Kabul Express (2006)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Kabir Khan

Writers:

Kabir Khan (written by)
Sandeep Srivastava (additional dialogue)

Release Date:

15 December 2006 (UK)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Two Indians, an American, one Afghan and a Pakistani on a journey together

Plot:

The attention of the world is focused, after the terrorist attacks in U.S.A. of 11Sep01, on Afghanistan...

Plot Keywords:

Pakistani | Taliban | Afghanistan | Journalist | Hostage

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

John Abraham	...	Suhel Khan
Arshad Warsi	...	Jai Kapoor
Salman Shahid	...	Imran 'Talib' Khan Afridi / Subedar Major Jan Mohammed
Hanif Hum Ghum	...	Khyber
Linda Arsenio	...	Jessica Beckham
Wali-o Qhab	...	Mujahidin at pick-up truck
Khader Arya	...	Mujahidin at pick-up truck
Haji Gul Asir	...	Mujahidin at pick-up truck
Abdul Basir Mujahid	...	Mujahidin at pick-up truck
Saeed Meeran Farhad	...	Mujahidin at pick-up truck
Raziq Zargar	...	Mujahidin at pick-up truck
Farooq Baraki	...	Mujahidin commander
Anjamuddin	...	Crippled boy
Hashmatullah Fanai	...	Kibabchi at kibabchani
Sunil Godse	...	Pakistani soldier

Runtime:

UK:104 min | Canada:106 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

India

Language:

Dari | English | Hindi

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

UK:15 | Ireland:15A | India:UA | Singapore:PG

Company:

Yash Raj Films

Trivia:

For authenticity and realism, all the actors in the film were cast according to their nationality.

Quotes:

Suhel Khan: Don't be stupid, Imran Sahab. If you leave us, the commander will let you go.
Imran Khan Afridi: You really believe that these Afghans will let me live? Me? A Talib!
Jai Kapoor: But you're not like the Taliban.
Imran Khan Afridi: Really? And you will explain this to them?
Imran Khan Afridi: Have you forgotten what they did to those two guys in the village?
Imran Khan Afridi: Do you think my fate will be any better than that?

Soundtrack:

Banjar

Two great films neatly wrapped up in a terrible one

Kabul Express is not a hideous failure. It's just not very good.

Two Indian journalists head into war-torn Afghanistan to interview a Talib for an exclusive scoop back in India. Quickly they fall victim to the very thing they went to find, and end up on a nightmarish road trip in the custody their putative rebel, played very effectively by Salman Shahid. Along the way, sidekick Jai frequently berates hunk Suhel for "another fine mess he's got him into", starts a shooting war with his Talib captor about whether Kapil Dev or Imran Khan was the greatest all-rounder, and witness (and photograph) the death by beating of two runaway Taliban prisoners.

Kabir Khan might have made two good films out this material. Instead he chose to combine the two, which just didn't work. The opening moments of the film promised a harrowing docu-drama (including what looked like a real life execution of a veiled woman). In the next scene we have our two heroes doing a Laurel and Hardy routine. This pattern was repeated (and certainly repeated on me) for the rest of the film.

Juxtaposing violence and humour is no bad thing of course. But Khan lacked the inclination - or perhaps the experience - to make an effective black comedy. His film is at its most assured during its comic phases. Some of these touches are memorable (the cricket fight, the donkey etc). The film is at its worst when indulging in bizarre, cod-serious non-sequiturs on the futility of war, love or photojournalism – usually from the mouth of the appalling (in this film) Linda Arsenio. Possibly it's not her fault – her dialogue was also the worst in the film, but she didn't improve it.

The film could have been redeemed by a powerful message, but Khan couldn't quite bring himself to show a Talib fighter as a real human. So what we got instead was a cheap shot at the Pakistani government. To me, this symbolised the whole film. It was a missed opportunity. It had all of the elements for a great black comedy, and all the elements for a serious study of war. But in the end it was just a mess.