TIFF 2023: Karan Johar, Guneet Monga's Action Film Kill Gets Rave Reviews

Set aboard the Rajdhani Express bound for both New Delhi, Nikhil Nagesh Bhat’s martial arts thriller Kill sees a pair of commandos square off against a 40-strong army of invading bandits. Inspired by real-life train robberies by dacoits in India, the film stars Tanya Maniktala and Lakshya. The film, a joint production between Karan Johar's Dharma Productions and Guneet Monga's Sikhya Entertainment, had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. In an Instagram post, Johar described the audience's response to the film as "heartening and exhilarating to experience". He also described Kill as a "non stop actioner on a moving train, a Bloodathon on steroids".

"Each fight scene feels like a new level in a video game, with a new setting, a stronger sense of urgency, and a wilder murder than the last one you haven’t recovered from yet," wrote BizAsia Live in its review of the film. "The camera captures each flying knife, gush of blood, look of fear in the tiny, claustrophobic space of a train wagon."

"Every so often there comes an action film that is so confident, so bold, and so fresh, that you just can't help to believe that there is hope in the genre beyond just big budget blockbusters starring your favorite actors who once played a superhero. Films like The Raid, John Wick, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Everything Everywhere All at Once all come to mind as works that were destined to change the way action movies are made. The same can now be said of Nikhil Nagesh Bhat's Kill."

Film Exposure had this to say: "Kill keeps its momentum with a balanced used of its romance elements, making them resurface to renew motivations and emotional involvement, therefore grounding the action in a palpable reality. Amid all the carnage and the blood, the main questions occupying the viewer’s mind firmly remain “Will he make it? Will he save them?”, never becoming a stunts showcase detached from its emotional truth."

Here are some more first reactions: