Kill: When extreme violence actually exhilarates

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At least in Hindi cinema, I have never seen such brutal violence that goes on and on…and on! But do you know the best part? You are not repulsed, you do not recoil in disgust, you want the baddies to be terrorized, slaughtered and destroyed because of their actions! And you want to cheer no end for the two soldiers who are relentlessly taking on a gang of probably not less than 30 blackguards. By the time the film gets nearer its climax, you want the dude from our Armed Forces to butcher each one, though I personally felt that the kingpin, Fani (Raghav Juyal) gets too easy and quick an end!

And was that a surprise! Yes, as I have always maintained, the latest time just last week when Kalki 2898 AD released, that you need strong sentiments or emotions to endorse action or violence. And I must congratulate the entire team of this film for metamorphosing this cinematic orgasm of violence into a celebration of the victory of good over evil. Or to put it in another way, of our soldiers winning against the nation’s internal enemies who are nothing less than violent sub-human creatures.

The story is a one-liner: when army commando Amrit (Lakshya) finds out that his beloved Tulika (Tanya Maniktala) is being engaged and set to be married to someone else, he boards a Delhi-bound express with the determined will to ‘derail’ her union. By chance, four bogies of the train are terrorized that day by a ruthless gang with knives, led by Fani (Raghav Juyal) and also the old man Beni (Ashish Vidhyarthi), who boards the train with a few more gangsters strategically.

Amrit is accompanied by Army buddy Viresh (Abhishek Chauhan). The two of them take on the entire gang and go on a brutal spree. And what happens to Tulika and her family, chiefly her uber-rich and influential father (Baldev Singh Thakur) who is found by chance by the gang to be on the train, and his younger daughter Aahna (Adrija Sinha)?

Relentlessly savage, in that sense the film is one-of-a-kind for Hindi cinema, with the pitiless storminess emanating right from Amrit’s eyes. A highlight of the pre-climax is Feni asking Amrit how can he fight with such intensity, and it is an index of the mood set by the writer-director that the audience even laughs at this irony. On the day of the Indian press screening, a remake has actually been announced in English, and I can’t wait for it!

The negative characters are sharply-etched and distinct, played by a motley group of truly well-auditioned and brilliantly-cast (Casting Bay) actors. Ashish Vidyarthi and Raghav Juyal, of course, form the cream with their seasoned work. Tanya Maniktala, Harsh Chhaya and Abhishek Chauhan are excellently in sync with their characters, while Adrija Sinha is alright, and so are the ladies who play a part of the Thakur family.

A word about Lakshya: I have read that he trained for this role for almost a year and has a background of wrestling. With some further effort and determination, he can emerge as a major star who need not be typecast, a la a Vidyut Jammwal. For a debut, this youngster is phenomenal and he is perfect in the romantic sequences as well. If the action is completely convincing, it is entirely thanks to this hunk, who has expressive eyes as well.

And before I forget, a special cheer for Zuby Johal and Rajiv Subba of Dirty Hands Studio for the perfect prosthetics, the interior design of the train by Mayur Sharma, the splendiferous (no other word, I think, fits!) action by Se-Yeong Oh and Parvez Shaikh, the stupendous VFX (Lavan & Kushan, Ashutosh Pandey), Rafey Mehmood’s cinematography and Ketan Sodha’s background score.

But the songs and ‘Music Supervision’ are best ignored because, as is very common now, this is the only sore point in a brilliantly–executed movie.

I am no fan of unbridled violence on screen. But it is the sheer positive impact of this film that Kill, for me, will be a landmark movie, and maybe even have repeat- watch value.

Rating: ****

Dharma Productions’ & Sikhya Entertainment’s Kill  Produced by: Hiroo Yash Johar, Karan Johar, Guneet Monga Kapoor, Apoorva Mehta & Achin Jain  Directed by: Nikhil Nagesh Bhat  Written by: Nikhil Nagesh Bhat & Ayesha Syed  Music: Shashwat Sachdev, Vikram Montrose & Haroon-Gavin  Starring: Lakshya, Raghav Juyal, Tanya Maniktala, Abhishek Chauhan, Ashish Vidyarthi, Adrija Sinha, Harsh Chhaya, Parth Tiwari, Akshay Vichare, Jitendra Kumar Sharma, Rupesh Kumar Charanpahari, Sahil Gangurde, Priyam Gupta, Vivek Kashyap, Sameer Kumar, Calib Logan, Moses Marton, Reyazz, Shakti Singh and others