In the United Kingdom, too, Kabul Express was limping.
Yash Raj Films produced and distributed both films. But compare its earning with that of Dhoom:2, which in its fourth week, grossed $110,000, taking its total to $2.5 million. In North America, it grossed an anaemic $142,000 in its first three days in 50 theatres. It did not fare well with desi audiences too. Still, the resulting film is a run-of-the-mill road story that will fare poorly with American audiences. Hollywood Reporter, the respected trade publication had warned (and it seems now, to be correctly), soon after the Toronto screening: 'It offers authentic locations (making the shoot a dangerous one) and supporting cast and clearly understands the politics of the conflict. The film was not advertised in the mainstream media. Last week's box-office showed that the film, which drew just a few reviews from mainstream publications, could not resonate with even art-house audiences in the mainstream. "I am sure audiences abroad have seen anything like this." "We think we have reached a stage in Indian film history that we can afford to make films for international audiences," he had told me in September. After he saw a few, he would only say that he was still optimistic that the film would eventually be discovered by critics when it had a larger release. To be sure, though, ( John) Abraham and ( Arshad) Warsi are no Paul Newman and Robert Redford ( Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid).īefore the reviews had come, Khan had seemed very enthusiastic about finding wider audiences for his film. 'Slightly more charming is docu vet and tyro writer-director Kabir Khan's conscious allusions to such jaunty Hollywood filmmakers of yore as George Roy Hill, as he interjects regular doses of light buddy comedy and whimsical action into an otherwise serious set of circumstances.
The influential trade publication Variety wrote that Khan wasn't successful in melting comedy and serious drama. Let's hope, for Arsenio's sake, that impersonating an actor is not a punishable offence under international law, or we may have to send in more troops.' 'There ( in Afghanistan), they ( John Abraham and Arshad Warsi) stumble and bumble and argue about cricket and have the great misfortune to meet an American photographer played by someone named Linda Arsenio, whereupon their misfortune becomes ours. The worst part of the review concerned the American actress in the film. Okay, they're actually a pair of Indian journalists who enter Afghan territory in hopes of interviewing some Taliban bad guys.' 'Khan thought so, and the bizarre result is Bing Crosby and Bob Hope on the road to Kabul. 'Hey, isn't it about time for a light-hearted romp through post-9/11 Afghanistan?' asked the Globe and Mail.
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