Movie Review: KIDNAP

When someone gives you fast-paced 100% entertainers like Dhoom and Dhoom:2, you definitely expect big from when he unveils his next film. However Sanjay Gadhvi’s Kidnap is a good film no doubt but falls short of expectations. The film has excellent story, music and performances but at the same time has countless flaws and is dragging. More on it later.

The story of the movie: 17 year old Sonia (Minissha Lamba) is the daughter of Dr Mallika (Vidya Malvade) who divorced her husband and Sonia’s dad when she was a child. On the day of Christmas, just a fortnight before her 18th birthday, she has a heated argument with her mom and leaves the house angrily. At this point, she is kidnapped by Kabir (Imran Khan). Kabir then calls Mallika and informs her about the kidnapping and also puts forward an unusual demand-he will negotiate only with Sonia’s dad Vikrant Raina (Sanjay Dutt). Mallika had no option but to request Vikrant to save Sonia. Vikrant agrees and Kabir’s game begins. