"Kaabil" Hindi film review - The lead pair and Girish Kulkarni lift this ordinary film with their sincere performances
The sad thing about Kaabil: If you've seen the trailer, you've seen the film. We know that most stories are retold, especially in the case of love stories and revenge drama. But there is total lack of originality and novelty here. I wonder, though, how the same film would have been made in South Korea, as their movies are known for their stupendous psychological twists and turns. There is lack of freshness in this one and some bad direction by Sanjay Gupta.
Apart from the lead pair, Girish Kulkarni as the corrupt cop does full justice to his role and you only wish to see more of him on screen, for he had limited scope in both Dangal, where he was reduced to a pawn, and here, where he is just a corrupt hawaldar.
Then we have the ever dependable Narendra Jha, whose best performance still happens to be in Haider.
The film, though, belongs to our leading man, Hrithik Roshan. He makes you root for him. It is sheer joy watching him perform right from reel one. All of us know that he is talented, but he sure needs to learn the knack of picking up good scripts. And a good director can do wonders with him. I'd personally love to see him work with directors like Raju Hirani, Mani Ratnam, Vishal Bharadwaj and Anurag Kashyap. Or even with indie film directors.
Rohit Roy is better suited for the small screen, and his older brother Ronit Roy - well, we have seen him do this over and over again, playing the bad guy with terrible temper. He fumes at anything thrown his way, here too, including his chota bhai. :D
Pray, why are our bad guys stereotyped and cliched to the extent of dumbness, showing lack of brain and intelligence. I mean, the traps set here for all the antagonists are all too straight-forward and they are made stupid to fall prey easily.
The camera work also could have been consistent, as it looks different across sequences. The switch from the film-look to a youtube series look across scenes is very noticeable and could have been much better. Also, the use of sets are too evident. Wonder why, when there's no lack of funds or budget here! One may also get a feeling that the film was completed in haste, and you cannot help but notice the lack of common sense in a lot of places.
Rajesh Roshan's music is decent, and the song, "Kaabil Hoon" is pretty haunting for it's tune.
A little over two hours, the pace is racy. Papa Roshan produces a revenge drama, Khoon Bhari Maang ishtyle. And beta Roshan comes up with a stellar performance, feeling at home. Yami holds her own too and it's nice seeing a model that can act. Go watch this for the lead pair's convincing and pleasing performances.
My verdict: 2.5 out of 5. Between the two Republic Day Bollywood releases this year, just because we have no choices, I'd reckon Kaabil, atleast for Hrithik's sincere performance. He has the crowd cheering for him on this one.
Apart from the lead pair, Girish Kulkarni as the corrupt cop does full justice to his role and you only wish to see more of him on screen, for he had limited scope in both Dangal, where he was reduced to a pawn, and here, where he is just a corrupt hawaldar.
Then we have the ever dependable Narendra Jha, whose best performance still happens to be in Haider.
The film, though, belongs to our leading man, Hrithik Roshan. He makes you root for him. It is sheer joy watching him perform right from reel one. All of us know that he is talented, but he sure needs to learn the knack of picking up good scripts. And a good director can do wonders with him. I'd personally love to see him work with directors like Raju Hirani, Mani Ratnam, Vishal Bharadwaj and Anurag Kashyap. Or even with indie film directors.
Rohit Roy is better suited for the small screen, and his older brother Ronit Roy - well, we have seen him do this over and over again, playing the bad guy with terrible temper. He fumes at anything thrown his way, here too, including his chota bhai. :D
Pray, why are our bad guys stereotyped and cliched to the extent of dumbness, showing lack of brain and intelligence. I mean, the traps set here for all the antagonists are all too straight-forward and they are made stupid to fall prey easily.
The camera work also could have been consistent, as it looks different across sequences. The switch from the film-look to a youtube series look across scenes is very noticeable and could have been much better. Also, the use of sets are too evident. Wonder why, when there's no lack of funds or budget here! One may also get a feeling that the film was completed in haste, and you cannot help but notice the lack of common sense in a lot of places.
Rajesh Roshan's music is decent, and the song, "Kaabil Hoon" is pretty haunting for it's tune.
A little over two hours, the pace is racy. Papa Roshan produces a revenge drama, Khoon Bhari Maang ishtyle. And beta Roshan comes up with a stellar performance, feeling at home. Yami holds her own too and it's nice seeing a model that can act. Go watch this for the lead pair's convincing and pleasing performances.
My verdict: 2.5 out of 5. Between the two Republic Day Bollywood releases this year, just because we have no choices, I'd reckon Kaabil, atleast for Hrithik's sincere performance. He has the crowd cheering for him on this one.
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