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Kabul Express
Reviewer's Summary - Below Average
Language: Hindi
Year: December 15, 2006 in the U.S.
Actors: John Abraham, Arshad Warsi, Salman Shahid, Hanif Hum Ghum, Linda Arsenio
Director & Writer: Kabir Khan
Producer: Aditya Chopra
Music: Raghav Sachar
Lyrics: Aditya Dhar
Kabul Express is yet another mediocre movie coming out of the Augean stables of Bollywood.
Although Kabul Express is an eminently forgetable movie, it has two novelty values: it was filmed in that woebegone country called Afghanistan; and it does not have any of that silly Bollywood song/dance love sequences.
Well, considering the overall pitiful crop of movies coming out of Bollywood we ought to be grateful for small mercies. Right?
Kabul Express is the story of two journalists Suhel Khan (John Abraham) and Jai Kapoor (Arshad Warsi) who go to Afghanistan to do a first hand report on the post 9-11 situation in that country.
No sooner do the duo arrive in Aghanistan than they are kidnapped by a Taliban character called Imran (Salman Shahid) who forces them to drive him to the Pakistan border.
The story plods along as they (along with a female American Journalist Jessica Beckham who joins them on the way) drive in that bleak landscape towards the border encountering some rather unsavory elements on the way.
Kabul Express fails at many levels: it fails to adequately bring up the horror that has befallen Afghanistan as a result of continuous invasions and tribal warfare over centuries.
The movie also fails because the story is not compelling enough. There is just no captivating drama here.
Finally, it fails because John Abraham and Arshad Warsi have not done justice to their roles. In some scenes, John Abraham does not have even a scared look on his face despite bullets flying around him. One would think a journalist in his first war reporting assignment - and thrown into a chaotic and violent country like Afghanistan - would show more than a little fear on his face.
As the Taliban agent/Pakistan army soldier keen on returning home, Pakistani actor Salman Shahid does a better job than John Abraham and Arshad Waris. For some inexplicable reason, Salman Shahid reminded us of that yesteryear Bollywood villain Pran.
Kabul Express is the first feature film of director Kabir Khan and is said to be based on his experience as a documentary film maker in Afghanistan. We wish Kabir Khan had waited for a while longer to pick up some more experience before venturing into feature films. - Copyright Rekha Inc.
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