This year has been great in terms of quality of movies that entertained the audience and Kabul Express is the right end to a year with started in January with the blockbuster Rang De Basanti . It is always the underdogs and under hyped movies that actually make the audience’ day/year and this got proved again this year (remember when no-hype movies like Dil Chahta Hai , Bend it like beckham , Munna Bhai MBBS made it a great year)
Kabul Express is not a movie-movie , it’s a documentry cum travelogue cum dark comedy. But don’t take me wrong it’s a great experience. It’s the story of war raveged Afganistan , and two indian journalists out to get a story on the fleeing Taliban.
The Taliban has become a rare species about to go extinct and everyone is trying to get a piece of them…the afgans want revenge , Soilders want money (you catch a Taliban and the journalist give you dollars for interview) and the journalists want their story ….even a picture of a Talib will do!
It’s the story of the three parties in post war Afganistan..the common people and what they suffered due to Taliban, two journalists in a country where a small, everyday task can get you killed eg travelling , walking, etc.. AND the Taliban side of the story .A fourth angle is the American angle ..while the three parties fight amongst each other..India , Pakistan and Afganistan … corporate America (culcript America) sells all it can..Pepsi…stories..whatever (this is an underlying conclusion for whosoever can infer it)
The movie has a out-there feel about it..you feel you are one of the passangers of Kabul Express and every minute is an adventure where you are walking on a sharp razors edge one false move, a little bad luck or a small mental block and you are dead meat.
I would recommend this movie for anyone looking for brain food and great laughs , a little intrest in world affairs wont hurt!! I would also recommend that people read up a bit about Taliban as it will increas their movie experience. Happy viewing!!
Cast performance: I am glad that finally we have characters played by the right ethnic group...i.e thank god its not Jackie Shroff playing an Afgaan !!. The american jurno is the first attractive face in a bollywood movie (didnt much like the firangs in lagaan , RDB , krishna(the subahs ghai movie remeber...) etc..) John according to me isnt that great an actor but u wont even notice cause the story is much bigger than the stars!! Arshad Warsi plays Arshad Warsi.(u’ll understand it when u see the movie) and is entertaining as always!!
Genre: help me with this....its a story where when your leg gets blown off you laugh...cause it was not your head!!
I will soon try to post a brief history of taliban.
SKIP THIS PART CAUSE IT CONTAINS LASHING AT A REVIWER
I am really angry at Khalid Mohammed’s review and rating of the movie. Reviewers follow the unwritten rule..any English movie should never be given less than 3 stars , rarest of rare case give it 2 and a half. (what’s it called colonial mindset..?? am not too sure) . Any hindi movie should never be given more than 2 and a half stars unless it’s a overhyped , big production house , big stars backed senseless movie like krrish fanna D2 and on.. if it’s a big star –not so big production house (RDB with 2 and a half stars) or big PH but no star movie….then the star tally should strictly remain under 2 and a half.
Big reviewers should be careful what they spit out from their mouths…they may have to eat it later. Khalid calls this movie a cliché, …oh God , this movie dosent even fall into the category of a movie: Lagaan , omakara were still movies..this is something else..real hatke stuff. This guys is on the same level as some guy in the audience who said ther’s no diffrence between KABUL and BABUL. Well yes if u expect John to start romancing the firang against the Afgani landscape and are disspoineted at not finding it ! This movie is so obviously made on a persons personal experience and what you can term as REAL LIFE , as opposed to copies of bollywood flicks..where the only entertainment is guessing which all movies the various scenes were taken from …remember salaam namaste and pyaar ke side effects…a medly of nine months , meet the parents, father of the bride…. I’ll just say this for the movie I saw the 5 :20 show on a weekday (Friday) and the hall was 80 % full and I’m watching it again on Sunday.