A journey through the annals of truth

You won't realize how much 50 Rs. will open your eyes to the horrible truth that surrounds us, shrouding us in mirages of treachery, until you bought a first class ticket at Carnatic and sat down to watch Kabul express on a wednesday evening, with a guy who felt the urge to sleep during documentaries a bit, a girl who loves journalism and likes these kinda movies , and her mom came along partly on her own accord and partly due to the relentless persuasion by her daughter, however, she enjoyed it as much.



This is one of those movies which, falling in line along with Kurudhi Punal,really drives the point home; whose impact is not dampened by some songs which do not fit in as there are hardly any songs. Short, Crisp and sweet is how I would describe it if asked to in three words. After The Road To Perdition, this is the next movie I have seen in the same Genre and I love this as much as I did that.

How would you feel if your daughter were married to the enemy and you worked undercover as a soldier and later when returning back to your side , they shoot you down? Probably worse than how Mr. Victor navorski felt when his country Krakozia was the battlefield for yet another U.S exploit. But this time, thankfully the person was not alive long enough to feel the pain. The string of bullets from the rail gun drove it right through his heart. This movie is about the exploits of two journalist Suhel and Jai from India and Jessica, another journalist fromU.S.A, An afghan driver and Imran khan Afridi, a patriotic pakistani general who likes to discharge his duties, because it is his Farz, and a loving father who takes money from people at gunpoint just to give to his daughter who he is not supposed to see, during the two days which changed their lives.

I finally found myself able to remove the golden cloak off USA and see the ruthless cold metal inside. Theirs is a policy of use and throw. Use Pakistani soldiers to fight afghans under the pretext of lending a helping hand, and later condemn them to death by making a false statement that no Pakistani exists over the border. Now it all comes back to me. The intervention in Vietnam, the hand in the afghan war, the political skirmishes, all come back in a blinding rush of colors. As Jessica says "these inhumanly gory events"(I think I've got it right!) could have been avoided if USA had not felt the need to poke its nose. But then they had the blood from the 9/11 attacks fresh on their hand but that did not give them the license to use the Pakistanis. Neither did they have a valid reason to indulge in the Vietnam wars, except if you consider lending a supposedly helping hand.

(Vietnam war : unnecessary intervention)

The trust that Imran builds in John and arshad, the pack of cigarettes as a little something from India, the friendly salute and the outstretched arms holding the paper containing holy writing on one hand, and the forlorn, distraught, astounded eyes of Imran when he is shot by his own men on the other, speak louder than the dialogue itself. It is but saddening to see that even after that, his army officer badge and his favorite something-from-india is swept down the stream.

People like Imran, I salute you! USA, you can go to hell if you continue doing stuff like this. It is very heartening to see the citizens of USA condemning their nation's acts. USA has a glorious history. Her story of independence and all the wars she fought over the years have indeed added to her crown. But such moments of thoughtlessness, such foolish acts tend to erase them from our memory.

Kabul express, in short. Kinetic Energy(There you go nith!) which has the potential in it to disturb the cells of your lachrymals. After all as suhel khan says, "Why should I call it a ride with a terrorist? After all we were all in the same vehicle for two days, we all felt fear and anger, we all loved cricket, well not all, we all loved singing. It was just five of us in a vehicle for two days. I just wish he reached home safe."


The occasional squabbles over cigarettes, the gun-threats, the ghaadi chalos, the discussions over imran and kapil, the Arshad warsi one liners all make it a delight to watch. Some may say it's rather slow. But such movies are meant to be slow.

Over All Rating: 4.5/5