Entertainment - Dil Kabaddi, a comic take on infidelity in urban lives

After many movies have dealt with infidelity as an affair mostly brushed under the carpet, Anil Sharma (Senior's) debut venture Dil Kabaddi releasing on Friday takes a comic look at the issue.

Starring Irrfan Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Rahul Bose, Konkona Sen Sharma, Rahul Khanna and Payal Rohatgi, the film focuses on post-marital boredom.

It shows how married couples are no longer fearful of discussing monotony in marriage and take a step further by getting into open-relationships at the risk of jeopardising their commitment.

Based on the same lines, Dil Kabaddi tracks the lives of two modern day married couples Samit (Irrfan Khan) and Mita (Soha Ali Khan); and Rishi (Rahul Bose) and Simi (Konkona Sen Sharma).

The film starts with an announcement by Samit and Mita of their separation and follows the moral muddles and emotional crises of the couples over the next year and a half.

Though the film sparked rumours for being based on Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives, Sharma acknowledges that Dil Kabaddi has been inspired by the situation in today's society. "I have so many friends who are into live-in relationships, extramarital affairs or are divorced. Our film is a reflection of today's world. We have only exaggerated the tale a bit for the sake of making it comic," Sharma said.

The film is also Irrfan's first full-on project on sexual politics and says he liked the idea of playing a man who's sexually adventurous. "I like the thought of being a man who's sexually adventurous. I haven't played a character like this before. I'm not going to pretend. Dil Kabaddi is a film strictly for adults. And we shouldn't shy away from saying this," he said.

"It's about dishonesty in man-woman relationships. I call it dishonesty by the standards set by civil society. Sometimes you are not satisfied in one relationship and keep looking for sexual and emotional satisfaction elsewhere. I like playing this promiscuous character," he added.

While the audiences are opening up to the reality factor in new age cinema and off-stream actors like Irrfan making a mark in mainstream Bollywood, the film does stand a chance to tickle the funny bone of the viewers leaving behind a lesson.