy but it’s not glossy. You can almost feel the sweat and dust of the narrow lanes.
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Ratings:4/5   Review By: Meena Iyer  Site: Times Of India (TOI)
Based on Chetan Bhagat’s The 3 Mistakes of My Life, in his second outing,Abhishek Kapoor raises the bar by giving us a thoroughly enjoyable film that showcases the strong emotions between the three protagonists who are boisterous, ballistic and at times plain bored. Despite the disturbing backdrop of death, destruction and politics, Kai Po Che is very likeable. Between tears, you find yourself smiling, because it’s the story of friendship and human triumph above all else. Note: You will not like this movie if slice-of-life films with intense emotions are not your cup of tea.
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Ratings:4/5  Review By: Sukanya Verma  Site: Rediff
Main Ambani ban jaata hoon. Omi ko CM bana denge. Chal, pehle rickshaw pakadte hain.’ Though spoken in jest, these words reveal a shrewd oxymoron of ambition and reality that characterises the zeal and anxiety of the youth. And to me, this stunning clarity and ease in director Abhishek Kapoor’s voice is what makes this adaptation of a mediocre novel so irresistible. I wouldn’t call Kai Po Che an exact retelling of Chetan Bhagat ’s The 3 Mistakes of My Life. Kapoor clearly recognises the strengths (and limitations) of this story as a motion picture and labours to compound an emotionality worth rooting for even if it means significant departure from the source. It’s a beautiful risk. And it totally works.
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Ratings:–   Review By: Komal Nahta  Site: ETC
On the whole, Kai Po Che is a beautifully made and wonderfully enacted film. But it cannot be expected to score everywhere. Its appeal at the box-office will be restricted due to its heavy and tangential second half. The film will do well in select cinemas and good multiplexes. It must be added here that there will also be a section of the class audience which will love the film. Business in Gujarat should be better than in the rest of the country due to the Gujarati flavour of the settings, dialogues etc. and the Gujarat backdrop. Its difficult and in­comprehensible (to the non-Gujarati speaking audience) title is a minus point, more so because the film has no face value to pull in the crowds.
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Ratings:3.5/5   Review By: Saibal Chaterjee  Site: NDTV
Kai Po Che taps the obvious things – cricket, religion, politics, kite flying, Garba dance and the game of marbles – as it focuses on the eddies of Gujarat’s contemporary history as reflected in the fate of a bunch of believable, ordinary youngsters. Pretty much in the manner of the piece of fiction that it is adapted from (Chetan Bhagat’s ‘The 3 Mistakes of My Life’), Kai Po Che keeps things simple and uncluttered. That enhances the film’s mass appeal quotient without compromising on the consistent tinge of realism that director and co-screenwriter Abhishek Kapoor imparts to the tale..Kai Po Che is a must watch.
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Ratings:3.5/5   Review By: Shubhra Gupta  Site: Indian Express
Kai Po Che is so much better, despite its tired saffron-and-trishul-infused scenes, as well as those that show the too-familiar bloody rampage through the terrified-Muslim-housing-colony. This film rises beautifully above its faults. It does not allow simplicity to descend into simple-mindedness, as it transmits real emotions, and gives space to a stand-out performer. And the music from the Amit Trivedi-Swanand Kirkire combine spills out, into the tangled skeins of our lives : I have been humming rishton ka manjha non-stop since I walked out of the theatre.
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Ratings:3.5/5  Review By: Tushar Joshi  Site: DNA
Kai Po Che! works because it is an ensemble effort. this isn’t an ordinary story of bonding, but a kaleidoscope view of the dynamics between the trio that tests their relationship when thrown in the pan of fire ignited by the Godhra riots and the 2001 Gujarat earthquake. Abhishek Kapoor’s vision and execution are in sync, which is the reason the film looks so cohesive and doesn’t jar. However, there are certain loopholes which might leave you baffled. Kai Po Che! works on more levels than it fails, and most of it is because of its brilliant execution. Watch it for the performances.
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Ratings:3/5  Review By: Rubina A Khan  Site: Firstpost
How Ishaan, Omi and Govind’s friendship survives these troubled times is what the story explores from here on. The human spirit triumphs above all in the story, in a manner most endearing and constitutes the last quarter of the film. I loved that bit the most. It reiterates something I strongly believe in – that being a good human being is the toughest religion of all. Kai Po Che, a screen adaptation of the book, The 3 Mistakes of My Life, written by Chetan Bhagat, is a good film, but not a great film.
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Ratings:4.5/5  Review By: Martin D Souza  Site: Glamsham
Adapted from Chetan Bhagat’s novel ‘The Three Mistakes Of My Life’, KAI PO CHE pulls you into its content from scene one. If the direction is spot-on, the casting is pure thrill; not a character out of place. Every situation, every frame is a joy in itself. You know it’s a director’s movie because not a character gets extra mileage. Each character is a hero on its own. But how they crystalize together on screen is what Abhishek’s brilliance is all about. KAI PO CHE is poetry in motion. After ROCK ON, Abhishek Kapoor has reminded us yet again, what a master story-teller he is.
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Ratings:–  Review By: Sneha May Francis  Site: Emirates24by7
‘Kai Po Che’ delves into the life of three childhood friends as they chase their dreams in their rustic hometown of Ahmadabad at the beginning of the new millennium, only to find their ambitions derailed by terrifying earthquakes, religious intolerance and political manipulations. It plays devilish mayhem with their desires and rocks their incredibly intense bond. Considering, Chetan’s ‘Five Point Someone’ was a roaring success in Bollywood as ‘3 Idiots’, it’s only natural ‘Kai Po Che’ awaits a similar, befitting honour. Although there have been many movies that celebrated friendship on-screen, it’d be a big mistake if you skipped this one.
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