2012 · Film
Kahaani
Sujoy Ghosh's thriller about a pregnant woman from London who searches Kolkata for her missing husband during the Durga Puja festival.
Reviewed by Movie Mandala, Sun, 18 Oct, 2026
Where to watch
IndiaAs of 18 October 2026, Kahaani is streaming in India on Prime Video with a subscription.
With subscription
Checked Sun, 18 Oct, 2026Open ↗
The story
Two years after a deadly poison gas attack on a Kolkata metro train, Vidya Bagchi, a pregnant software engineer, arrives in the city from London during Durga Puja. She is looking for her husband Arnab, who she says came to Kolkata on an assignment and then vanished. A young police officer, Rana, offers to help, but the office Arnab supposedly worked for has no record of him. As Vidya keeps pushing, her search draws the attention of the Intelligence Bureau and of people who want her stopped.
Spoiler-free: only the set-up.
Who it suits
A tight two-hour thriller for anyone who enjoys investigations with a strong female lead and a vivid sense of place. It includes contract killings, gun violence and a terror attack, so it is better suited to teens and adults.
Curation to help you choose, not a review.
Background
Sujoy Ghosh conceived Kahaani and co-wrote it with Advaita Kala. It was made on a budget of about ₹8 crore and shot largely on the streets of Kolkata, where the crew often used guerrilla filmmaking methods to avoid drawing crowds. The film also contains several references to Satyajit Ray's work.
It opened on 9 March 2012. It started slowly but grew through word of mouth, and Hindustan Times reported a worldwide gross of ₹104 crore within 50 days. At the 58th Filmfare Awards it won five of its six nominations, including Best Director for Ghosh and Best Actress for Vidya Balan. At the 60th National Film Awards it won Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing for Namrata Rao and a Special Jury award for Nawazuddin Siddiqui. It was remade in Telugu as Anaamika and Tamil as Nee Enge En Anbe (both 2014). A standalone follow-up, Kahaani 2: Durga Rani Singh, came out in 2016, and the spin-off Bob Biswas premiered on ZEE5 in 2021.
The facts
- Language
- Hindi
- Hindi
- Hindi original
- Genre
- Mystery thriller
- Runtime
- 122 min
- Director
- Sujoy Ghosh
- Cast
- Vidya Balan, Parambrata Chatterjee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Indraneil Sengupta, Saswata Chatterjee
Questions people ask
- Where can I watch Kahaani in India?
- As of 18 October 2026, Kahaani is streaming in India on Prime Video with a subscription.
- Is Kahaani in Hindi?
- Yes. Kahaani is a Hindi-language film.
- How long is Kahaani?
- Kahaani runs for 2 hours 2 minutes (122 minutes).