Kabul Express (Hindi, 2006)

Kabul has dominated world news headlines for quite some time now. Here was a Bollywood movie being filmed in Afghanistan, a place where just a short time ago, Bollywood movies were banned. So it was with a lot of expectation that I had gone to see the movie.

Now what happens if you take George Bush as a subject and make a movie whose main theme is intelligence? That's what happened to Kabir Khan. He took the subject of two Indian journalists in Afghanistan caught the current situation in Afghanistan where the local Afghan polulation is wirch-hunting Taliban supporters; and he gave the story a comic, emotional bend. If you are exclaiming, "That sounds interesting", you have obviously not watched the movie. In an attempt to put a comic twist to an inherently tragic environment, Kabir Khan has delivered a movie which is neither here nor there.

Kabul Express is the name of the jeep in which Khyber (Hanif Hum Ghum), a local Afghan driver is taking Suhel (John Abraham) and Jai (Arshad Warsi) and which is hijacked by Imran Khan Afridi (Salman Shahid), a Taliban supporter trying to get across the border to Pakistan. The movie has some very witty moments in the dialogues between Imran and Jai, but otherwise, you are let thinking throughout the movie, where is this leading? Will this movie get on with it and say what it wants to say or not? No, it does not, it just leaves you feeling stupid, much like the donkey standing in the middle of the road obstructing the jeep at the end of the movie (you are supposed to laugh in that scene, incidentally).

The acting levels in the movie vary from John Abraham's can't-act-to-save-my-life to a brilliant performance by Salman Shahid. Arshad's timing is impeccable, as is the rustic-ness of Hanif Hum Ghum. The pace of the movie is very dragging, cinematography portraying a dry arid hills very well. The direction and the story are the film's weakest points.

Recommendation - Surprisingly, I met some people who liked the movie. So don't take my word for it, go watch the movie. But don't tell me I didn't warn you.

Rating - ✔