WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
Darkness. It is only something most associate with either the setting of the sun into night, the dimming of any light, or otherwise the condition of the human soul when it has suffered loss and sinks into despair. However, for Rohan Bhatnagar (Hrithik Roshan), his life is constant darkness due to the blindness in his eyes. Working as a voice-over artist, Rohan has still found his life to be fulfilled, happy, and relatively carefree despite his condition. Things change for an even better course, however, upon meeting a businesswoman named Supriya (Yami Gautam) through friends, whom he finds is also blind. Even with Supriya’s dogged independent nature, the two soon begin to share mutually beautiful experiences together that leads to love and, ultimately, marriage.
Amazingly joyful and heading into a new future together, a dire incident occurs when Supriya unintentionally attracts the attention of Amit Shellar (Rohit Roy), a local goon and the younger brother of powerful politician Madhavrao Shellar (Ronit Roy). When a horrible attack occurs on Supriya involving Amit and his friend Wasim (Sahidur Rahman), Rohan seeks the police to assist in arresting Amit and proving the assault, only to be thwarted from doing so and then treated as if his problem was nothing of true concern. Trying to move on with their now-disrupted lives, the situation goes from bad to worse, with Rohan suffering a devastating loss that sends him on a one-man mission to evade the corrupt police and seek justice against Amit, Wasim, and Madhavrao.
Next, my Mind:
Delivering a full-on, intense, and at times gut-wrenching thriller, director Sanjay Gupta’s 140-minute effort careens forth with dramatically sobering purpose in telling the tale of innocence destroyed and a peaceful life turned upside-down by the schemes and illicit actions of unscrupulous men. Beautiful, crisp cinematography throughout captures the wondrous elation of two people coming together, sharing mutual traits, and falling in love, while also giving potent life to the grittier fierceness and magnitude of one man’s quest to right a severe wrong. The pacing here carries the viewer throughout the narrative and doesn’t let you rest for second, whether during the most radiant moments or the most unsettling. Add to this the effective music score and sequences and your own emotions echo the character’s every time, keeping you invested to the action-fueled end.
Roshan, whose father Rakesh was a producer on the film, simply embodies the character of Rohan to a “T”, infusing him with the gentle, caring, kind-hearted spirit that most reflects who he truly is while then turning on the smoldering intensity and furled brow rage as Rohan seeks to avenge his loss. The bigger applause would go to how deftly Roshan acts blind, not easy to do realistically given all the moments he shares with other characters much less general movement and action, but he absolutely nails it like a star and, this reviewer feels, out to total respect for those actually blind in real life. Gautam is likewise adorable, endearing, and simply beautiful as Supriya, an independent-minded career woman whose initial hesitations to get involved with Rohan slowly give way to such a heartwarming union between them. The ways Supriya compliments Rohan is superbly enacted by Gautam, who also played blind extremely well.
Great supporting turns arrive from Rohit Roy as the goon Amit, a totally despicable human being whose attributes as such Roy brings out with excellent resolve, Ronit Roy as his older brother and politician Madhavrao, whose ambitions make him dangerous and protective in actions taken once Amit’s trouble comes his way, Rahaman as Amit’s friend in crime Wasim, as well as Narendra Jha, Suresh Menon, and Girish Kulkarni among others. Overall, “Kaabil” stands as a fantastic example of mainstream Bollywood magic, giving the audience the stars, the combination of drama, action, and romance, and a blind hero we can all root for.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
