Releasing the same day as Raees, Sanjay Gupta's and Rakesh Roshan's
emotional and nerve- wracking venture is a grisly, gutsy, edgy and
satisfying venture for those who were waiting for such genre. Apart
from bringing Hrithik back to success with tremendous performance, it
gives you nail-biting moments that make your pulse stand still for a
couple of seconds before it goes berzerk. Hrithik reprises everything
that he is known for - a formidable screen presence, adrenaline-pumping
energy, and compelling emotion. Yami Gautam plays her part naturally
without much effort, but appears too strong for a person who has gone
through a tragic and spine-chilling incident, which can be a tad
unsettling.Sanjay Gupta spins a taut tale, bringing in many
heartwarming sequences like the mall sequence, the suicide note in
Braille and even the way the final murder is shown in a
flashback.Nevertheless, in the final analysis, "Kaabil" is classic
commercial cinema with justice done to this genre thriller despite of
some minor flaws. And no Kaabil is not like Daredevil for those who
think it is replicated from Daredevil. The concept may be the same but
the plot is totally different.

My Rating : 4.5/5

Hrithik Roshan needed a much-needed push to his acting career, considering his personal problems and an embarrassing attempt at recreating history (read Mohenjo Daro (2016)) had put a few red marks on his report card. Sanjay Gupta helps him here, with enough support from the Roshan clan.



Rohan (Hrithik Roshan), a dubbing artist, and Supriya (Yami Gautam), a pianist and NGO worker, are a visually challenged couple who are in love and have decided to marry. They begin their married life with much pomp and circumstance, along with their friends, with the hope of starting a better life together. However, horror knocks on their door the right next day when local goon Amit (Rohit Roy) and his friend sexually assault Supriya, shattering their lives forever. Sardonically, Rohan is more devastated than Supriya, and decides to avenge, after regretting his previous decision to marry, at all.



For starters, there is definitely a lot of heart in the film, with Rohan overacting to the core to impress Supriya. Soon, the focus shifts from their delicate romance to the idea of people mocking those who are disabled. Amit and his friend are both repugnant in their actions and words, and do not mind speaking their mind, especially when Supriya, or women in general, is the subject. The makers probably wanted to show the aftermath of rape, by sampling (or rather simplifying) disability, but handle it rather clumsily. There is no other excuse to create this film which has shades of cliché, mockery, and anti-feminism.



Viewers are guaranteed to feel angry at what ensues after the assault, taking the torch from the scene of act to the police station to the local minister's mansion. It is the usual flow of narration where police apathy and corruption barge in and make you boil. Nonetheless, it does not pass muster if the Roshans had wanted to show the stark reality about the condition of women in a country where the idea of feminism is muddled, and patriarchy and dash of fascism is at an all-time high. It addresses one too many social issues, and then moves on to the vengeance part - which is plain old sweetness.



Although Roshan looks like he's straight out of the Koi... Mil Gaya (2003) sets, he performs well, and is one of the many reasons why the film never bores. Gautam is decent, as well, but it is her facial expressions that is at great display here. The Roy brothers are great, with the elder one typecast and the younger one doing a film after a long time. Their characters are perfectly vindictive, and give too many causes for Rohan to fight back. Other supporting actors like Narendra Jha (also seen in Rahul Dholakia's Raees (2017)), Suresh Menon, and Girish Kulkarni (last seen in Nitesh Tiwari's Dangal (2016)) are all above average and portray their characters with much diligence.



With arresting music and some nicely-shot sequences, the film is sure to keep you at the edge if you are not a feminist. For people who are disturbed at how the makers carve the aftermath of rape, it is best to avoid the film and wait for Sankalp Reddy's The Ghazi Attack (2017). There is this one particular scene, had it been handled properly, would have impressed me a lot. Where after the horrendous scene, Supriya goes to Rohan and tries to calm him, apologizing for not being "the way she was" anymore and Rohan does not reply. The consequence of this scene is rather dreadful, but the writers fail to provide a good explanation as to why Rohan fell silent that moment, as if he was in pain more than his wife - which is factually incorrect and a bad thing to represent.



It has similarities with a lot of recent films such as Sriram Raghavan's Badlapur (2015), Nishikant Kamat's Drishyam (2015), and Priyadarshan's Malayalam film Oppam (2016), but that doesn't mean it's not worth your money or time. Yeah, you do feel Rohan's targets were only the bare minimum and he should have targeted more people, but you cannot choose unless we get interactive cinema in 3017.



BOTTOM LINE: Sanjay Gupta's "Kaabil" is a lot better than his 2014 cold dunk, Jazbaa. It will cause you to emote the same way you react reading newspaper headlines these days. Along with favorable performances and a well-executed story-line, this one is, wait for it, better than its competition. Buy a DVD later or maybe go for that weekday afternoon show. Don't forget to use the Freecharge offer on BookMyShow!



Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

Disclaimer: I don't write reviews mostly. I'll usually just give my ratings and keep my mouth shut but this movie. Damn. I'm not going to be a critic and use unnecessary big words to keep it simple.
I'm going to start with the mindset an average person has while going to watch any Bollywood movie. It's not like you're expecting much. It seemed a little different if you ignore the "daredevil" aspect of it.
Hritik and yami play blind couple. Now the film focuses on that aspect a lot. Nothing against it but we get it, blind peeps are capable of doing stuff. Now it's just pushing it when you make them dance like pros 30 mins in, everyone knows Hritik is a good dancer but seriously?
Now two songs in, they both are madly in love but then the world takes a giant crap on them cause Bollywood, rape, corruption. They all go perfectly together since the 90s. she gets raped. No one takes her seriously cause shes blind and people bad cliché.
2 days in, after the rape she commits suicide. Plot twist is she got raped again. Same guys. The director runs out of ideas pretty soon I see.
Long story short, Hritik seeks Revenge, no one would help him cause corruption and politics, obviously. That's the topic Bollywood jerk offs too.
Now the part which probably tricked all the audience to watch this pile of cringe. How does a blind man take Revenge? What tricks are going to be involved? What great plans this mind would pull off to keep the audience on the edge? You would think this movie is going to pull off some "fifth element" plot twists. WRONG. he calls them to different places cause he's an amazing voice actor and kills them. Cause Bollywood. At least daredevil gave us a story about some chemical crap which made the protagonist strong.
I can go on about goofs, clichés and basically the idea of how moronic the writing is but if I waste more time thinking about this movie, they've won