Kaabil: leaching boredom

A predictable revenge and retribution saga that offers nothing new other than the visually impaired protagonists

January 25, 2017 05:32 pm | Updated 06:26 pm IST

Several minutes into Kaabil and you begin to wonder why it doesn’t cut to the chase fast. Two visually impaired lovers—Rohan (Hrithik Roshan) and Supriya (Yami Gautam)—meet on an arranged date, fall for each other and eventually get married. In between, they talk shop, separate and then find each other in a mall, dance expertly without quite having learnt it and perch themselves precariously in an under construction building. In a nutshell they do all kinds of things that hold little interest and value for the viewer. The girl plays the piano and the guy dubs shows in varied voices.

Then tragedy—rape and death—come calling thanks to two villainous brothers, (who are also real life siblings) —Ronit and Rohit Roy. Additional villainy comes in the form of the bad cop played by the otherwise very good actor who gets terribly hammy here—Girish Kulkarni.

Needless to say, in the second half, the film becomes a usual revenge saga, marginally more engaging than deathly dull, dreary and deadening first half.

Clichés abound right down to playing blind in a way that Bollywood has for long institutionalised—looking straight ahead and staring vacantly and unblinkingly into the space. If it’s the heroine, then the omission of kajal/eyeliner is an added indication of sightlessness.

The world is neatly stacked between the very good and the extremely bad. There is no scope for any in-betweenness of being.

Then there are dialogues from another era—“ Kya andhera andhere ko roshan karega (Can one darkness light up the other)? Can two negatives make one positive?” And a cringingly bad and problematic portrayal of the aftermath of rape. Why should the woman (who is otherwise pitched as an independent and self-reliant one) keep harping on how things can’t be the same between the couple after the act of violation and why should the man play along with that?

Roshan gives it his all but the effort shows. There is too earnest a performer in him for his own spontaneous good. Add to that the close-ups, the cloying sentimentality and twitching of every facial pore and muscle. He just needs to relax and wait for better films.

 

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