Kaabil Movie Review – Kaabil Lives Up to its Name
Well, its one-word review in terms of the plot.-“Revenge”. But in terms of determination and execution, Kaabil lives up to its name.
Rohan Bhatnagar (Hrithik Roshan) and Supriya Sharma (Yami Gautam) are partners, in love and in being visually impaired. It almost seems like calling someone blind is cruel when you look at them. They have created their own world and their own lives, determined to laugh and live and be normal like other humans. When they are together there is extra light on the screen that’s the chemistry the leading pair exudes. It reminds you of Vinod Mehra and Rekha in Ghar.
This is no doubt an inspired story, but it is inspiring in its own terms when it is entertaining from the first to the last frame. You live their life feel worried when they stray away for a few moments and when we rejoice in the fact that the world of sound unites them like the world of darkness does, he as a voice artist and she as a pianist. They are talented and happy are far too engrossed in each other to even realize their handicap. Just watch the dance scene, it is magical.
They are extensions of each other and nothing was more beautiful until Amit Shellar (Rohit Roy) a local goon and Wasim his friend (Sahidur Rahman) rape Supriya. Amit was keeping eye on her and he is the brother of the local corporator, Madhavrao Shellar(Ronit Roy). The corrupt police officers played by Narendra Jha and Girish Kulkarni, just don’t care because they are not reporting to the aam admi anymore, they know which side of the toast is buttered and they follow instructions bad and wrong included.
We can feel the crash like a glass hitting a hard floor and Rohan’s world is plunged into an abyss of inky darkness. There is political power, the police do not help and the humiliation is unbearable.
Supriya does what woman do best, just survive through this. Clearly, there is a before and after to this tragedy. She tries to connect with Rohan and with great fortitude she tries to manage; her life and her small world yet his silence is defeating and deafening.
Rohan and Supriya never recover and we all know that rape is serious, very serious and when nothing else works, vendetta walks into his mind and the film now stops being emotional. Rohan goes into a state where we support him even he takes the law into his own hands. We cheer him for each attack on the system like he was our representative against the blackness in hearts of our politicians and the blankness of our system.
Sudeep Chatterjee uses his camera like a window and the songs are adept to the movie. Resul Pookutty uses sound efficiently. The sound is the only tool the lead pair has to communicate and it makes his effort worth mentioning. Sanjay Gupta’s Jazbaa was black and maroon and his Kaabil goes from peaches to maroon, quiet strong and strong non-glossy emotions. He is an effective storyteller here.
The second half is like a slow meticulous peeling off of the people from life who ruined his world and lifts it from being a revenge saga to somehow convey our fears and feelings. Roy brothers are superb as the villains and the powerful politician and the goon in them are menacing.
Kaabil and Hrithik are made for each other, his performance as a lover, an artist a sensitive man who feels the trauma when his partner tries to seemingly set things right. Yami is a delight and a beautiful actress in a league of her own, she can emote and we can understand how she wants to protect her man from the pain of the tragedy that stuck her.
They both react to the same situation differently one is wounded thinking he could not protect her and she is strong till she leaves life behind because his silence wounded her more than the rape itself.
Kaabil is not to be compared to any other movie; it is almost a reflection of our times. Yes, it is revenge but it is only the only source of release for our wronged man who only wanted a normal mundane life.
Watch it for Hrithik because only he can do a Krrish, Guzaarish and Kaabil and a Dhoom and leave us wanting for more.
