Sunday, January 29, 2017
Kaabil
Justice Is Blind
It would be safe to assume that nobody will see Kaabil for the plot-- the promo gives away enough. So then the old-fashioned script should be engaging enough to keep audiences hooked. Unfortunately, Sanjay Gupta (picking the idea from Blind Fury and scenes probably from some from Korean films) makes a leaden, sleep-inducing film.
What is so baffling that the idea of a man taking revenge for the rape and suicide of his wife-- that was done to death in the eighties and nineties-- even made it to the screen in 2016. Hrithik Roshan must have been tempted to play a blind man, but that's about all the novelty there is in the film.
A meeting between the visually challenged voice artist Rohan (Hrithik Roshan) and pianist Surpriya (Yami Gautam) is arranged by an absent Mrs Mukherjee and the two fall in love in the matter of minutes, even though they are sure they don't want to marry because "two negatives cannot make a positive" (who writes lines like this!) It has already been established that Rohan does not treat his lack of sight as a handicap and has a particularly well-developed sense of smell and hearing.
After the remarkably economical opening scenes, Gupta wastes a lot of time over a boring romance and foreshadowing in thick layers. Then the two get married and in a matter of days, she is raped by Amit (Rohit Roy), the brother of the local leader Madhavrao Shellar (Ronit Roy), and his friend (for some reason it is specified that Wasim is a Muslim butcher's son). The corrupt cops (Narendra Jha, Girish Kulkarni), far from solving the crime, add to the couple's trauma. Inexplicably, a friend who is otherwise hanging around all the time is nowhere to be seen in the time of crisis.
In a cringeworthy scene, Supriya tells Rohan that she is now unworthy of him and in the next she commits suicide. Rohan swears revenge and it's no spoiler to reveal that he achieves it. But for characters going through such unimaginable suffering, there is not a moment of genuine emotion that would move the viewer--everything is so loud and overdone.
Hrithik Roshan (looking strangely puffy) bravely tries to make something of the role, but soon resorts to hamming; he is also surrounded by supporting actors who do nothing to help. Yami Gautam has a toothpaste ad look throughout her brief role. The Marathi accent put on by the Roy brother is painful to hear. Kaabil must also get the dubious distinction of having the worst item number possible and Rajesh Roshan mangling his old hit, Saara zamaana.
Labels: Cinemaah
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