Mumbai, July 5, 2024
Anyone who declares that he doesn’t like to watch justifiable violence is either lying or is too saintly a person.
No, I am not recommending aggression, brutality or bloodshed; my only submission is that there are times when a tit for tat cruelty may be befitting. In cinema, we have seen many gratuitous fighting that leads to carnage and mayhem, and that’s condemnable.
Five minutes into writer-director Nikhil Nagesh Bhat’s film ‘Kill’, you see National Security Guard commando Amrit (Lakshya) finding out that his girlfriend Tulika (Tanya Maniktala) is engaged against her will.
And so, like a lovelorn determined young man, and with a daring mission to derail the arranged marriage, he boards the New Delhi-bound train Tulika is travelling on with her multi-millionaire businessman father (Harsh Chhaya) who is unaware of their relationship. For reasons not clarified, the father’s refusal to agree to his daughter’s relationship with a heavyweight son-in-law like a commando, seems odd.
Amrit and NSG buddy Viresh (Abhishek Chauhan) are travelling to be close to Tulika and keep an eye on her. All seems fine until a gang of knife-wielding thieves led by boss Beni (Ashish Vidyarthi) and the ruthless Fani (Raghav Juyal) along with other gang members begins to terrorise innocent passengers on the train.
A minor argument follows, and who would have thought that in this day and age, what seems like a scuffle between hooligans would turn so aggressively brutal that you see bodies being maimed and flailed around like toys? Soon, what should have been a typical commute by unsuspecting passengers becomes a place of carnage.
And then it’s time for Amrit to take them on himself in a death-defying kill spree to save those around him.
No prizes for guessing that while all this is going on an adrenaline-fueled thrill ride awaits all viewers.
Kill, as the title suggests, is a 106-minute thriller that relies more on killing than on building a storyline. Not that there isn’t any; the story of a boy and a girl in love is as old as the hills.
What sets it apart is the interference of unknown goondas into their lives who not only snatch, loot, rob but are capable of killing innocent passengers too at the drop of a hat. Quite obviously that is enough reason for writer Bhagat to incorporate scenes of complete butchering of people without any reasonable or understandable justice.
Advertised as “the most violent Indian movie ever made,” Kill turns into a massacre. Amrit’s angst is clearly also stemming from Tulika’s’s upcoming marriage, and though his being a trained commando is a good enough reason to hit back, Tulika’s engagement is a stronger motive for him to retaliate with a vengeance.
Rafey Mehmood’s camerawork that gives us an ample view of train corridors is brilliant as the shots of blood and slaughter take turns in adding to the excitement of justice being done as good triumphs over evil in split seconds. Credit must also be given to editor Shivkumar V. Panicker for his superb skills to axe a scene at the right moment and keep the thrills going.
In some ways, it reminds us of relentless Korean films where it’s non-stop action and combat form the narrative. Amrit slays men as ruthlessly as the gangsters themselves would battle it out.
It’s not that every action shown is merely caused by one-upmanship. There are a few moments that make Amrit turn so hostile that there’s no stopping him.
Lakshya is fit and muscular enough to look like a commando and doesn’t show off his brawny body. He is also lean and perfectly athletic. Raghav Juyal, being a very popular stand-up, tries to deliver lines using light-hearted humour. He comes as a surprise when he too shows skills as a trained gorilla.
Overall, Kill gives enough emotional reason to justify manslaughters. And like me, many viewers too would not mind sitting through this slaughterfest!(Agency)
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