Kill (film)

Kill is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film written & directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat and jointly produced by Karan Johar, Guneet Monga, Apoorva Mehta and Achin Jain. The film stars Lakshya, Raghav Juyal, Ashish Vidyarthi, Harsh Chhaya, Tanya Maniktala and Abhishek Chauhan.

Kill premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 7 September 2023, where it was first runner-up for the People's Choice Award: Midnight Madness. It was also screened at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2024. Kill was theatrically released on 5 July 2024 and received positive reviews from critics.

Premise
Amrit, an army commando, learns that his girlfriend Tulika is engaged against her will, where he boards a New Delhi-bound train in a daring quest to stop the marriage. However, a gang of knife-wielding bandits led by Fani begins to terrorize the passengers on the train, where Amrit and his friend Viresh takes on the bandits to save the passengers.

Cast

 * Lakshya as Amrit
 * Raghav Juyal as Fani
 * Tanya Maniktala as Tulika
 * Abhishek Chauhan as Viresh
 * Ashish Vidyarthi as Beni
 * Adrija Sinha as Aahna
 * Harsh Chhaya as Baldev Singh Thakur
 * Avanish Pandey as TTE
 * Parth Tiwari as Siddhi
 * Akshay Vichare as Ujala
 * Jitendra Kumar Sharma as Akhilesh Jha (RPF personnel)
 * Rupesh Kumar Charanpahari as Bishnu
 * Sahil Gangurde as Badlu
 * Priyam Gupta as Kulli
 * Vivek Kashyap as Mukund
 * Sameer Kumar as Bechan
 * Calib Logan as Brahmeshwar
 * Moses Marton as Murari
 * Riyaz Khan as Surajbhan
 * Shakti Singh as Laddan
 * Shivam Parmar as Amrit's friend
 * Billal Kazi

Production
Less than a month prior to its premiere at Toronto, Dharma Productions and Sikhya Entertainment announced the film Kill to be directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, as the first in a content partnership announced in May 2023. In an interview with Subhash K. Jha, the director Nikhil Nagesh Bhat said that the actors had to be trained with MMA artists. Bhat also said in an interview that "“Kill” was inspired by a real-life train robbery he experienced in 1995."

Release
Kill premiered in the Midnight Madness section of the Toronto International Film Festival on 7 September 2023. The film had a theatrical release in India on 5 July 2024. In October 2023, Lionsgate acquired distribution rights to the film for North America and the United Kingdom, marking one of the first instances of a Hollywood studio acquiring a Hindi-language film to directly release in the United States. The film released over 1000 screens across North America. Lionsgate, in association with Roadside Attractions, later scheduled the film for a theatrical release in the United States on 4 July 2024, a day before its release in India. AA Films have reportedly bought the distribution rights for Indian theatrical release. BF Distribution is set to release the film for an Argentina theatrical release on 5 September 2024. Paris Filmes will release the film in Brazilian theaters on September 19, 2024. Paradise Group acquired the distribution rights to release the film under the name of "схватка" in Russian theatres on 25 July 2024.

Critical response
Metacritic rated the film with a score of 74 out of 100, based on 18 critics, citing "generally favorable" reviews.

Zinia Bandyopadhyay of India Today awarded the film 4.5/5 stars and wrote "This is an absolute must-watch for all fans of action and otherwise." Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com rated 4/5 stars and observed "An ultra-violent film about violence, Kill's greatest accomplishment isn't its death count alone but to challenge our perception of violence". Bollywood Hungama gave 3.5/5 and wrote "On the whole, Kill is a violent and stylish action entertainer." Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave 3.5/5 stars and expressed "Kill has a moral compass, a clear context for the 'war' that unfolds." Rishil Jogani of Pinkvilla gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "Kill as a film could work even better with a denser plot and a more dreadful antagonist." Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express stated "‘Kill’ is a lean, mean killing machine." Shilajit Mitra of The Hindu praised Lakshya's performance and expressed "Lakshya, heavily hyped as Hindi cinema’s new ‘killing machine’, is sweaty, strong and seething. The young actor spurns the athleticism of a Tiger Shroff or Vidyut Jammwal, opting instead for a more centred, abrasive fighting style." Uday Bhatia of Mint observed "Kill isn't really a hell-yeah action film. There’s no slo-mo, no release, no breathing room." Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in commented "The most memorable scene in Kill lands it straight in horror territory."

