Kill

A train to New Delhi becomes a combat battleground as a pair of commandos faces off against an army of invading bandits.

Release date: July 4, 2024 (USA)

Director: Nikhil Nagesh Bhat

Distributed by: AA Films

Production companies: Dharma Productions; Sikhya Entertainment

The first shot fired in Indian Hindi-language action thriller Kill isn’t unleashed with deadly intent – it’s at a party celebrating the arranged engagement of Tulika (Tanya Maniktala). Unfortunately, Tulika has her heart set on Amrit (played with requisite smoulder by mononymic hunk Lakshya) and why wouldn’t she? He’s a strapping, handsome lad, who, as an army commando, turns out to have fighting skills that will come in pretty handy.

When the violence gets going, after a commendably moderate build up, there’s actually a refreshing lack of gunplay; the 40-odd bandits robbing the sleeper train on which Tulika and Amrit find themselves travelling favour blades and blunt-force trauma over bullets, with an array of knives, machetes and lump hammers pressed into service as the baddies separate the innocent passengers from their valuables. Tulika’s family are also on board, providing plenty of additional potential high-stakes hostages, and, in a neat twist, many of the bandits are themselves related to each other, meaning the good guys’ retaliation has emotional stakes for the villains, rather than the usual action movie setup where the bad guys couldn’t care less about their colleagues getting wiped out.