Cast:
Arshad Warsi, John
Abraham, Salman Shahid, Hanif Humghum, Linda Arsenio
Plot
: Kabul
Express is the first International feature film to have been shot entirely in
Kabul after the end of the Taliban. It was shot over a period of 45 days from
October to December 2005. The cast and crew were sent death threats by the
Taliban to stop shooting but the Afghan government provided tight security and
enabled the shoot to be completed in Afghanistan. On some days there were more
armed soldiers than crew on the location. The film is inspired by the director,
Kabir Khan’s own experiences in Afghanistan as a documentary film-maker. His
encounters and exchanges with Taliban prisoners were the starting point for the
script. Kabul Express is his first feature and is a thriller spanning 48 hours
involving five individuals – two Indians (John Abraham and Arshad Warsi), a
Pakistani (Salman Shahid), an Afghan (Hanif Hum Ghum) and an American (Linda
Arsenio). Interestingly, all actors in this film have been cast according to the
nationality of the characters.
Jai and Suhel – TV journalists from India in search of the ultimate news scoop:
meeting Taliban. Imran Khan Afridi – soldier of the hated Taliban who needs to
escape the wrath of the Afghans and run to his country, Pakistan. Khyber, a
proud Afghan who has been the destruction of his country over the decades.
Jessica Beckham – An American photojournalist ready to risk her life to
photograph the Taliban. Five people from different worlds, their paths are
destined to cross in a ruthless country devastated by war – Afghanistan. Set in
post 9/11 war-torn Afghanistan, Kabul Express is a kidnap drama that is
alternately funny and horrifying. This is the story of a unique reluctant bond
that develops between people who are otherwise hostile towards each other but
are compelled to understand one another in the time that they are forced to
share together.
Hostility has its
own burden to carry, and no country can ever feel the trauma of war as much as
Afghanistan; the war-ravaged land with its barren expanse laden with land mines
has a history that is difficult to encompass or for that matter even touch upon
appropriately in a two-hour film; the crossed interests of Russia and America,
with the much feared and discussed Taliban and their extreme ways, and the
jihadis of the world lending a hand to a people that have been torn by poverty,
ignorance and foreign invasion, are not easy topics to address. Alas, Kabul
Express is a journey that doesn’t even make a sincere attempt to address this
history, placing its protagonists against the disturbing times of an unfortunate
nation, and playing up anti-Pakistan emotions to illustrate the meddling of
Pakistan in another neighbor’s history, while other meddling nations’ roles that
are far more significant have been conveniently ignored or simply made passing
mentions of.
The film rings of jingoism, even through two Indian journalists, versus
Pakistan, and plays to the galleries with scant regard for the ramifications of
such an interpretation, with much of its humorous approach misdirected. It is
set post 9/11, and attempts a satirical approach to the subject, commenting on
everything, from the sensationalism of wartime journalism and its risks, to the
human side of a religion misinterpreted and misrepresented by the western world,
to the strange emotional bonds that develop when humans at cross-purposes spend
time in proximity with each other. But while Danis Tanovic’s No Man’s Land
illustrated ably the futility of war and conflict through its searing and smart
narrative, the acidic black humor hitting bull’s eye between the viewer’s heart
and mind, Kabir Khan’s Kabul Express (or should one say Yashraj’s Kabul Express,
as this is one attempted artistic endeavor that appears to be driven by
commercial needs to appeal to the lowest common denominator, which doesn’t
really work for this kind of cinema) fails miserably.
To belabor the Taliban, oft references to them and their cruel ways, is strewn
throughout the narrative; and the nation’s emotions towards the Taliban is also
spelt out, when Afghanis are seen beating up Talibs with extreme cruelty,
reducing the perpetrator to the inhuman level of the victim itself. Herein lies
the problem, as more important and consequential dramatic points are overlooked
in the process, which is a mistake a film like No Man’s Land never made, taking
the Balkan conflict but addressing war and humanity on a metaphorical level.
Well, as the cut-line succinctly puts it, two Indians, one American, one Afghan
and a Pakistani (the Talib) are on a journey together. So you have John
Abraham’s Suhel Khan and Arshad Warsi’s Jai Kapoor teaming up with Linda
Arsenio’s Jessica Beckham, Hanif Hum Ghum’s Khyber and Salman Shahid’s Imran
Khan Afridi (superb casting, except for John, who is a bit of a misfit in this
powerhouse performance club). Actors from their own region are playing the
respective roles and this really works, with Salman Shahid giving an exceptional
performance, closely matched by Arshad Warsi. The mix of languages, again like
No Man’s Land, also gives the film its own realistic feel that hasn’t been seen
in Indian cinema to-date. Without getting into the story details, this journey
is spent in a limited amount of time, and is quite interesting, if all the minus
points mentioned above can be overlooked; and a comparison with the vastly
superior No Man’s Land may be a bit unfair, but Kabul Express so shamelessly
borrows from the Oscar-winning film that this comparison is inevitable.
The film’s strength is its technical brilliance, with Anshuman Mahaley’s lensing
simply superb, capturing the sand and the mountains of Afghanistan in all its
sun-soaked glory. The direction is also sharp, with some great acting being
extracted from the players effortlessly, but it’s the director’s writing that is
a let-down.
The constant power struggles that are endemic to human nature, with the man
wielding the gun turning victor or simply winning any argument, is not used well
as a metaphor in Kabul Express, though one feel’s that the maker’s intention was
surely there; and the balancing act of cutting finely between the heart-rending
reality of the plight of the Afghans and the inherent humor of placing two
quick-witted Indian journalists in this difficult terrain facing abduction, is
largely messed up. Furthermore, the “who started it?” question that forever
crops up in all conflicts is grossly misdirected. For an attempted satire of
this kind, this is its greatest shortcoming. |
