Kaabil - Movie Review

CAST: Hrithik Roshan, Yami Gautam, Ronit Roy, Rohit Roy, Narendra Jha, Girish Kulkarni

DIRECTION: Sanjay Gupta

DURATION: 2 hours 19 minutes

When it was reported that Sanjay Gupta is teaming up with Hrithik Roshan for a revenge drama named Kaabil, I had presumed that Gupta will adhere to his tried and tested method of using whacky characters with cool one-liners and slick thrills.

However, to my immense surprise, Gupta decided on a fresh approach to tackle this subject, for which he deserves kudos. But will this film be 'capable' of impressing everyone at the box-office? Let's find out

Set in Mumbai, Kaabil revolves around Rohan Bhatnagar (Hrithik Roshan), a visually impaired man, who doesn't let his disability affect his life in any way. Rohan meets Supriya (Yami Gautam), another visually impaired person and the two fall in love over coffee dates and dance sessions and tie the knot.

Everything seems to go well until Supriya is raped by Amit Shelar (Rohit Roy), the spoilt brother of corporator Madhavrao Shelar (Ronit Roy). When the law fails to deliver justice, Rohan decides to take matters in his own hands and unleash vengeance on the perpetrators. How a visually impaired avenger manages to not only vanquish the bad guys but also pull the proverbial wool over the eyes of the police department is what the rest of the film is all about.

Hrithik has always challenged himself when it comes to playing any role-from Guzaarish to Koi Mil Gaya and even in Kaabil, the light-eyed hunk delivers an impressive performance as the blind avenger, who relies on his other senses and his intelligence to accomplish his mission. Mind you, Rohan is no 'Daredevil', but his character is heroic nevertheless for the simple reason that he doesn't have any superpowers. Yami Gautam is quite pretty and puts in a decent effort and the chemistry between the lead pair is quite endearing. Rohit Roy is quite unimpressive as the baddie while Ronit Roy, who has impressed us with his role in films like Ugly, comes across as a caricature with his fake Marathi accent. Narendra Jha and Girish Kulkarni, who play cops in the film, have done an adequate job.

As for the film itself, the concept is quite intriguing. How does a visually impaired man avenge the rape of his wife in the absence of any superpowers or sidekicks? Till the second half, when Rohan finally decides to take the law in his own hands, you will be left wondering how exactly he is going to beat the bad guys. The cat and mouse game between Rohan and the antagonists is possibly the only highlight of the movie, though it seems somewhat incredible that Rohan is always a step ahead of the opposition, which makes him seem invulnerable and unreal.

Though the film is infused with drama and thrills, the slow pace of Kaabil may prove to be its undoing as Gupta takes his time in getting to the point. Also, a revenge thriller is not effective if the antagonists are not sinister enough and here, Gupta has failed to come up with villains menacing enough to make you wince at their deeds. Also, some of the locations are very obviously fake, which tends to put one off.

Having said that, Kaabil remains a 'not bad' fare purely due to Hrithik's performance and the novel concept (novel by Bollywood standards, I mean).

My Rating: 2 / 5