24 frames per second

The first thing you hear when you watch Nikhil Nagesh Bhat’s Kill is the theme from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai that plays over the Dharma Productions logo. If there is a greater red herring in the history of red herrings, I do not know it. (This is not to say that Karan Johar only produces family-friendly movies of a certain kind. But watch the film and tell me if that alaap feels like a fitting prelude.)

Kill begins with commandos returning from what is presumably a training exercise. They return their weapons and receive their personal effects in return – phone, wallet and such. There’s a sense of them getting back to being something other than what they were expected to be in the jungle. Somewhere about a third of the movie in, two of them are on an overnight train and have to hand over their wallets to a bunch of bandits. It’s almost as though the universe tells them: that’s your cue.

What unfolds for the next hour or so is not for the faint of heart. For the soldiers, the families on the train (including, notably, the girlfriend and her family), and the bandits, the stakes keep rising, and the only option left is to, well, kill. People get stabbed, pounded, gutted, literally smashed to pulp, eviscerated, burnt, shot…

As impressive as the action is, and it truly is impressive, what really stood out for me was the delightfully unhinged performance of Raghav Juyal as Fani. Great action movies are defined by their antagonists, and Juyal gives us one for the ages. Amidst the carnage, we get sass, humour, intelligence and genuine menace. This is a genuine star-making performance.

Roger Ebert once wrote: “It’s not what a movie is about, it’s how it is about it.” Here’s an ultra-violent film that unapologetically delivers on its premise and its title, and how!