KILL : MOVIE REVIEW 
5 STARS / 5 :  OUTSTANDING 
DIRECTOR : NIKHIL NAGESH BHAT 
ACTIONS DIRECTORS : 
SE-YEOUN OH, PARVEZ SHAIKH 
CAST : LAKSHYA, RAGHAV JUYAL 
TANYA MANIKTALA, ASHISH VIDYARTHI
HINDI, 2023-'24
 
 
Some movies smash past international barriers, creating a global legend. 'Parasite' (South Korea, 2019) is one such. 'KILL', executed with stunning intensity by director Nikhil Nagesh Bhat is the 2023-'24 claimant to this throne. Indian action movies from Tamil to Hindi flicks have been around long, but it is only in the last one year that one of them has blasted open the door into Hollywood. The Toronto International Film Festival's Midnight Madness screening created such a storm that Lionsgate picked up the distribution rights for the Inglis filmdoms far before release in India. The premise is simple, the execution anything but. 40 bandits invade a train in India, hoping to merrily loot-'n'-scoot. What they have not counted on, is a National Security Guard commando Amrit Rathod (a subtly terrific Lakshya) who is Superman, Batman and Spider-Man all combined in his hand-to-hand fight skills. Learning from all the fight choreograophers from Tamil Nadu to Ghatkopar to Seoul and sporting more stamina and multi-trauma resilience than all of them combined, he will fight, punch, stab and be smashed till the train and beyond is all reduced to splattered pulp. Blasted emotional stakes bury the ante and give a dark undertow to the churn. Ryunosuke fought like a manic tiger in Daibosatsu-toge (The Sword of Doom) but we're not sure whether he made it eventually - what I'm reasonably sure is that he ditched the sword and passed the torched knife to Amrit. 
 
To all film-makers - look and learn from 'KILL'. 'Joker' for all its power, shamefully used guns, thereby giving more fodder to real life's crazed assasins to use guns in a gravely damaged world where schoolkids are shot down. 'KILL' weaves its pulsing power by leaving out guns and delivering gut-busting action through hand-to-hand fights. 
 
Karan Johar has truly arrived on the global stage - his Dharma Productions taking a lion's leap forward into new territory. Guneet Monga Kapoor of Sikhya Entertainment has added another audacious feather to her production crown - a female Indian producer showing others how it's done. 
 
On an express train from Ranchi to New Delhi, forty bandits (called 'Dacoits' in India) terrorize the passengers, robbing them and not hesitating to fatally attack those who resist. Their leader - an ageing man wearing an Abercrombie sweater - Beni (Ashish Vidyarthi) waits at a railway crossing. The real devil in the gang, however, is a young, slim and bearded chap Fani (a simply superb Raghav Juyal who steals the movie's best performance). Fani's countryside charm and casual demeanour conceal his hardcore criminality and murderous propensity (for more like this homicidal thug, see his brethen in the equally chilling but tonally different 'Titli' (2014). National Security Guard commando Amrit Rathod (Lakshya) is on the train and he is quiet during the robbery in the first few moments, before deciding to unleash his epic counter-carnage. The downside for him is that his fiancee Tulika (Tanya Maniktala), her family and his close colleague Viresh (Abhishek Chauhan) are also co-passengers at the mercy of the marauaders. As the hero kick-starts his fight, the dacoits scatter through various compartments, holding hostages and laying seige for him in compartment after compartment.  How on earth will Amrit conquer this chakravyuh that has unspooled ?
 
Two things set apart 'KILL' - its blown-to-the-kingdom emotional stakes, and sheer ferocity of flesh-ripping, bone-crunching fights. When soldiers face off on the battleground, or police officers encounter an out-of-control shoot-out - a chilling realization sets in - you might lose everyone you hold dear in that no-holds-barred fight. Trauma and shock reaches its zenith, to the point where you may not even get the chance to grieve because you yourself might not get out alive. This hellish boiler room prospect penetrates the movie's pores.
 
Co-writer and Director Nikhil Nagesh Bhat suffered through a train robbery in his own life, inspiring him to make this film (a rare example of a robbery giving back aside from what it took). Action directors Se-yeong Oh (of 'Snowpiercer' vintage, also set on a train) and Parvez Shaikh do terrific work which will be used as a textbook by others in the future for action orgies - the sheer quality and intensity of action puts it on par with action icons like Terminator 2 : Judgement Day, The Matrix 1 and 2, and Daibosatsu-toge. Bhat's directorial caliber is bolstered by Rafey Mehmood's expert cinematography that clearly records the action, Mayur Sharma's slick production design and Shivkumar V. Panicker's adroit editing that is a lesson in how to splice high-quality fights. No wonder Lionsgate was impressed.     
 
Lakshya as Amrit has an innocent, young, handsome face - a blank canvas which he will use his fists and toned physique to splash purple, scarlet and black. This movie will be best appreciated by action aficionados who know how difficult it is to choreograph superior action that looks good and hurts bad. For a movie that runs one hour forty-five minutes, how do you keep the action momentum going ? After a major event, the combat strategy changes. The heart darkens - you will now not just fight but you will fight to kill each criminal who has crossed the line. There is one 'pahalwan' - a big-built, very strong bloke made of pig iron with whom Amrit exchanges a milion bone-crunching blows and yet the vilain does not fall. There is the wily Fani, his paucity of sheer brawn made up for by a demonic cunning in his fight scheme against Amrit. Innumerable body parts are smashed againt metal, basin, wall and door. Perhaps no other movie has used the knife as an attack weapon as ferociously as this one - with nose-to-tail fervour to slash, spear, and advance. But what if you are told you will not get the trophy - will you still fight like crazy to win and reach the finish line ? 
 
 
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