ENTERTAINMENT

TIFF 23: Kill

Posted on October 22, 2023 | by Priya Chopra

Guneet Monga and Karan Johar’s super thriller Kill recently hit the Midnight Madness TIFF Series. Dharma Productions and Sikhya Entertainment have formed a strategic partnership that started back in 2013 with the Lunchbox.  And now they have produced a film like no other. Kill is an action thriller film starring debutant Lakshya as the protagonist hero, Tanya Maniktala as Tulika, and Raghav Juyal as the antagonist.

Kill required 140 litres of fake blood, and the body count was over 40 corpses by the time the story ended. (Not for the faint of heart). Korean action choreographer Se-yeong Oh was hired to develop the authentic fight sequences. “I love action films. I’ve always wanted to do a slasher, gory film” producer Guneet Monga says.

The film is directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, who has admired directors Ram Gopal Varma (Satya), and Vidhu Vinod Chopra (Parinda) forever. “We were not exposed to that kind of underworld( Parinda); we were taken aback by the sheer latent violence of the film. That was a huge influence on me. I saw Satya 40-50 times, and then there was another film, Agnipath (Mukul Anand Dev) I have seen it hundreds of times. I can start with the dialogue right now. It was brimming with thrill. They push the envelope”

Bhat attributes the film’s success in part to the conviction and commitment of Lakshya and Raghav, who didn’t miss any training sessions. “It is a close action film, so they would often get hurt: swelling in the arm, neck or legs, but the next morning they were back and ready.”

Lakshya describes the intensity of preparing for such a role. “I stopped meeting my friends. I don’t have a massive social circle. I have a couple of friends, you have to be really involved in a project like this. You can’t be detached and attached at the same time. I was only watching certain shows like Chernobyl. That was a choice I made for myself.”  In describing his relationship with Raghav on set, Lakshya describes the sheer intensity of the roles: “We had stopped saying hi to each other. We were so much into the zone. We would just look at each other in the trailer. He knew I was there, I knew he was there. Nobody is unnecessarily talking to us. We were both so much in the zone.”

Lakshya appreciated how director Bhat safe-guarded the actors like his own sons, like a shield protecting them, which is very comforting for a debut actor.

The film has met critical acclaim in Toronto as a gory action thriller.  Lakshya was overwhelmed with the audience both nights at TIFF.  “I was so happy to see the audience react yesterday. This was my first international film festival as an actor. We both were so close of fainting.”

I asked Raghav and Lakshya if they believed there was a monster within each of us. Raghav revealed anger and insecurities as individual monsters he was learning to control. For Lakshya, “I believe there is a monster in every saviour, the moment he is defending a loved one. Today, if you mess with somebody I love, of course I am going to stand up. If I see something on the streets happening to somebody, I am going to do something….probably for that I have fallen into trouble in my life."

KILL is the first runner-up for TIFF’s 2023 People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award.

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