Kaal - Das Geheimnis des Dschungels

Well this movie is not like the typical Bollywood horror movie. It has its different tone. Screenplay is good. But lacks story and the climax can easily be predicted. Good cast but the acting has little surprised me because all are overreacting except Ajay Devgn. Ajay Devgn was superb in the movie and fit to play the character that he plays. Otherwise just decent watch you can give it a try. It's not that horror but it's a good thriller.....

Pride is what caused Kaal. I could somehow feel Karan Johar in each and every shot, and the forced acting, the worst use of the wide angle, funny jungle sounds you could buy on a cheap CD, and of course, Shah Rukh Khan and Mallaika. For a moment it seemed more like a Pepsi Commercial, and a badly directed one at that. Strangers meet in jungle, hacked one by one, until they come upon the big secret, something that you'll guess anyway within the first fifteen minutes of the movie. the only person it might fool is someone sleeping through the movie. The Director must have really begged to get this chance, and Karan Johar must have been desperately bored. Some claim this film is a hit. Of course it will be. That's why Shah Rukh appears at the beginning, to tell us: "it's all right! this kind of crap is endorsed by me, see?" The movie is an insult to the paying-public. Of course, only a Karan Johar can get away with such blatant disrespect, with his already immoral films setting the trends for today's youngsters. while aditya chopra strives for morals, karan johar exploits the lack of it. True, he does vibe well with the public. But for how long?

Plot Outline: Tourists Dev (Vivek Oberoi), Ishika (Lara Dutta) and two friends explore Orbit National Park, a tiger haven. They meet Wildlife experts Krish (John Abraham) and Riya (Esha Deol) who are exploring recent mysterious man-eater killings for National Geographic Channel. They are joined by Kali (Ajay Devgan) who takes up the challenge of guiding them though the mysteries of the jungle.

Comment: Kaal is pot-pourri of Ram Gopal Verma and Karan Johar's styles since Writer/Director Soham had been an assistant to both. RGV's style is visible in the thriller plot, pale ghosts and bizarre deaths. Johar didn't forget to cast SRK, this time in an Item number. The movie shares similarities with Ghost and the Darkness, Wrong Turn, etc.

There isn't much acting to see, thanks to the incoherent script and lack of room for characters to grow. Music is decent; choreography is stereotype. Jim Corbett National Park is well captured. No wonder they are facing a suit for the alleged violation of the Wildlife act.

Rating: 2/5

Kaal was supposed to be the best film of the year before its release. But, as usual bollywood has produced yet another Hollywood style (read copy) time waster. The macho men like Ajay Devagan and Vivek Oberoi also could not save the disaster.

Some sequences clearly are copied from "Final Destination" and Taran Adarsh of Indiafm says these scenes are the best. I seriously don't understand how come he became a film critic. Tasteless cheap idiot.

The promos gave much hype to the movie with tigers and all the stuff. Clearly Soham concentrated more on the promos than the original film. Esha and Lara prove to be a waste. To be frank I don't find a single positive point about the movie except the marketing and pre release promotion.

My advice is not to watch the movie and waste your money.

Rating **.

Kaal – it's all about living up to your promise.

Yes, Kaal promised much. A songless thriller from The Karan Johar stable! Set in Jim Corbett, an array of dazzling stars, an item number from the Chaiyya Chaiyya pair and a man eater tiger to moot. And super cool promos which got most of us excited.

But alas, kaal is all about a great promo and an ordinary product. It pretty much falls in the slasher fest genre which studiously sticks to the following rules

1.Loud is scary. Yes, every scene is recorded with high pitched sound and screechy noises! Sure there could be a better way of scaring people. 2.The hero's best friends are the first to be killed. Here the character Vishal, dies twice in five minutes, if once was not bad enough. 3.Point the needle of suspicion on the main characters and get them into a scuffle. We do not even get to see John and Vivek fight. The way their girl friends, get them to back off has to be seen to be believed. 4.Have one scary dream sequence in the middle of nowhere, and expect the audience to wake up after that! 5.Headless corpses are a must; throw a couple of them for good effect.

But, hey this movie is set in Jim Corbett (read Orbit Park) and we need to talk about tiger conservation. Remember we have a marketing tie up with Nat Geo. Sure show a hanging owl and langoor dangling from a tree every twenty minutes and a python wrapped around John's torso (strong suspicion that Karan insisted on this shot). And John is after all a "Tiger expert" working with Nat Geo.

The acting skills in a slasher fest are strictly limited to the women shrieking, screaming, running and obviously dressed in skimpy clothes (remember no songs for such displays). And the men , Vivek Oberoi has perfected the art of being Mr. Irritating (with kajal and lipstick make up !) and considering his acting skills are rather limited , one can be rest assured his real life persona is not way different ( now do we blame Sallu for wanting to bash him up). Devgan who has a psychobabble mumbo jumbo background score blaring as he enters, has a staff to cover his face and his intense brooding eyes hope to add to the terror. John looks good and it's a little too much to expect him to act.

Yes, Kaal is all this and more! Do watch it, you would never complain about why Karan Johar makes the same kind of KKHH, KHNH, K3G movies. He should leave this genre to the Ramus of the world and not to forget the director of this venture is Soham Ali (he was assistant to both Ramu and Karan prior to this). One piece of advise to Soham, stick to assisting, it's not such a bad thing.