Following a rave reception at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall, where it was the first runner-up for the People's Choice Award: Midnight Madness, Nikhil Nagesh Bhat's critically-acclaimed actioner Kill is set to arrive in theaters across the globe.
As per the synopsis, "When army commando Amrit finds out his true love Tulika is engaged against her will, he boards a New Delhi-bound train in a daring quest to derail the arranged marriage. But when a gang of knife-wielding thieves led by the ruthless Fani begin to terrorize innocent passengers on his train, Amrit takes them on himself in a death-defying kill-spree to save those around him — turning what should have been a typical commute into an adrenaline-fueled thrill ride."
Ahead of its eagerly awaited launch, we were able to catch up with legendary producer Karan Johar (Kuch Kuch Hota Hai; Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham; My Name is Khan) of Dharma Productions and co-producer Guneet Monga from Sikhya Entertainment to talk about the film that's been taking the world by storm.
While our conversation was brief, they broke down how the film, which has been compared favorably to The Raid and John Wick, ultimately got made and why they felt newcomer Lakshya was the perfect choice for the film's leading man.
Kill has actually been so well received by critics and audiences alike that Lionsgate and 87Eleven - the masterminds behind the John Wick franchise - are already in the early stages of remaking it for English-speaking audiences.
The film stars Lakshya ("Amrit"), Raghav Juyal ("Fani"), Tanya Maniktala ("Tulika"), Abhishek Chauhan ("Viresh"), Ashish Vidyarthi ("Beni"), Adrija Sinha ("Aahna"), Harsh Chhaya ("Baldev Singh Thakur"), Parth Tiwari ("Siddhi"), Akshay Vichare ("Ujala"), Jitendra Kumar Sharma ("Akhilesh Jha (RPF personnel)"), Rupesh Kumar Charanpahari ("Bishnu"), Sahil Gangurde ("Badlu"), Priyam Gupta ("Kulli"), Vivek Kashyap ("Mukund"), Sameer Kumar ("Bechan"), Calib Logan ("Brahmeshwar"), Moses Marton ("Murari"), and Reyazz ("Surajbhan").
Kill hits theaters tomorrow, July 4th!
Watch our full video interview with producers Karan Johar and Guneet Monga below and/or keep scrolling to read the transcription. Plus, please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more exclusive content!
ROHAN: Guneet - Kill is a departure from the films you and Karan have made throughout your careers, what was it about Nikhil’s script that resonated with you and convinced you to take it to Karan to get it made?
GUNEET: It's a great question, Rohan. So, basically, I actually always wanted to do a non-stop action film, with hand-to-hand combat, you know, I love it. I watch all action films, and I'm a huge lover of it, and when Nikhil came up with this concept, I was just thrilled. It fit into something that I always wanted to do for a very long time. For me, it was how will we get this done in a train, for 90 minutes, non-stop action, and that kind of choreography was a challenge to take on. And, I also did not know how we would get it together in India.
So, actually when we pitched it to Karan and immediately the same day, within 30 minutes or one hour of our conversation, he was like, I'm on, let's do it. And, that was also extremely empowering, because here is a studio backing your vision, fully funding the film, and action films are actually bigger to make because it is, you know, camera, crew, prosthetics, action, rehearsals, so this is nine months of hard prep. So, it's definitely a bigger budget to get into, for both Nikhil and me, this was something that we wanted to do.
We developed it for a long time, but with Dharma coming on board, it was like we had superpowers to actually do what we really wanted to do. There was no cutting corners. We brought in the choreographer, one of the best in the world, Mr. Oh from Korea for four months, who did the choreography, so we went on a journey to be able to put this film together and here we are, we broke out at the Toronto International Film Festival. We then had Lionsgate, you know, the whole journey has been quite exciting, and Kill has been really seen for what it is and loved by audiences so far and we’re excited for the Fourth of July release.
ROHAN: Karan - when you think of a Dharma hero, we think of a Rahul or a Rohan, basically anyone with an R name, but Kill redefines a Dharma hero with Amrit, who is played to perfection by Lakshya.
You’ve been trying to launch him for a few years, when did you know he was the right fit for this role?
KARAN: Look, I've said it before, like when he walked into the room, I was introduced to him by the casting director Shanu Sharma, who's worked a lot with me and, in fact, has cast most of the movies I’ve directed. He just came in and as soon as he walked in, and I spoke to him, two minutes later, in my head, like there was a bubble that popped up just said, he's a movie star. And, that's what I was very bullish about platforming him on a really strong film. We tried to do Dostana, we tried to do another film, but it's actually Kill that really, really cemented all our collective energies, you know, to kind of putting him out there in the best way possible.
I'm so glad that Guneet and Nikhil, the director, were completely in agreement with me, that we believed in him. We knew he was going to put in the hard work, which he did in abundance, and the proof lies in the pudding. When you watch the film, you just know from the very first frame, you don't realize that this is his first feature film, and then full credit to Nikhil, to actually make sure and to the actual team to make sure that they positioned him in the way he really should have been, and now, I do hope after Kill that the industry has a new movie star.
ROHAN: Yeah, he's an instant movie star.
Thank you so much for your time, really appreciate it. I'm a huge fan of your work, grew up on your movies.
KARAN: Thank you so much - I don't need to tell you, but I love your name. I've used it very often in my movies.
ROHAN: Oh I know, and I appreciate it, I always get a lot of love cause of Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. Thanks!
When army commando Amrit (Lakshya) finds out his true love Tulika (Tanya Maniktala) is engaged against her will, he boards a New Delhi-bound train in a daring quest to derail the arranged marriage. But when a gang of knife-wielding thieves led by the ruthless Fani (Raghav Juyal) begin to terrorize innocent passengers on his train, Amrit takes them on himself in a death-defying kill-spree to save those around him — turning what should have been a typical commute into an adrenaline-fueled thrill ride.
Kill hits theaters on July 4!