When a Pakistani talib, Imran alias Jaan (Salman), kidnaps our duo along with their talkative guide, Jessica follows and lands herself in trouble as well. Speaking of beauty, there is also an American journalist, Jessica (Linda), thrown in the fray as the only other journalist, who claims to be a seasoned pro but follows our boys for scoops and inside information.
The look of the film is consistent and stark, and it works for it in its entirety. One thing to say though is that the towns and ravines and large flatlands are shot lovingly, and framed well to deliver maximum impact while making you experience the true beauty that are the Afghan flatlands. Leave alone armed NA fighters, journalists are conspicuous by their absence, with only 3 journos in all of Kabul. However, the footage largely consists of deserted towns and villages with little to no armed presence over this area. Putting a date to the events is fatal to the film's logic, as that was the time when the Northern Alliance was establishing its hold over Afghanistan, and the Taliban were being uprooted from all their strongholds. They need a local guide and they enlist the help of Urdu speaking Khyber (Hanif). Suhel (John) and Jai (Arshad) are two friends-cum-colleagues from a major news channel from India, in Kabul to cover the war on terror and shoot an exclusive Taliban footage that will help them hit the big time. There is a war-torn land, yes, but no war - only evidence of past battles. After putting a date to the events - 20th November 2001 - the Afghanistan they show strangely doesn't seem to have much war going on.
Kabir Khan's ambitious yet flawed debut film starts with a wholly unnecessary establishing montage of the 9/11 attacks, and the oppressive Taliban regime, and cuts to our maverick rookie reporters' rough chopper landing somewhere in war-torn Afghanistan. So does Kabul Express prove itself? Now therein, as the Bard would not say, lies the rub. It is setting itself to be measured by a different yardstick altogether. If a film tries to position itself as a product that is entirely different, something that does not conform to the usual Bollywood stereotypes, and is not escapist and fun fare, but a brave new film about post 9/11 Afghanistan, it is challenging the definition of a Bollywood film.
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