From Variety:

Kabul Express

(India)

A Yash Chopra presentation of a Yash Raj Films production. (International sales: Yash Raj Films, Mumbai.) Produced by Aditya Chopra. Executive producer, Rajan Kapoor. Directed, written by Kabir Khan. Action director, Shyam Kaushal.

With: John Abraham, Arshad Warsi, Salman Shahid, Hanif Hum Ghum, Linda Arsenio.
(Hindi, Dari, English dialogue)

By ROBERT KOEHLER


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Treating the ongoing struggles in Afghanistan with crude indecision and larky silliness, "Kabul Express" at once lamely revives buddy road pics and trivializes global politics. Commercially shrewd casting of hunky Bollywood action star John Abraham as an Indian journo far out of his element in devastated Kabul will position pic well for international play, boosted by launch at surprisingly prestigious fest posts in Toronto, Pusan and London.
Poorly judged opener depicts TV news reporter Suhel (Abraham) and his cameraman Jai (Arshad Warsi) getting dropped off by helicopter outside of Kabul in late November 2001. They are blindfolded by renegade Taliban en route to Suhel's coveted interview with a top Taliban leader. Combination of cutesy editing devices and the pair's lack of the slightest bit of credibility as working press sets a bogus impression that pic fails to get out of its system.

Slightly more charming is docu vet and tyro writer-director Kabir Khan's conscious allusions to such jaunty Hollywood filmmakers of yore as George Roy Hill, as he interjects regular doses of light buddy comedy and whimsical action into an otherwise serious set of circumstances. To be sure, though, Abraham and Warsi are no Newman and Redford.

After blowing their one chance to get their Taliban exclusive, the pair turns to their driver Khyber (Hanif Hum Ghum), who provides the voice of the Afghan Everyman fatigued with decades of war. Next, they meet Jessica (Linda Arsenio, looking quite out-of-sorts), an American photojournalist for Reuters, but their jolly adventure goes south when Taliban outlaw Imran (the commanding Salman Shahid) hijacks their truck and demands safe passage to the Pakistan border.

Apart from the physical starkness of the action being set in Kabul and its landscape of spectacularly gutted buildings, pic's most interesting cultural traits involve the state of mind of Asians like Suhel and Jai, who live firmly in the modern world and feel utterly alien in such a non-modern Asian region. Pic's view of the Pakistani military, seen as collaborating with Taliban and killing their own with impunity, will cause "Kabul Express" to be banned in that country.

But for all the weighty topics at the periphery, pic is so slight that it barely leaves an impression after credits wrap. As in other Yash Raj productions, no expense is spared in making the film look great, starting with Anshuman Mahaley's sun-drenched widescreen lensing. Khan gets good but not notable support from his action director, Shyam Kaushal.

Julius Packiam's extensive score, featuring a terrific theme cue, compensates for absence of songs.

Camera (color, widescreen,) Anshuman Mahaley; editor, Amitabh Shukla; music, Julius Packiam; production designer, Anjan Gajurel; costume designer, Shamanaz Parakh; sound (Dolby Digital/DTS), Rishi Oberoi; supervising sound editor, Ali Merchant; visual effects supervisor, Pankaj Khandpur; assistant director, Sandeep Srivastava. Reviewed at Toronto Film Festival (Special Presentation), Sept. 6, 2006. (Also in Pusan, London film festivals.) Running time: 105 MIN.

"Kabul Express" just execrable By John DeFore
Thu Sep 14, 4:30 AM ET



TORONTO (Hollywood Reporter) - Presented as a sober-minded venture in which veteran Hindi film producers present a gritty story in war-torn Afghanistan, "Kabul Express" has the benefit of a writer-director accustomed to making documentaries in the region.

It offers authentic locations (making the shoot a dangerous one) and supporting cast and clearly understands the politics of the conflict. Still, the resulting film is a run-of-the-mill road story that will fare poorly with American audiences.

In its opening seconds, in fact, there is something that any sensible American distributor will insist on removing: Footage of the World Trade Center being struck by an airliner serves as preamble to the story, which would be an iffy decision even with a serious film. As "Kabul" quickly proves to be largely comic in tone, including this footage is simply unjustifiable.

After a quick bit of scene-setting narration, we are dropped into Afghanistan in November 2001, where a pair of journalist buddies from India have been assigned to get an interview with a member of the just-unseated Taliban. Out of their depth, the pair wind up in the middle of some uncomfortable skirmishes. Soon they meet their quarry, but not on the terms they wanted: The two Indians and their Afghan driver are hijacked by Imran Khan Afridi, a fugitive Pakistani who fought with the Taliban and demands that they drive him home. Along the way, the group picks up another hostage, a female American journalist.

Writer-director Kabir Khan wants to explore the various moral and political issues here, and he does work in some agitated bickering that dramatizes the conflicts. But Khan also spends quite a bit of time on tangents designed solely to entertain -- debates about the relative merits of various cricket players, the eternal battle of Coke vs. Pepsi -- which are only mildly amusing. (The latter discussion at least affords the villain a chance to make his most pointed anti-American statement: "This is what the Americans do -- pump all the oil out of a country and fill it with Coke and Pepsi!")

The gang goes through a few reversals of fortune that would make for sharp tension in a thriller but are played as lightweight comedy here. As power shifts from kidnapper to hostage and back again, the ice breaks a bit and the inevitable "we're all the same, why can't we just get along" message begins to emerge. By the voyage's end, we realize that this all-terrain vehicle will carry a multicultural band of buddies.

Viewers who aren't bothered by the tone will find little to complain about. The cast suffers from caricature (Salman Shahid, as the Taliban soldier, was evidently instructed to sneer constantly and resembles "SCTV's" Joe Flaherty doing a Snidely Whiplash act) and just plain lousy acting (Linda Arsenio, as the group's sole Westerner, gives a performance that would be laughed off the set of the trashiest U.S. production and makes the screenplay sound as trite as it is), but it all fits the tone of a film that might play well overseas but will leave most American audiences scratching their heads.

Cast:

Suhel Khan: John Abraham

Jai Kapoor: Arshad Warsi

Imran Khan Afridi: Salman Shahid

Khyber: Hanif Hum Ghum

Jessica Beckham: Linda Arsenio

Credits: Director-screenwriter: Kabir Khan; Producer: Aditya Chopra; Executive producers: Rajan Kapoor, Swaratmika Mishra; Director of photography: Anshuman Mahaley; Music: Julius Packiam; Editor: Amitabh Shukla.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter