Kill: Bloody, Gruesome And Unlike Any Other Hindi Film In The Action Realm

THREE DECADES since Aditya Chopra’s Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge immortalised the train as the setting of impossible love, Nikhil Nagesh Bhat’s Kill upends it. Comparisons between both these films are stretched but deliberate by Bhat, not least because he chooses to name the patriarch Baldev Singh, which was the name of Amrish Puri’s character in DDLJ. There is the loose premise of a young couple in love, unaware but unrelenting parents on one side and a charming man on the other, taking it upon himself to win them over. But the comparison is mostly evoked as a statement to signify a shift. If for years Chopra’s film and everything associated with it have come to be a stand-in of Bollywood, the much-abused umbrella term for Hindi films, then Kill springs up with the sole intention of dismantling it.

Bhat’s Kill is bloody, gruesome and unlike any other Hindi film in the realm. The rarity is claimed and earned during the runtime when the familiar setting is revealed to be a setup and the premise turns out to be something else. Amrit (Lakshya) and Viresh (Abhishek Chauhan) are passengers on a train and their reason for being there is a girl: Tulika (Tanya Maniktala). Tulika and Amrit are in love and although she is engaged to someone else (they are returning from that very event); the man is certain to convince her rich, powerful father. The trouble arrives when a group of dacoits, led by Beni (Ashish Vidyarthi) and his son Fani (Raghav Juyal) attack the train and trigger the plot.

The filmmaker, also the writer, does not waste a single minute here — not in exposition, explanation nor revelation. This is a lean actioner that refuses to preoccupy itself with extraneous details. Who are the dacoits? It does not say. Where have they come from? It does not matter. How many of them are there? It is left for us to find out. All that is certain is that when they choose to attack a specific compartment of the train, which includes Tanya and her family, and are egged on by the incentive of getting ransom from a rich family, Amrit and Viresh launch into action for both personal and professional reasons. They are commandos.

Strictly as a breathless violent action film, Kill kills. There is none of the Bollywood shenanigans, no hero entry, no slo mo. There is a clear subtext to the heroism: love and duty. Amrit and Viresh are trained in combat. Bhat admirably stays away from leaning on the crutches that most Hindi films lay out, crafting in the process sleek, ingenious action set pieces (the tremendous Rafey Mehmood is the cinematographer) that unravel with precision and a call back to other Asian films. Equally laudable is how un-indulgent Kill turns out to be. Attacks come from all corners- heads are smashed and burned, spines are broken, bodies are hung and eyes are pierced (most of these I watched with my eyes closed) but the camera seldom lazes on them. The point, it appears, is to demonstrate not what Kill can do but what Kill is about. The second half is gorier, bloodier and more rampant. A personal tragedy later, Amrit has a John Wickian transformation into a manic griever who stops at nothing.

The merit of Kill lies in its brevity and what it achieves in breakneck speed. It soon becomes clear that the dacoits belong to one extended family. Although the film does not pause, the writing makes space to depict them as people and not as faceless goons. There is genuine sorrow in Beni’s face (Vidyarthi is excellent) when one of his group members dies. As more and more of his people are killed, there are tears and howls. It is an affecting inclusion that adds to the watchability of the film. Along the way, Bhat also sneaks in some moments of levity. Like a people held hostage against a written stamp in the train that states, “Bharat railways aapki seva mein hain,” (Indian railway is at your service), blood splashed across a mirror where the message to keep the railways clean is imprinted, and a father and a daughter having a sombre chat while guarding one of the dacoits hanging by the door. These do not disrupt the tonality of Kill but add to the urgency of the proceedings.

The payoffs are even more satisfying when one digs deeper. In Kill, the train is not such a formidable setting for action but is also designed as a social sign. The mode of transport acts as an unlikely leveller. Beni and his gang decide to loot Baldev Singh (Harsh Chhaya) and his family and when things get more desperate, they change the plan to kill him. Beni knows that as long as they are in the train, Baldev Singh, however powerful in the real world, yields no force on them. As long as both are in the train, Beni with his guns and hammers, has an upper hand. Bhat also sneaks in his politics. Before the atrocities begin, we find two young boys in the train who voice their desire to join the army. Their mothers, they say, are unwilling. As the fighting starts and all hell breaks loose, one of them dies and the other joins forces with Amrit. Both turn out to be Muslims. None of this is stressed or underlined. Their names, Sohail and Arif, are thrown around. If you catch them then you would know. If you don’t, it still makes for a compelling story. Kill is equally fuss free about its army protagonist (Fani keeps referring to him as Fauji) with no sighting of flag or inclusion of any rousing nationalistic background score. There is just one line where Feni, stunned at Amrit’s blood thirty savagery, tells him that he is not a “rakshak” (protector) but a “rakshash” (monster), making a pointed commentary, on behalf of the film, about army brutalities. But then again, Kill is perfectly enjoyable and engaging even without these observations.

The performances help. Lakshya is impressive as the grieving commando, mustering up the perfect poker-faced and resisting to overdo emotional moments. Juyal is a find. He gets the best lines and his hat tip to Mohabbatein (another Aditya Chopra film) is hilarious. On paper, he gets a more obvious role where being unhinged is supposed to be his entire personality but the actor reins it in and succeeds in being truly frightening without excessive. There is a lot to like in Kill, most of it comes down to how little Kill tries to be likeable.