When I first saw the trailer for Kill I have to say that I was immediately impressed. As were many other action movie fans. It looked brutal and inventive, and a step removed from what many mainstream movie fans might think of when they are told to imagine a a Hindi-language film from India. Of course, those who have spent more time exploring the cinema of India will know that there is just as much variety in the films from that region as you can find in the films of any other region, but sometimes people just don't explore enough. And please, rest assured, I say this as someone who is no expert. I have enjoyed some Indian cinema over the years, but nowhere near enough to feel comfortable in any wide-ranging conversation about their film landscape and key industry names (although I will happily direct you to one or two people who know a LOT more than me).
Let's get back to this particular movie though. While the trailer made it look brutal and inventive, we all know that trailers often oversell whatever is being advertised. But not this time. Kill IS brutal and inventive, and it's a real treat for action movie fans who don't mind reading some subtitles in between moments of violence and carnage.
Laksyha plays Amrit Rathod, a NSG commando who is in love with the beautiful Tulika (Tanya Maniktala). Unfortunately, Tulika is engaged to be married to someone else, but she knows that Amrit will somehow sort everything out before that wedding happens. Even as she is boarding a train with her family, she knows all will work out well. Amrit gets on the same train, a reassuring presence as he works on a solution to the looming nuptials, and he is accompanied by a good friend, Viresh (Abhishek Chauhan). Things start to get messy, however, when the train is talen over by knife-wielding bandits, headed up by the dastardly Fani (Raghav Juyal).
I don't know anything about writer-director Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, aside from the fact that he has about half a dozen features to his name by now, and I know even less about co-writer Ayesha Syed. I hope I can remember their names after this though, because both of them have worked together to create a fantastic and relentless tapestry of violence. Not that they did it alone, of course, and there should be equal amounts of praise heaped upon everyone here, from the musicians to the director of photography, from the artists and designers to the daring stunt performers. And the main cast members, of course.
Lakshya cuts a fine and imposing figure as the potential hero of the piece, but Juyal is an excellent opposite number, doing his best to outsmart someone he quickly understands could cause him a major headache, to put it mildly. Maniktala is suitably sweet and alarmed by the situation that unfolds around her, while Chauhan delivers a wonderfully determined "ride or die" turn supporting Lakshya. Ashish Vidyarthi is also fantastic as Beni, a man constantly trying to calculate whether the potential rewards could outnumber the lives that could be lost, and Pratap Verma, Harsh Chhaya, and Adrija Sinha are central characters who have varying degress of importance depending on whether or not they are selected to live or die as things get more and more heated on the train.
Although it doesn't quite hit the dizzying heights of one or two other films it has been compared to, Kill shows just how much can be done with the right performers trapped in one vehicle for most of the runtime. It's incredible, occasionally audacious, and not for the faint of heart. Action movie fans should have seen it already, but if it has somehow passed you by . . . correct that oversight immediately.
8/10
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