It takes Hrithik Roshan just 10 minutes to convince you, he's a blind man. The first few scenes of Kaabil establish the characters of blind lovers with great ease. Once you're invested in this adorable couple and their unique romance, rest of the film becomes a breeze. Their love, their heartbreak and their tragedy becomes that much more convincing.

One cannot but approach a Hindi film with physically challenged characters with a degree of trepidation, knowing how messy it can be. In addition, Kaabil also happens to be a Sanjay Gupta film. So the audience is inevitably drawn into a guessing game regarding the foreign films that the plot has been sourced from. On both counts, a sensitive viewer will find much to carp over. For one, it just doesn't sound right when two visually impaired characters who seem completely at ease with themselves and what they have done with their lives harp on darkness and lack of fulfilment.

A lot has been written about the clash between 'Kaabil' and the highly anticipated Shah Rukh Khan starrer 'Raees', but it must be said that director Sanjay Gupta and producer Rakesh Roshan have made a film which will touch your heart. Rich on content, 'Kaabil' would have done wonders if it would have been released with any other film as well.

Specially-abled people often struggle with the system, particularly societal injustice and apathy. Few dare to confront their antagonists head on. But desperate times demand desperate measures. And so in Kaabil, that chosen one is Rohan Bhatnagar (Hrithik Roshan), who is blind and has an evolved sense of smell and directions. He is a terrific voice-over artist who takes mental notes of English dialogues and then translates them to Hindi in real time.

Rohan Bhatnager (Hrithik Roshan) is a visually impaired voice over artist who meets Supriya (Yami Gautam), a visually impaired musician through a matchmaker. The duo hit it off and soon fall in love. Just when they think 'two negatives are becoming positive', a disturbing event shakes them up. Supriya gets raped by Amit Shelar (Rohit Roy), MLA Madhavrao Shelar's (Ronit Roy) younger brother and his friend.

The expression of disbelief and loud shriek that goes off after a character sees his or her loved one's cold corpse for the first time is engraved in every Hindi movie buff's memory. In the beginning, it felt dramatic and moving. When it began to show up routinely, randomly, the desired effect wore out. But the need to portray it in the same timeworn fashion did not. For freshness, some perceptive actors would stretch their scream or cut it short or, still better; the camera would linger on that single teardrop resting on the rim of their eye.

Can Hrithik Roshan act? No question about it. Can Hrithik hack it, in Kaabil, a film that gives him every opportunity to gain lost ground? That's a toughie. Because apart from the leading man, there is not one thing to keep us with the film. Two strands knit Kaabil. One is the romance between two people who cannot see. Rohan (Hrithik Roshan) and Supriya (Yami Gautam) meet on a blind date, dreadful pun fully intended, and discover feelings that will last a lifetime. Except a tragedy befalls the couple, and then things gone awry.

Kaabil begins with Rohan Bhatnagar (Hrithik) accepting a meeting with Supriya (Yami), a match fixed by a common friend. They date, dance, wearing heels because they 'sound good' (yes, for real) and everything in between and they tie the knot. Enter Amit, the quintessential neighbourhood bad boy with a politician big brother (Ronit Roy) and Wasim, the mandatory sidekick. The two keep teasing this 'andha-andhi' because it gives them a kick. And it takes a tragic turn.

When two filmmakers hailing from different schools come together for a common purpose, the result can either be deadly or devastating. Kaabil hits the bullseye purely because the combination of Rakesh Roshan (as producer) and Sanjay Gupta (as director) has worked brilliantly without one trying to creatively overpower the other. Kaabil is all about revenge - a space that both Roshan and Gupta have excelled in, albeit in contrasting styles.

It isn't the first time we are watching an actor play a visually impaired character on screen. Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri both wowed us with their impeccable acts in 1980's Sparsh. The challenge of playing a character with a physical disability, in this case visual impairment is massive. It is not so much to do with the way the character is moving or walking, but it's a mind game - how does he behave, respond and act under the situations he is put in.

What truly works in Kaabil is the fact that it has a stranglehold over its proceedings from the very first frame till the last. Of course, Hrithik Roshan dominates the proceedings entirely and is present on screen for more than 90% of the duration. There is no time wasted in establishing him as a regular young man next door who overcomes his handicap with his intelligence and the senses available to him. His love story with Yami Gautam is heartwarming and you indeed root for them as they fall in love and eventually get married. However, when tragedy strikes them, courtesy Rohit Roy and Ronit Roy, you heart pains for them.

KHOON BHARI MAANG [1988] -- helmed by Rakesh Roshan soon after his directorial debut KHUDGARZ [1987] -- ranks amongst the best vendetta sagas I had watched in the 1980s. Although one knew what was in store vis--vis its plot, Roshan Sr. made sure the storytelling was most effectual and efficient, holding your attention [and breath] till the penultimate moments of the enterprise.

"Andhera andhere ko roshan nahin kar sakta," says the blind heroine in this film (Yami Gautam; such natural on-screen presence), to the blind hero (Hrithik Roshan) she's out on a coffee-date with. This is the part, ideally if you were at an old-world single screen cinema, you would hear a front-bench wit go, "Par Hrithik toh roshan kar sakta hai!" Yeah, there are a bunch of such one-liners in this movie.

When they get hitched, visually-impaired couple Rohan Bhatnagar (Hrithik) and Supriya Sharma (Yami) light up each other's lives. Unfortunately their dark world goes topsy-turvy when Supriya is raped and Rohan finds the policemen playing blind's man's buff. Leaving him with no choice, but to take the law into his own hands.