With Sanjay Gupta’s death this week, fans are revisiting Kaabil, the 2017 action-thriller he directed with Hrithik Roshan in the lead. The film’s release story alone is full of firsts, and its making and reception are just as full of details worth saving. Here are eight things you may not know about Kaabil.
Pakistan ban breaker
Kaabil was released in Pakistan on 2 February 2017, becoming the first Indian film to be screened in Pakistan after the ban on Indian films was lifted following the 2016 Uri terror attack and its aftermath. It was released in Hindi along with its Tamil dubbed version titled Balam.
Same-day clash with Raees
The film opened worldwide on 25 January 2017, clashing with Raees. Following the good performance of the film at the box-office, it was released on around 200 more screens in India on 2 February 2017.
A voice actor’s revenge
Rohan Bhatnagar is blind since birth and works as an animation voice actor for a living. Through his friends he meets Supriya, a working woman who is also blind but proudly independent; they fall in love and marry. After Supriya dies by suicide, Rohan uses his voice-modulating skills to lure the culprits to places he knows well.
Two brothers as villains
The project was announced in January 2016 with Hrithik Roshan in the lead. Rakesh Roshan produced under FilmKraft Productions Pvt. Ltd, while his brother Rajesh Roshan composed the soundtrack. Yami Gautam was confirmed as the lead heroine, while Ronit Roy and Rohit Roy played negative roles. Resul Pookutty was sound designer, with Sudeep Chatterjee and Ayananka Bose handling cinematography.
Inspired by Blind Fury and Broken
Meena Iyer of Times of India gave the film 4/5 stars and noted it seemed to be inspired by the 1989 movie Blind Fury and the 2014 Korean movie Broken. She called Roshan’s performance his “all-time best” and felt Rohan was “vulnerable as a lover and menacing as a killing-machine”.
Critics split hard
Critical response was divided. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave 4 out of 5 and wrote, “On the whole, Kaabil is gripping, gut-wrenching and is likely to stay with you for a long time.” Sarita A. Tanwar of Daily News and Analysis called it “old-school, emotional and forceful”. The Indian Express gave 1.5 out of 5, while Business Standard called it a B-movie with well-known actors and criticised shoddy CG and fake earnestness.
A Yaarana cover
The soundtrack album was released on 21 December 2016 by T-Series, composed by Rajesh Roshan. The song “Haseeno Ka Deewana” is a cover version of “Sara Zamana” from Roshan’s original soundtrack to the film Yaarana (1981).
A sequel in development
A sequel is reportedly in development with Hrithik Roshan set to reprise his role. Kaabil was released in China on 5 June 2019 but performed weakly upon its release.
Which of these Kaabil details surprised you most? Tell us your favourite fact.
Facts from Wikipedia: Kaabil, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Film images from TMDB. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.