Rating: **

KAAL

Writer & Director – Soham
Producers – Shah Rukh Khan & Karan Johar
Music – Salim Sulaiman
Cast – Ajay Devgan, John Abraham, Vivek Oberoi, Lara Dutta, Esha Deol, 
Parmeet Sethi


As soon as one hears Dharma productions, instantaneously one thinks family, 
drama, love triangles, traditions, sacrifices and all the like ingredients that make 
a scrumptious recipe for a classic Dharma productions film, but BEWARE because 
Kaal is nothing like that, in fact it is just the contrary. Kaal is youthful, 
adventurous, gripping, eerie and superstitious. (At least that's what the film 
makers want to portray)

Kaal unfolds in a picturesque land flora and fauna – the jungle. Krish (John 
Abraham) is a researcher for the National Geographic and his wife Riya (Esha 
Deol) is an ace photographer. Krish has been assigned a job for which he and his 
wife Riya take off for the Orbit National Park, pseudo for Corbett National Park. 
In the last couple of months there have been some bizarre incidents where some 
other researchers and tourists are believed to be killed by a man-eating tiger in 
Orbit Park. Krish is curious about these recent incidents and wants to explore the 
circumstances as he has some suspicions. Around the same period, Dev (Vivek 
Oberoi) with is girlfriend Ishika (Lara Dutta) and a couple of other friends are on 
their way to a farmhouse when they face a string of wacky incidents that 
eventually leads them to Orbit National Park instead of their planned destination, 
and that is when they happen to meet Krish and Ria. As the story progresses, 
the group meets Bashir Khan (Parmeet Sethi), who is a forest officer in the park 
and Kali Pratap Singh (Ajay Devgan) who helps them when in danger.  During 
their stay in Orbit Park, the group faces bloodcurdling situations and in the 
process some end up losing their lives. What is the cause behind these gruesome 
events and why are they happening? Is the man-eating tiger captured finally? 

There are some scenes in the film that are shot brilliantly. My personal favourite, 
without a doubt is Kali Pratap Singh's (Ajay Devgan) entry. He looks as majestic 
and ferocious as Sher Khan, Tara and Titan, the three tigers in the scene. This 
particular scene is guaranteed to give everyone the goose bumps. It's absolutely 
impossible to imagine anyone other than Ajay Devgan in the role of Kali. (As the 
whole scene seems believable only because of Ajay Devgan). John Abraham 
looks the part and has performed well. Vivek Oberoi on the other hand has 
overdone it a bit with his performance as well as his make up. Wonder if he was 
competing with the leading ladies of the film on the latter? Lara Dutta and Esha 
Deol have no scope to showcase anything but skimpy outfits. There are some 
scenes in the film where Dev keeps saying, " Cut the crap" and " Jee karta hai 
ise jaan se maar doo", which is pretty annoying. Then there is a scene where 
Dev's Lexus SUV stops in the middle of nowhere. Somehow they manage to get 
a ride but what happens to the Lexus no one knows and nobody seems to care. 
Riya being an ace photographer is hardly seen taking any pictures. In the end, 
the driver and Bashir Khan come out of the blue. Gee, wonder if they were 
psychic?


Soham has done a decent job as a Writer and Director, but the film has flaws.  
Music by Salim Sulaiman is attention grabbing. The title song  'Kaal Kaal mein 
hum tum kare dhamal' picturised on Shah Rukh Khan and Malaika Arora Khan is 
hot and steamy. Malaika looks amazingly sexy but Shah Rukh Khan in leather 
pants and tattoos is not so appealing. Another number, 'Tauba Tauba' is pretty 
good too. Background music and visual effects are splendid. A particular 
background score reminds one of Lion King. It was fascinating to get an inside 
look at the Animal Kingdom.  So you ask what to watch out for in Kaal? Ajay 
Devgan – he rocks. The movie is nothing out of the ordinary but it's worth a 
watch. 

I give it **

Cheers

Sangita.

Here's how I rate them:

*	- A bummer, skip this one
**	- A popcorn movie, viewable but flawed
***	- A good movie, gives you your money's worth
****	- A near perfection, highly recommendable movie
*****	- A rarity! Knock your socks off kind of a movie