Kabli Khan (1963) User Reviews

Hindi action operetta

[12-string · 4/10 · 11 December 2003]

Hindi musical actioner is reminiscent of the costume adventure films made in Italy during the early 1960s, sometimes adapted from Salgari novels and often starring Guy Madison. This one takes place in Yakistan, apparently somewhere beyond the Khyber Pass, in a non-specific 19th century context. Evil King Shahbaaz (I hope the scenery was digestible) is countered by popular outlaw Kabli Khan (Ajit), who helps a neighboring kingdom, next on the hit list for the Axis of Evil, to fight off the tyrant. There are rollicking rogues, a bit of swordplay on the stairs, some shootouts, some singing, and some dancing, the latter mostly by peachy tavern entertainer Haseena (Helen).

Indian movie babe Helen gets a lead dramatic role here, not just an item appearance, and looks super-cute in a sepoy uniform (I might even have re-upped in the 77th Bengal Lancers if she'd been one of my messmates). It's a bit brisk for a Hindi film, at only 2 hours, and there is a little more indoor sound stage filming than I would have preferred, which gives it much the feel of a Bonanza episode from the 60s.

Film carries a 1974 censor certificate, though my guess is that it was made a decade earlier and that this cert is from a reissue. Glancing up the page I see that IMDb shows it as a 1963 film. DVD, the only place you'll see this one today, is tolerable quality except for a tendency to go briefly bright orange at scene changes, and for slight cropping, from 1.66 to 1.33. Even the songs are subtitled. The synopsis on the box stresses a patriotic theme that I really don't get from the actual story.

Overall, KABLI KHAN is a swashbuckler with some comedy and music -- not Errol Flynn, not even Guy Madison, more like "The Desert Song" -- but OK enough, especially if you can find the DVD for $1.99, as I did.

No classic, but I enjoyed it for its 2-hour run. On the IMDb scale, 5/10.

Colourful and confusing

[PeplumParadise · 6/10 · 28 October 2011]

Nothing to do with Xanadu or stately pleasure domes, this one concerns kingdoms called Yakistan and Kohistan during some undefined historical period, which have been invaded by someone called Shahbaaz (Samson), who appears to be a bit of a Mongol.

Luckily local hero Kabli Khan (Ajit) is on hand to organise a resistance force.

The always delightful Helen, a year before she became Dara Singh's main on screen squeeze, dances up several dervishes in her inimitable style and even gets to act a little bit as a spy called Haseena (it apparently translates as "a beauty"), who deceives Kabli Khan before falling for his charms-this despite or possibly because of him calling her a whore. Be warned though that despite her second billing she doesn't appear until half an hour in.

Pretty much the whole cast seem to only have one name, which saves me some typing, but must have gotten awfully confusing when you got two actors with the same name appearing in the same film, whilst 90% of the characters in this film have the surname Khan, which is just as confusing.

Further confusion arises from the soldiers on opposing sides both wearing red uniforms, with the notable exception of Shahbaaz's son, Halaku (Salim), who favours going into battle dressed in bright candy pink.

The film is colourful, and every time you have a scene transition the screen flashes up bright red or fluorescent green, which is certainly an interesting, if bizarre, effect, and does seem to be intentional rather than some fault with the DVD.

Production values don't appear to be very high, with the sets looking shoddy and the costumes rather knock off, and there's a lot more talk than action, but it's also fairly well paced, enjoyably daft (Khan's horse sneaking in and out of prison unnoticed anyone?) and a likable enough time-passer.