Dharma Productions and Sikhya Entertainment’s Kill (A) is an action film. A huge family of dacoits boards a train to loot passengers. Things go terribly out of hand when Fani (Raghav Juyal), one of the key members of the gang, realises that travelling in the train is the very rich and famous businessman, Baldeo Singh Thakur (Harsh Chhaya). Actually, Thakur’s daughter, Tulika (Tanya Maniktala), is being married off to a boy of her father’s choice although she loves Amrit Rathod (Lakshya), a brave and young army man. After Tulika’s engagement, Thakur’s extended family is on its way from Ranchi to Delhi. As luck would have it, Amrit and his army-friend, Viresh Chatwal (Abhishek Chauhan), board the same train. The two give a tough fight to the gang of dacoits who target Baldeo Singh Thakur’s family.
Nikhil Nagesh Bhat has written an engaging story and an interesting screenplay so that although there is non-stop and gruesome violence in the film, the underlying context for the bloodshed and mayhem is not lost. That, in fact, is the mainstay of the film, besides, of course, the brutal violence. It is because of the compelling story and screenplay that the almost non-stop action never becomes too much for some part of the audience. Yes, the bloodshed and gore may be too much for the women to digest, but even they will not be able to condemn the violence because the need for such violence is created loudly and clearly by the writer. It is for this very reason (good story and screenplay) that the action never looks like mindless violence. Frankly, many among the viewers would feel inclined to help Amrit and Viresh when it appears that they are pitted against a mini army of dacoits. There are a couple of scenes in which the gore is so vivid that many among the audience would either cringe or shut their eyes in disgust but there are several in which the viewers’ blood would boil at the modus operandi of the dacoits. Ayesha Syed and Nikhil Nagesh Bhat’s dialogues are extremely appropriate and go wonderfully well with the action drama.
Lakshya makes a promising debut, confident in his skin. He looks handsome, acts very well and absolutely shines in action scenes. His physique is perfect for the role. Tanya Maniktala is pretty and makes a fine debut in a brief role as Tulika. Raghav Juyal is outstanding as Fani. His performance deserves the highest praise because of the ease with which he approaches every scene. His dialogue delivery is phenomenal. Ashish Vidyarthi is excellent as Beni. Harsh Chhaya makes his mark as Baldeo Singh Thakur. Adrija Sinha is simply splendid in the role of Tulika’s younger sister, Ahaana. Her expressions and body language deserve special mention. Abhishek Chauhan provides wonderful support as Amrit’s friend, Viresh. Meenal Kapoor and Madhu Raja (as Tulika’s mother and grandmother respectively) leave their marks. Abhishek Chauhan (as Bhukhan), Calib Logan (as Brahmeshwar), Ashok Pandey (as Badri), Parth Tiwari (as Siddhi), Shivam Parmar (as Sohail), Akash Pramanik (as Arif), Nazneen Madan (as Sohail’s mother), Komal Chhabria (as Arif’s mother), Kashyap Kapoor (as Dhannu), Saurabh Singh Chauhan (as Biru), Bhupinder (as Satya), Shubhranjan (as Bhupen), Prashant Sitansh (as Nandi), Belal Shanu (as Prakash), Moses Marton (as Murari), Anil Sansare (as Bholu), Vivek Kashyap (as Mukund), Ashish Shirke (as Mangal), Akshay Vichare (as Ujala), Devang Bagga (as Ravi), Mohit Tripathi (as Babban), Subhan (as Chandan), Sameer (as Bechan), Riyaz Khan (as Surajbhan), Sahil Gangurde (as Badlu), Aman Waleski (as Sarju), Awdhesh Mishra (as Gajju), Sharuq (as Bedu), Shakti Singh (as Laddan), Manoj Diwakar (as Sarwan), Rupesh Kumar (as Bisnu), Manish Pandey (as Lallan), Nikhil Kumar (as Makharu), Yakub (as Khesari), Sajid (as Babua), Bilal (as Mahua), Amaan (as Makkhan), Ashraf (as Bilas), Faisal Sheikh (as Ranjan), Jaswant Singh Jassi (as Ramsujan), Pramod Kumar (as Natthu), Mohammed Javed (as Daddan), and Sandeep Sridhar (as Rishikesh) make their respective contributions with the desired gusto and sincerity. Arun Thakur (as to-be groom Jass Pratap Singh), Pratap Verma (as Virat), Mukesh Chandelia (as Jass’ father), Aman Bal (as Jass’ mother), Jatinder and Vipan Dhavan (both as Jass’ uncles), Tajinder and Janvi Bansal (both as Jass’ aunts), Nandini (as Jass’ sister), Priyam Gupta (as the petrol pump attendant), Ajitabh Sen (as the railway policeman), Sahil Taki (as the assistant station master), Ravi Bhushan (as the station master), Avnish Pandey (as the TTE), and Jitendra Sharma and Dip Boval (both as RPF officers) provide excellent support. Harinder Singh, Mahinder Chauhan, Jake Kashyap, Bhupendra Malhotra and Ashok Singh (all five as passengers), and Sajid Anwar, Manoj Modi, Ravi Sanghavi, Vishrut Kalra, Bela Fernandes, Komal Sharma and Yakub Ansari (all seven as hostage passengers) leave fine impressions.
Nikhil Nagesh Bhat’s direction is praiseworthy. The best part of his story-telling is that he has kept the thread of the underlying emotions behind the violence intact throughout the drama. In fact, by reminding the viewers of the human element in the drama at strategic points, Bhat has enlarged the scope of the intense drama of blood and gore. Shashwat Sachdev, Vikram Montrose and Haroon-Gavin’s music is nice. Lyrics (Shashwat Sachdev, Siddhant Kaushal and Shekhar Astitva) are meaningful. Ketan Sodha’s background music is phenomenal. Rafey Mahmood’s cinematography is excellent. A great deal of credit to the cinematographer for not letting the film become monotonous in spite of almost the entire drama having been shot inside a moving train. Se-Yeong Oh and Parvez Shaikh’s action and stunt scenes are breathtaking and deserve full marks. Production designing (by Mayur Sharma) and art direction (Tushar Kapoor and Sabyasachi Misra) are of top quality. Shivkumar V. Panicker’s editing is super-sharp. His cuts are marvellous.
On the whole, Kill may be an experimental film for the Indian audience as an out-and-out action fare like this has never been made in India but it’s an experiment which will succeed because it entertains and engages. A lot of women may give the film a miss but youngsters (guys and girls) and masses will give it their love. Collections are bound to pick up.
Released on 5-7-’24 at Inox (daily 5 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru AA Films. Publicity: below the mark. Opening: so-so. …….Also released all over. Opening was not up to the mark at most of the places.