Debutant director Soham could not have had a better launch pad. With the backing of Dharma Productions and a craft from both schools of film making, the expectations from Kaal were sky high.
The previous movies of Dharma Productions were the cliched pyar-dosti forumla which worked dhamaal at the box office. It can almost be guaranteed that Kaal will work at the box office. This is one negative downfall of the Hindi Cinema. Any movie which is largely associated with Sharukh Khan, the Johars, the Chopras will almost definetly work at the box office due to their popularity status.
While the Chopras almost every time make products worthy of applause the same cannot be said for the other two. However, hopefully Sharukh Khan after Veer Zaara and Swades will now experiment with roles - looking forward to Paheli.
My review from hereon does contain spoilers. If you have not seen the movie and want to then I am alerting you now to read on at your own content.
Kaal begins with a bang; two foreign tourists defy the laws of the jungle by entering a restricted area as they try to film a sleeping tiger. The tiger awakens and attacks the tourists, while the two tourists are sitting inside the jeep. The male tourist shoots the tiger many times...
Krissh (John Abraham) is an environmentalist working for the National Geographic. He is writing a report about the killing of the tourists at the hands of the tiger. He is worried about the population decline of the tiger and also wants to investigate the numerous killings that have occured in the Orbit Park, where man-eating tigers have been blamed. Along with his wife Ria (Esha Deol), he embarks on a mission to Orbit Park.
Dev (Vivek Oberoi) along with his girlfriend Ishika (Lara Dutta) and two other friends are heading of for a holiday to their farmhouse. However, their car breaks down, they enlist the help of Bagga, an apparently mysterious guide/driver who convinces one of the friends Sajid (Khushal Punjabi), who loves hunting, to spend their holiday at Orbit Park. At first Dev is hesitant but eventually agrees.
Krissh and Ria's car breaks down as well and the two groups meet, as they are both headed for the same destination. Then a number of killings occur - the driver of Krissh and Ria, the caretaker at the inn where the group is staying, and Sajid who was found with his head separated from his body. The group on the advice of the local site inspector (Parmeet Sethi) decide to leave.
They then encounter Kali Pratap Singh (Ajay Devgan), a resident of the jungle and probably the only man who can help them escape the jungle. Then begins a journey of survival as a mysterious force, whether of the tiger or something else, tries to kill them all.
Kaal is a movie which one could say that is from the RGV school of film making, the camera angles, the background score, the chills and thrills. The magnum sets especially in the two songs reminds the viewers instantly of Karan Johar's style and creativity. Although the execution of the subject is very good for a debudant, the story and screenplay prove to be a downfall. The length of the movie is 2 hours, akin to RGV's Bhoot.
There are positives and negatives in Kaal. Although there are more negatives than the positives, the positives in terms of intensity outweight the negatives.
There are certain loopholes in the script, which dilute the impact of the movie.
Why does Bagga act in a mysterious manner throughout the movie. It can be partially understood that this could have been done in order to create a more susepenseful atmosphere, but it still baffles the audience?
John Abraham is an environmentalist in the movie. His character should have been well developed in the movie but he is not much wiser than Vivek Oberoi and he is constantly smoking in the movie.
Why does Vivek Oberoi approach the caretaker of the inn at night? Was he that angry at him that he would wake up in the middle of the night where tigers are near the area, just to try and scare him? What he does to the caretaker is not clearly shown either.
John Abraham's reasons for suspecting Vivek Oberoi to be the killer are not explained properly.
One of the most confusing glitches in the script is when, the group is with Kali. When a figure is seen approaching Esha Deol from behind, we learn it is John Abraham. However, the weird (almost guilty) facial expression which John Abraham gives when he is hugging Esha Deol is confusing.
The dream sequence of Lara Dutta, although brilliantly executed, is an example of brilliant execution but poor storytelling. These dream sequences have been used in countless horror movies and one would have expected Soham to have given a justification or a link of the dream with the story, but fails to do so.
Also the characterisation of all the characters is very weak, apart from Vivek Oberoi. Vivek Oberoi is portrayed as a hot headed person who loses his cool every now and then.
Esha Deol and Lara Dutta's characters have been relegated to the back seat. They have hardly anything to do although it should be noticed that Esha Deol manages to improve despite a short role. Lara Dutta looks stunning.
John Abraham suffers from sketchy characterisation - the actor has to make up for his lack of dialogues through his facial expressions.
The biggest disappointment in terms of characterisation is of Ajay Devgan's. His character should have been the most intriguing, the most interesting but the writer Soham fails to give his character the extra edge.
Also the conclusion of the movie, Ajay Devgan is revealed as a bhoot, who kills anyone that disobeys the rules of the jungle. However, what law did the driver of John Abraham and Esha Deol disobey that he was killed in the beginning of the movie. The same goes for the other friend of Vivek and Lara, Vishal. All he did was drive the jeep over the bridge. This is also true of Esha Deol.
Ajay Devgan cannot blame Esha Deol for drinking out of the well, when he never gave her a justification as to why she was forbidden from drinking out of the well. Also one would have expected a chase between Kali and Krissh, Ishika and Dev in the end. Instead the group just face one main obstacle when they escape the telephone booth and run of very easily.
The final scene has also become a cliched scene in suspense movies and Soham should have known better than to settle for that type of a scene. What was required near the climax were twists and turns which Kaal did not really offer.
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