4 out of 5 (80%) reviewers would recommend
Hrithik Roshan, Yami Gautam, Ronit Roy, Rohit Roy, Narendra Jha, Girish Kulkarni, Md. Sahidur Rahaman, Suresh Menon
Sanjay Gupta
Visually impaired Rohan plans a full proof revenge against the culprits responsible for his wife, Supriya's death.
Jan 25, 2017
When they get hitched, visually-impaired couple Rohan Bhatnagar (Hrithik) and Supriya Sharma (Yami) light up each other's lives. Unfortunately their dark world goes topsy-turvy when Supriya is raped and Rohan finds the policemen playing blind man's bluff. Leaving him with no choice, but to take the law into his own hands.
Revenge is a dish best served blind is the message Kaabil serves up. Drawing inspiration from Hollywood's Blind Fury (1989) with Rutger Hauer in the lead and even borrowing shades of the Korean super hit, Broken (2014), Sanjay Gupta gives you a Bollywood adaptation that is entertaining and effective. For starters he lovingly sets up the beautiful world of a blind couple-Rohan, a proficient dubbing artiste and Supriya, a talented pianist-who despite their handicap have a positive disposition towards life. In just two scenes, you can feel their love. So much so, when they get separated from each other for a few minutes at a mall, you start feeling anxious. Also, when this couple breaks into the Mon Amour dance, it's so magical, you find yourself clapping gleefully. But whether it is life or a Bollywood thriller, life is definitely not all song and dance. When a cad, Amit Shellar (Rohit Roy) and his scum-buddy Wasim(Sahidur Rahman) rape Supriya, Rohan's world is plunged into even more darkness than the one he is born into. Predictably the rapist Amit is the brother of the local corporator, Madhavrao Shellar(Ronit Roy), so the corrupt police officers, played efficiently by Narendra Jha and Girish Kulkarni, drag their feet over the investigation. When the humiliation gets too much to bear, Supriya caves in, leaving Rohan with vendetta on his mind. Here,the film shifts gears and though you know what's next, the cat and mouse game still gives you an adrenaline rush. Every time the blind vigilante commits an atrocity, you whistle in the aisle. The highlight of the film is Hrithik's bravura performance. He is vulnerable as a lover and menacing as a killing-machine. Half a star in the movie-rating is reserved for his all-time best performance here. Yami provides the perfect foil, subtle and super-effective. Technically the film is adept, Thanks to masters like Sudeep Chatterjee (camera) and Resul Pookutty(sound). However Rajesh Roshan's yesteryear hits-Saara Zamana and Dil Kya Karen in their remixed avatars are pale imitations of their original versions
Rohan Bhatnagar(Hrithik) is visually-impaired since birth. However he can cook well, realign a bicycle chain and get to work and back without any help because he has learnt to conquer his handicap instead of becoming dependent on others. Supriya Sharma(Yami) is also born blind and like Rohan, she too can pretty much look after herself. Both are positive people. A Mrs Mukherjee sets up their meeting and before long, these two decide to marry. After marriage they live in House NO.14, Gurukripa Society. This is their little haven. However one of the neighbourhood goondas Amit(Rohit Roy) has his eyes on the beautiful Supriya. So he stalks the couple. Just a few days after their marriage, Amit and his friend Waseem(Sahidur Rahman), who is the son of the local butcher follow Supriya home and they rape her. When Rohan returns from the dubbing studio, he finds his 'Su' in despair. He decides to file a complaint with the local police. However Amit is the brother of the local politician Madhavrao Shelar(Ronit Roy) so the police do their best to delay the FIR. They keep them locked up and even throw them into the sea because if a rape victim is not examined within 24 hours, the doctor will not give a medical certificate saying that there isn't enough evidence to prove that the woman was raped. Rohan and Supriya are dejected that they cannot take action against the perpetrators of the crime' but they try to go back to their normal routine. However once more Supriya is raped by the same two guys. This time she hangs herself from the fan. Rohan then becomes an avenging angel and is determined to take law into his hands to teach the wrongdoers a lesson. He meticulously plans the murders of Waseem, whom he follows into a club and tries to make it seem like a suicide. Next he decides to get rid of Amit. Being a proficient dubbing artiste, he tricks Amit into coming to a faraway godown, one where he himself was locked up earlier. Out here there are many tonnes of inflammable material stored. After a fight, he lights a candle and leaves it at the door. He ties up Amit's hands and legs and leaves him there after making a hole in the huge drums that are holding the hazardous liquid. When Amit's older brother Madhav and his henchman come to the godown, they push open the door and the candle flame lights up the whole place causing a huge explosion in which Amit is charred to death. Finally Rohan plans the murder of Madhav. However, the police guy(Narendra Jha) catches up with Rohan. He challenges him that he will arrest him within 24 hours because he has damning evidence against him. Rohan accepts the challenge. The cop then goes to Madhavrao and tells him that he will give him the suspect who killed his younger brother Amit and he will also give him enough proof to put him away for a price. Madhav tells the cop he can take any amount of money if he finds his brother's killer. However Rohan tricks Madhav into coming to a construction site and once again he kills him with an ingenuous plan.