Kill earned acclaim from international critics.

Kim Newman of British Film Institute stated "The first half isn’t exactly slower, but basic relationships have to be established before the real action can start." Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times rated the film R wrote "Manipulative to the max (one upsetting murder is almost pornographically protracted), “Kill” is dizzyingly impressive and punishingly vicious." Catherine Bray of The Guardian opined "Kill’s objectives are achieved with an energy and enthusiasm that make it a tasty piece of action cinema which doesn’t pull its punches; it’s finger-cracking good." Kevin Maher of The Times observed "The plot is painfully perfunctory, and places a lethal “national security guard commando” called Amrit". Nate Richard of Collider rated the film B+ and wrote "Nikhil Nagesh Bhat's aggressively violent action flick is destined to become a cult classic." Peter Debruge of Variety wrote "As brutal a film as the country has ever produced, Kill is a shockingly graphic action showcase from an industry that typically plays violence in a more cartoony register." Randy Myers of The Mercury News stated "After a groan-inducing 15 minutes of exposition, “Kill” lets go of all that baggage to become an outright blast while making a convincing argument for Lakshya becoming our next big action star."

Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter observed "The fight scenes are extremely well choreographed, filmed and edited, but they’re so relentless in their non-stop pacing that the viewing experience becomes numbing." David Ehrlich of IndieWire rated the film B+ and expressed "“Kill” makes very, very good on its goofy title by the time all is said and done, but perhaps the most surprising thing about Bhat’s action extravaganza is that it inverts expectations without ever getting off-track." Shakyl Lambert of CGMagazine rated 8.5/10 and wrote "Kill is one of the best action films of the year, and action fans need to keep this one on their radar." Matt Donato of /Film rated the film 9 stars out of 10. He also stated "No joyous Bollywood dance interludes — this isn't RRR. Bhat's sublimely savage Kill has more in common with take-no-prisoners Indonesian badassery like The Night Comes for Us or The Raid, accentuating breakneck violence that flows like a gushing river of blood from gaping knife wounds." Ross McIndoe of Slant Magazine rated the film R and wrote "The action is kinetic and chaotic as bodies are sent bouncing off seats, windows, floors, and ceilings." Andrew Mack of Screen Anarchy observed "The violence is not fancy and intricate, but fast and harsh, with a survivor’s instinct at the forefront." Barry Hertz of The Globe and Mail commented "For its first half-hour, Kill’s fights are plentiful if slightly pedestrian in their staging and speed." Jonathan Hickman of Newnan Times-Herald gave 7/10 stars and wrote "By removing much of the heavy firepower associated with guns, Bhat’s film delivers visceral, bone-crunching sequences that have a significant impact despite their relatively overblown nature." Critic Simon Abrams of RogerEbert.com gave a mixed review and wrote "Kill tics off most of the essential boxes for a good popcorn flick, making it easy to resist but harder to pass up." Reviewing for Time Out Phil de Semlyen gave 3/5 star and wrote "Credit to Bhat, too, for departing with the tried-and-tested action movie template to deliver an unexpected, nihilistic mid-movie twist. The problem is the sense of déjà vu that creeps in thereafter." Critic Mark Kermode through his Youtube review stated "For survivors democracy is a hard wall." Lyvie Scott of Inverse gave a mix review "Though Kill has its action down pat, it does lack a sense of narrative variety."

Remake
On July 1, 2024, three days prior to Kill's North American theatrical release, Lionsgate and 87Eleven Entertainment, which have previously collaborated on the John Wick franchise, announced an English remake of the film. Denying rumors about other language remake than English remake, Dharma Productions issued a notice that "No other language remakes for Kill".