Kaal (2005)
Cast: Ajay Devgan, Vivek Oberoi, John Abraham, Lara Dutta, Esha Deol
Director: Soham
Music: Salim-Sulaiman
Synopsis: a hotchpotch of borrowed ideas from recent Hollywood hits. What else is new!?
Reviewed by: Faiz Khan

 

 

Karan Johar produces Kaal along with Shah Rukh Khan, a fact thrust firmly in your face the moment the titles roll, with Shah Rukh gyrating alongside Malaika Arora, reprising their Dil Se pairing in an athletic dance to the film's title song. Kaal represents something of a departure for Karan Johar. Save for the opening and closing songs, this is virtually songless cinema, aspiring instead to be a spooky jungle thriller rather than another saccharine-coated family drama. Of course, the director here is not Johar but Soham Shah, making his debut behind the camera, so one naturally expects a different vision. Different it certainly is—but not necessarily for the better.

Following the embarrassingly camp title song, the camera settles upon the obligatory bare tree silhouetted against a moonlit sky, accompanied by eerie animal cries, owls hooting and snakes slithering through the undergrowth. It is all painfully amateurish, looking less like the opening of a polished thriller than the first tentative effort of an overenthusiastic film-school graduate. Granted, Soham is making his directorial debut, but there is a surprising lack of confidence in the execution. Alarm bells were ringing almost immediately.

We then cut to a foreign couple attempting to photograph a tiger. Unsurprisingly, the tiger takes exception to being stalked and promptly attacks them, leaving only their guide alive to tell the tale.

The next sequence introduces wildlife expert Krish (John Abraham), who is busy wrestling playfully with a giant anaconda, rolling around the grass with the slithering beauty until he receives instructions from National Geographic to travel to Orbit National Park and investigate a series of mysterious deaths. Accompanying him is girlfriend Riya (Esha Deol), and together they head into the jungle.

Running alongside this storyline are Dev (Vivek Oberoi), his friends (Kushal Punjabi and Vishal Malhotra) and girlfriend Ishika (Lara Dutta), who are supposedly heading for their farmhouse but somehow find themselves diverted towards Orbit National Park, where they collide with Krish's vehicle. Dev possesses a vocabulary apparently limited to the immortal phrase "Cut the crap," repeated so often that it quickly becomes more irritating than memorable.

Unknown to either group, strange events are unfolding within the jungle. If tigers are responsible for the deaths, why have they suddenly become man-eaters? Is there a conspiracy at work? Or is some darker supernatural force lurking within the forest? Are humans paying the price for interfering with nature?

Thrown together by circumstance, the two groups decide to travel as one, but before long their numbers begin to dwindle. Still six strong, they eventually encounter Kali (Ajay Devgn), the mysterious self-appointed king of the jungle, who offers to guide them safely through the wilderness. Naturally, things fail to go according to plan.

Who survives?

More importantly, do you actually care?

Soham Shah's film is, sadly, both dull and surprisingly amateurish. He is clearly an enthusiastic student of Hollywood cinema, but there is a considerable difference between being influenced by great films and simply reproducing their ideas wholesale. Borrowing atmosphere is one thing; recycling identical plot devices is another entirely. One cannot help but wonder why he felt compelled to include an obvious lift from Final Destination, a device which feels utterly ridiculous within the context of Kaal. Nor will seasoned viewers fail to spot echoes of The Ghost and the Darkness, The Blair Witch Project and numerous other horror and survival thrillers. Homage is one thing, but originality is in desperately short supply.

Even at under two hours, the pacing feels sluggish. Soham never manages to generate genuine suspense, settling instead for a constant low-level tension that never develops into anything truly eerie or frightening. Loud musical stings erupt at regular intervals in an attempt to jolt the audience, but startling viewers with sudden bursts of noise is hardly the hallmark of an accomplished thriller. True suspense comes from atmosphere, anticipation and imagination, qualities which Kaal sadly lacks. The ingredients are all there for a reasonably engrossing jungle thriller, yet Soham never quite knows how to assemble them into a satisfying whole.

The performances are perfectly adequate without ever rising above that level. Ajay Devgn does what is required of him as Kali, while Vivek Oberoi is reasonably effective as the brash and often irritating Dev. The only actor who really emerges with any credit is John Abraham, who brings a degree of conviction to an otherwise thinly written role. The girls have precious little to do and leave scarcely any impression. Indeed, it becomes unintentionally amusing watching Esha Deol trudge through dense jungle terrain dressed in a succession of impossibly short mini-skirts. Let me say only this—she is no patch on her mother, who wore similar attire decades ago in Jugnu and carried it off with infinitely greater style.

On the musical front, the title track is energetic enough while "Tauba Tauba" is undoubtedly the standout number. Unfortunately, it is relegated to the end titles, meaning you'll only get to enjoy it if you have managed to stay awake long enough to reach the closing credits.

On the whole, Kaal is a disappointing and surprisingly lifeless affair. There was enormous potential in the basic premise, but very little of it is realised. In fact, I rather wish Soham had concentrated more on the tigers—they are magnificent creatures and by far the most compelling presence in the entire film. Sadly, the same cannot be said of the human beings.

As Dev reminds us often enough throughout the film: "Cut the crap."

Sound advice. Give this one a miss.