When the cop catches up with Rohan and asks him how he killed Madhavrao, Rohan gives him the entire description. He then tells the cop to find evidence to put him away. The cop goes to the phone booth from where all the calls were made to the three murdered men, shows Rohan's photograph to the booth operator and asks him if he can recognise Rohan as the man who used his booth several times in the last few days. The booth operator is blind and therefore he cannot see Rohan's photograph. Naturally the cop has no evidence to send Rohan to prison.
1. Kaabil advanced it's release date to January 25 because Raees, the film with which it was clashing did the same. 2. Director Sanjay Gupta said that Hrithik would sometimes ask for a hundred rehearsals because he didn't want to goof up in the actual take. 3. Hrithik said it was tough to do action as a blind man because in real life he is not blind and he could therefore see the objects flying at him or the punches coming in his direction. he had to hold still and ensure he didn't blink. 4. Urvashi Rautela danced to the remixed track of saara zamaana haseenon ka deewana that was originally picturised on Amitabh Bachchan in Yaarana. 5. Rajesh Roshan also provided a contemporary version of his hit song-dil kya Karen jab kisiko kisise pyaar ho jaye from Julie for Kaabil. 6. Hrithik Roshan locked himself up in a hotel suite for four days to practice playing a blind man. 7. Yami got over her fear of roller coasters when she shot at an amusement park and rode on a huge roller coaster with her co-actor. 8. Hrithik and Yami gave an interview for a braille magazine to enable the visually impaired to know the experience. 9. Yami practised salsa for days on end to master it as she had to dance blind. 10. 'Kaabil' was shot in just 60 days in Mumbai. 11. Hrithik Roshan is known to be a perfectionist. To get into the skin of his character of a blind man, the actor locked himself in a room for three days and avoided contact with others. 12. This is Hrithik Roshan's first film with director Sanjay Gupta. 13. The film sees the fresh pairing of Hrithik Roshan and Yami Gautam. 14. Brothers Ronit Roy and Rohit Roy can be seen playing antagonists together for the first time.
Hrithik Roshan's revenge drama 'Kaabil' registered collection of Rs 1.25 crore on Day 19 (Sunday), which happens to be its third weekend. With this, the total collection of 'Kaabil' stands at Rs 85.34 crore (nett), according to a report on Boxofficeindia.com. According to the producer of the film, 'Kaabil' earned Rs 1.88 crore on Day 19, thus taking its total collection to Rs 133.50 crore. 'Kaabil' is the story of a visually challenged couple Rohan Bhatnagar (Hrithik Roshan) and Supriya (Yami Gautam) who fall in love and get married. But their world comes crashing down when a tragedy strikes them. Hrithik takes it upon himself to seek revenge and turns his disability into an advantage. Real-life brothers Rohit Roy and Ronit Roy play the antagonists in the film. The film has been produced by Rakesh Roshan and directed by Sanjay Gupta. It clashed with Shah Rukh Khan's 'Raees' as the two films released on January 25. Both 'Kaabil' and 'Raees' are currently sharing screens with Akshay Kumar's 'Jolly LLB 2', that released on February 10. Hrithik Roshan, who is celebrating the positive response to 'Kaabil', has said, "As an artiste, we should concentrate on the creative process of filmmaking. So, when I was in the creative genre, those were my happiest days. Currently, I am looking to get back in my happiest days."