Kabul Express: the review

A short, songless film rooted in despair, war and a country torn apart. A film where people from different nations come together and in the face of death and fear, end up finding some long lost threads, before parting again. Kabul Express is truly a different film.
The film has a certain DCH feel, as there is really no story. It is just a short part of 5 lives. Two photographers who come to Afghanistan to interview a Taliban so that their journalism careers take off meet an Afghan and an American, alongwith a Pakistani. And so begins their journey in Afghanistan.
The director deserves a pat on the back for several reasons. He has kept the film taut and songless. He has captured war-ravaged Afghanistan beautifully, and has juxtaposed that nicely against Arshad Warsi's character that brings out humour in despair and death. He has also done a very good job at showing how ordinary humanity gets caught in politics. While the Pakistani fights as a Talib for his army, his own army deserts him at the behest of the Americans. The Pakistanis who guard the border and help their comrades are forced to shoot them. Afghanis think its pakistan's fault and Pakistanis return the favour. And the interesting "Oil for Pepsi" theme to the war. He also deserves full marks for authenticity, which goes beyond the landscape into Afghani conversations, lifestyle and yes, some disturbing violence. His best achievement is however a scene when the Pakistani accidentally catches an old Dev Anand song on his radio as they near the Pakistan border, and he and the Indians start singing what unsuspectingly emerges as a common thread between them.

Arshad Warsi walks off with the best lines in the movie, which are as apt and funny as he is. John Abraham has far less impressive lines in the movie. But the movie is so different and engrossing that all that he does or doesn't do can be overlooked easily. For once his rugged appearance does match his surroundings.

Overall, a very watchable film, irrespective of how accurate it is historically and politically. It is worth watching simply to applaud and encourage the effort...