Kaalakaandi 2018

Rileen learns that his stomach cancer has reached the final stage, a news that shatters him inside even as he keeps a quiet, stoic front for those around him. Rather than surrender to despair, he resolves to squeeze as much life as possible from the time he has left, embracing small, reckless pleasures like smoking and sharing LSD with a friend, all while a persistent ache of unhappiness threads through his days.

His engaged brother, Angad, is getting ready for the world he’s about to enter when a call arrives from his ex-girlfriend, Selina, who is waiting in a hotel. The two of them set out on a plan that starts with a hair-cut but quickly becomes something more charged and uncertain as they move through the evening together, hinting at the unfinished business between them.

In a parallel strand, Tara is packing her life for a new chapter in the United States, aiming for higher study abroad, while her partner Zubin tries to sway her away from that path. Hours before her flight, a birthday party becomes a tense stage where a police raid throws the night into chaos. Tara is anxious because her departure time is near, yet she cannot walk away. She escapes with her friends and Zubin in a car, and a heated argument erupts over a kiss she shared with another guy. The car ride spirals, and Tara’s action—she inadvertently collides with a motorcycle, an accident that claims two lives. Guilt gnaws at her, yet she is advised by her friends and Zubin not to involve the authorities, a decision that weighs heavily on her conscience as they drive on.

Meanwhile, [Rileen] experiences vivid LSD-induced visions. He encounters a transgender woman named Sheila and speaks with a curious calm about seeing her “Southern Hemisphere” without physical contact, a moment that brings him an unusual happiness and a renewed sense of purpose. The encounter nudges him toward embracing a new set of experiences on his bucket list, a plan he pursues with a tentative, hopeful energy.

The screen then shifts to the darker, more violent underworld: two goons who dream of bigger schemes—Mafia and Rahmat—devise a plan to squeeze money from their boss, Raza, concocting a story to cover their tracks. In the midst of a party, the road is darkened by tragedy when Ustad, a musician who helped Raza, is killed by two motorcycle-riding assailants. Mafia and Rahmat stand witness to the crime, their own fates suddenly tangled with the violence they hoped to escape.

As revelations unfold, Angad confronts the painful truth that Selina was using him, and he feels the sting of guilt for having cheated on Neha, his fiancée. He spends time with Neha, a kind-hearted woman who makes him rethink what he wants from life, and together they begin to imagine a future they could build, including a wedding that may lie ahead for them.

The greed that drives Mafia leads to a fatal turn: he kills Rahmat to seize the money and, in a moment of desperation, shoots himself in the abdomen. He tries to spin a yarn about an ambush, telling Raza that someone robbed their money and killed Rahmat, but Raza remains unconvinced as Mafia lies bleeding on the road.

In a tender, intimate moment, Rakhi, a photographer who captures the wedding moments, meets [Rileen] and learns about his ruined life and his cancer. He confides in her about his own son’s birthmark on his elbow, and she responds with warmth, recalling that sometimes people meet, exchange names, and then drift apart. He shares his name as well, and the moment deepens when Rakhi gently consoles him and they share a kiss. He also tells her about his illness, and she offers quiet, comforting presence.

As Tara’s airport departure continues to loom, she decides to take action; she contemplates filing an FIR, but the police dissuade her because the two men who died were reportedly linked to underworld figures who killed Ustad. She reunites with Zubin, whose genuine love for her appears stronger than the night’s terror, and she confesses her feelings with a proposal—an embrace that seals her decision to move forward together.

Back at the wedding, the chaos of the day culminates in a tense, surreal moment. [Rileen] steps into the dance floor, lost in the moment as everyone sways with the rhythm. He raises his gun, firing two shots into the air—an act that shatters the celebratory mood. One bullet strikes Mafia in the head, ending his schemes, while the other wounds Rileen himself, forcing him to cry out in pain as the party’s pulse falters around him.

The film threads together these interconnected lives—illness and hope, guilt and forgiveness, ambition and fear—creating a mosaic where every choice threads through the next. It explores how quiet bravery, stubborn love, and the will to seize a few bright moments can coexist with danger, loss, and the looming shadow of mortality.