Kabul Express - Movie Review
Kabul Express marks the directorial debut of documentary filmmaker Kabir Khan who has penned some of his own personal experiences in the film when he was in Afghanistan. The film has been produced by Yash Raj Films who are attempting to explore varied and different genres of films with Kabul Express. The film is set in the war ravaged country of Afghanistan post the 9/11 attacks when the Taliban rule had come crumbling down. Kabul Express stars John Abraham as Suhel Khan, Arshad Warsi as Jai Kapoor, Hanif Humghum as Khyber, Salman Shahid as Imran Khan Afridi and Linda Arsenio as Jessica Beckham.
Suhel and Jai are two Television journalists in search of the scoop that will bring them fame and glory. This search leads cameraman Jai and director Suhel like many journalists to the war torn country of Afghanistan where they hope to be able to interview a Talibani. The Taliban rule has crumbled all around and the native people of Afghan are ready to further crush them due to the atrocities they have committed on the country and its people. However in Afghanistan they know absolutely nothing about the country and its people, they then come across Khyber, an Afghani national who agrees to become their guide, driver and translator. So Jai, Suhel and Khyber set off on a journey in Khyber’s Toyota Jeep known as Kabul Express. The adventure and thrill of the journey is just beginning, the lure of the promised scoop makes them visit many unknown places blindfolded and at the mercy of others. They get to see the real Afghanistan, its terrain, its people and even their pass time sports like Bazkashi. Unfortunately the excitement gets a bit too much when they are almost trampled upon by the horses in the game. They are saved by an American journalist Jessica.
But they are deeply disappointed when even after so much of effort they are unable to obtain what they truly desire, an interview with a Talibani. However they get more than what they bargain for a little while later when they are kidnapped at gunpoint by Imran Khan, a Talibani fugitive who now wants to escape to his homeland Pakistan. Imran plans to use Jai and Suhel as his cover and protection to get out of the country safely. If Imran is caught he knows that the locals will kill him without even thinking. So he captures the three of them and forces them to drive him towards the Afghan-Pakistan border. Meanwhile the American journalist Jessica who has been following them thinks that they are on to a big scoop and hence invariably she too gets kidnapped unwittingly. Now an Afghan, a Pakistani, two Indians and an American are thrown together in their journey.
En route to the border the five of them come across several different circumstances and situations, how they actually come together to survive these incidents makes for an interesting journey. Some of the treacherous situations they face en route are armed bandits; they also witness a mob killing prisoners ruthlessly etc. Will Jai, Suhel, Jessica and Khyber survive; will Imran Khan manage to reach his destination? A journey which brings five different people from different nationalities together.
The film has been shot extensively in Afghanistan and the cast and crew even received several death threats while they were filming, nonetheless they continued. Kabul Express has been screened at many film festivals including the Toronto International Film Festival and will release on 15 December.