Ram Gopal Varma-Anurag Kashyap’s Kaun: An anomaly in the 90s, it remains a masterclass in horror-thriller genre

Kaun is deceiving from the word go but here it’s the filmmaker who is misleading the audience. The film stars Urmila Matondkar as a beautiful yet vulnerable woman alone at home, tormented by a shady Manoj Bajpayee, who is seeking refuge from the rain. Despite her reluctance to open the door, he persistently rings the bell and appears at windows. He is a leech with no self-respect, but also a smart bloke who eventually finds his way inside the house. In the middle, Sushant Singh also enters the house, he is a thief disguised as a police officer. After the trio is trapped inside the house, the cat-and-mouse game ensues, leading to two murders.

Wearing white, a symbol of purity, Urmila is shown as this pristine figure in Kaun. Despite being a grown woman, she speaks like a child to her parents on the phone, a mark of her innocence. In contrast, both men are shown as creepy and corrupt. They smoke cigarettes and break into fights — wild cats to her innocent mouse. What makes Kaun brilliant are the subtle hints that RGV drops throughout the film: a white cat found dead in the kitchen, Urmila’s unsettling dream of her house being filled with strangers (perhaps all the people she killed in the past), and news of a psychopathic killer on the loose flashed on television.

Though these hints become evident only after finishing the film, the audience won’t grasp their significance during their first watch. That’s what makes Kaun an edge-of-the-seat, nail-biting experience. Throughout the film, you’ll encounter the thought, “Why is Urmila even engaging with Manoj? Why can’t she just ignore the doorbell?” But as the film progresses, you realise it wasn’t Manoj entrapping Urmila; it was the other way around.

There isn’t a dull moment in this film, and a huge share of credit goes to music composer Sandeep Chowta. The perfectly timed thunder and sounds of rain add to the ghostly vibe; creaking doors and spooky background score make the music almost like the fourth character of the film.

RGV repeated most of his Satya cast and crew in Kaun. The film was written by Anurag Kashyap, Satya’s co-writer. It starred Satya’s lead actor Urmila Matondkar and Manoj Bajpayee, along with Sushant Singh, who also played a pivotal role in the previous film. Even the editor, cinematographer, and music composer were same in both films.

RGV dropped all pretence in Kaun. He came in with a hardcore script and an even stronger crew. Despite his best efforts, the film didn’t get its due. It wasn’t marketed well, and this was the late 90s when the audience preferred love stories and family dramas over a songless thriller. Sooraj Barjatya’s Hum Saath-Saath Hain, David Dhawan’s Biwi No 1, and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam were the top three grossers that year. But if Kaun were released today, it would have killed it, even more than Killer Soup.