Kill review: A really gripping action thriller with toe curling violence and gore!

Kill review: As someone who barely watches action films, I have solely two reasons to avoid it. Either the action is not well done or the action fully takes over the story. But Kill is that rare find that managed to balance both aspects seamlessly, and much to my surprise, I was sucked into the world that this film created. Produced by Dharma Productions and Sikhya Entertainment, the film stirred a lot of buzz and hype internationally at film festivals last year and got its worldwide theatrical release this weekend. 

The story follows Amrit Rathod (Lakshya), a highly skilled NSG commando. Things take a turn when the love of his life Tulika (Tanya Maniktala), messages him, saying that her father is getting her married to someone else. Coming from a business family, Tulika does not have a say in choosing a groom for herself, so she agrees to the engagement for the time being. Tulika and her entire family are supposed to take a train back home to Delhi from the engagement venue, where she decides to meet Amrit. But much to her surprise, he boards the same train along with her. He also has his best friend from the Army, Viresh (Abhishek Chauhan), to accompany him and help him either get married to her with her father’s blessings or help the two of them run away. The plot thickens when the train is hijacked by a group of bandits, which includes roughly around 40 thieves who instil fear in everyone on board. Amrit and Viresh, as commandos, take it upon themselves to protect the passengers. But when things take an ugly turn, Amrit is unexpectedly on a path of revenge filled with gore, violence and bloodshed in what was supposed to be a smooth train ride back to Delhi for him. 

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First things first, the action in the film choreographed by Parvez Sheikh and Se- Yeong Oh is one that we have never seen before in the quintessential Bollywood action films. While it is extremely graphic, violent and gore, it is still more believable than the plethora of action films in India where logic and physics both are often defied. It is also impressive how the entire movie is shot in just one location and the various action sequences and stunts only take place in and around it whilst still keep it interesting for us. Director Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, through the violence in the film also wants us to take a message from it. The message being violence will always be a path to self destruction. Ever since Animal, the overall themes in movies has been violence lately but the difference here is that  Animal celebrates violence with its grand sets and over the top background music. Kill on the other hand shows us the reality of what violence can do to someone. Because of the events that unfold in the film, you root for Amrit throughout for sure, but in the second half, after a point you take a step back and think how good is the good guy and how much worse can the bad guy get? The very thin line between the two is that Amrit’s cause of violence comes from deep rooted pain and love. 

Lakshya as Amrit and Raghav Juyal as the antagonist Fani outshine everyone in the film. Lakshya with bare minimum dialogues, manages to connect with us through his turmoil and also keeps us on the edge of our seats by not letting us know his next move. Raghav Juyal’s character on the other hand is as unhinged as one can get. He does not think twice before speaking or think about the consequences his actions could have. The entire group of bandits are related to one another and even a family of dakaits have a black sheep amongst them and that is Fani. He himself does not know what he is capable of doing and he learns that along this ride and the same goes for Amrit, when life puts him at his lowest rock bottom is when a side of him came out that even he did not know he had. Even though he is injured badly, there are moments Amrit just forgets about all his wounds and in a rage of adrenaline he does things that’ll either have your jaws on the floor or your eyes closed. He also plays with bandits’ minds in a way where in the middle of all of this violence they take a moment to mourn the loss of their gang member, getting shorter in number, one by one. Having said that, there is also impeccable comic timing on Fani’s part. Rarely do we see a villain who infuriates you a moment and makes you laugh in the next. His dialogues sometimes were the much needed comic relief required in the film. 

Overall, Kill is the kind of movie that makes you fully forget the world outside the theater and the one that will make you feel like why did this ever end. You get used to the nail biting moments and the thrill that it takes you a good few minutes to realize you’re back to reality post the climax. To see India make such action films and have the west acquire rights for it is progress in more ways than one. There is a scene in the film where Fani asks Amrit ‘Tu rakshak hai ya rakshas, aise kaun marta hai?’ (Are you the protector or the monster, how can you kill someone this way?) is the moral ambiguity that the director leaves on you to decide. Kill is exactly the kind of film you’d want to watch on a weekend in this rainy weather.

Kill is currently playing at a theater near you!

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