Review: KAABIL

Revenge. Story. So. Slow. You're. Ready. To. Kill. Them. All. Yourself.

2 stars

Mini Review:

A blind couple Rohan and Supriya Bhatnagar (Hrithik Roshan and Yami Gautam) are terrorised by a local lout Amit (Rohit Roy) and his sidekick Wasim. The duo rape Supriya and she kills herself. The young blind lad seeks help from the cops but they don't care because they are being paid off by the local politician (Ronit Roy). The last 30 minutes of the movie are about how Rohan extracts his revenge. Even though the action is violent, most of it is predictable. But the twist in the tale makes this long, slow tale worth the while. Hrithik Roshan's best work so far.

Main Review:

Blind boy meets blind girl in a blind date. Whaa?

For one angry moment you ask: How dare he shorten her name when he's just barely met her? But then they fall in love despite the tiresome dialog exchange which goes something like this:
'Two negatives don't make a positive.'
(Insert song where both smile too much but don't blink. Do blind people not blink?)
'See, two negatives make a positive, after all!'
(Insert yet another song, words to which you don't catch because they're smiling too much and not blinking their eyes at all) 

The two blind people get married. 

The people who throw them together are never seen again, even though the two really need support. Even the lad's friend vanishes when he's most needed as support (when the girl is raped, no one helps them!)

The couple - on the way to the hospital - is conveniently kidnapped by the bad guys. We know the cops are terrible and in cahoots with politicians, but unlike the other release this week this movie is not set in the 70's, so the rape and the horrendous dialog before the rape is just awful: Do blind people make love with lights on? They must be touching, feeling each other because they cannot see when lovemaking...

If you outrage at this casual misogyny, then you'd be upset at the way the cop talks to the couple. Girish Kulkarni's Inspector Nalavade is so terrible he's good. His boss, who doesn't know whether to be good or bad (Narendra Jha) is good too.

The girl, now raped by the louts kills herself. And instead of crying with Hrithik, you wonder how she put the chair on the bed, climbed the chair, then threw the dupatta over the fan, made a noose, wore it around the neck and kicked the chair... Was there no easier way of killing herself? But you stop from thinking unkind thoughts because the cops are now being even more unkind to the lad, who says he's going to get justice without the help of the cops.

You look at the watch. It's been two hours. When will he get revenge?

In thirty minutes, he kills the two rapists and the bad politician. You wish he had harmed the sleazy cop as well. They die with the most obvious smoking guns provided. You are simply aghast at the violence involved with the deaths.

It is admittedly the best performance by Hrithik Roshan, but everything takes so long to come to a conclusion, you just wish there was a 'fast-forward' button on the screen. The twist in the tale is simply brilliant. It's a tale worth watching if you have the patience or if you are a fan.