The story is of the Kapoor family, as evident from the title. The patriarch of the Kapoor clan is Amarjeet Kapoor(Rishi Kapoor)who lives with his son Harsh (Rajat Kappor) and d-i-l Sunita (Ratna Pathak) in the picturesque Coonor.
Amarjeet has another son too, but does not really have much to do other than just come to be part of family pics. The senior Kapoor has a heart attack and Harsh summons his two sons Rahul (Fawad Khan) and Karan (Siddharth Malhotra) to Coonor.
Rahul is a successful writer with a best seller to his name and settled in London. Karan is in New Jersey and still struggling to find his calling – from IT startup to bar tender to writer.
Harsh calls Rahul and asks him to pass on the message to Karan to come to Coonor. And as the sons arrive and the story moves on, it gets obvious that Rahul is the more loved, relied upon, treated with maturity and a source of pride for the family. The sibling rivalry is also obvious and Karan feeling neglected and looked down upon. The story does not delve much in to the childhood of the boys, and the story goes only as back as five years where Karan feels robbed by Rahul. The brothers have an unsaid strain and Rahul though making efforts, Karan not able to forget and forgive the events of five year ago. Harsh is facing some financial crisis and having a cynical wife is not helping either.
The boys meet a girl Tia (Alia Bhatt) in Coonor and she gets pally with both and none aware of the relations between the other two. We want to think that its heading towards a love triangle, with one of the brothers getting a broken heart. But wait it’s not about that.
The story is about family secrets, living with fractured relations, everyone amongst the four have a secret and is betraying and letting down at least one (may be except Rahul). As a viewer we are hoping good for the family and let there be love all around. But the story arrives at a point where all the secrets and all the betrayals are out at the same time, for all of them. and all relations are further ruined, and may be beyond repair.
Alls well in the end, but at a cost. The family learns to let go and accept each other with their whims and follies. Blood is thicker.
The story is a little sluggish in the first half, we really wait for a move on. The second half is better and the built up to the climax is very good and scenes of unravelling of secrets very well filmed. The story is good but the movie a little long. Some side plots could have been done away with. The movie is shot mostly indoors but the few outdoor locations are very soothing.
The movie belongs to Fawad Khan. He is mesmerizing and effortless as the elder, caring, sensitive, mature, sensible, perfect son. In the emotional scenes he stands out does very well. Our heart goes out to him. Oh! and he looks so good. Ratna Pathak as the nagging cynical wife is done very well too. Her heart goes beats for her sons, it seems she loves Karan more, but does she? Rajat Kapoor is good too. Alia Bhatt has also done very well for her part and looks very pretty and convincing. Rishi Kapoor is a pro, the naught ninety year old grand pa is very adorable. Ah! that leaves us with Siddharth Malhotra probably the weakest link, or may be the others have done so well that its difficult to notice him.
Music is fine and yes the movie could have been shorter, crispier. Watch it for the performances!!!!
Very well written !!!