RK/R Kay : This little gem of a film is a quirky blend of reality and fiction

Culture Trail
 - Falah Faisal

Sandwiched between Bollywood blockbusters and Marvel movies, I might have almost missed seeing RK/R Kay, directed by Rajat Kapoor, if it wasn’t for an Instagram post praising this movie by an account called @humheroine. It made me look up the trailer and I was sold right away into seeing the movie - it reminded me of some of my favourites like The Purple Rose of Cairo and The Last Action Hero. So an Indian attempt at a metafictional film needed to be seen.

To put it short, the film has Rajat Kapoor playing a fictionalized version of himself, RK who is making a film in which he plays Mahboob. Fearing for his safety from people pursuing him, Mahboob runs out of the film and into reality, putting the director in a unique fix of having a film without a protagonist. In an age ruled by visual effects, the film uses unique practical techniques like having a golden light constantly on Mahboob while lighting RK and the rest in blues and greys to make the characters of the film within the film stand out from their real-life counterparts.

Suresh Pai, who has edited every one of Rajat Kapoor’s films so far, said, “Rajat and Rafey Mehmood, the cinematographer, had extensive discussions and planned all of it and shot it that way.” One scene that really stands out is during the climax where RK is talking to Gulabo, played effortlessly by Mallika Sherawat in one of her best performances, who is on the computer screen.

As the director talks to the character, she talks back in one of the most absurd conversations one might see in an Indian film. “As an editor, my job was made easy because it was very well planned. But yes according to the mood of the scene one had to linger for reactions and let the whole thing flow,” says Pai for whom this is his seventh collaboration with Kapoor, with whom he shares a wonderful working relationship.

The film is a self-aware masterpiece, with the director often taking digs at himself, his past filmography, and the way he writes characters. But it wasn’t smooth sailing for the film. “This was a film we had all given up on. It was completed in 2019 and there were no takers from OTT. Everybody who watched it agreed it was a great film but it isn’t for us.

It was only in June this year that we found a distributor who got it a theatrical release,” says Pai, adding that almost Rs 40 lakh of the film’s budget was crowdfunded which explains that nearly 500 producers in the end credits. Talking about the influences the film might have, Pai explains “Even when you draw a picture of a tree you are creating it based on something that already exists. Nothing in art is original. You can only say it’s authentic.”

The movie might already be out of theatres by the time you read this article. But if even a single show is playing around you, make sure you catch it. Otherwise, we shall have to wait till an OTT platform picks it up for home viewing.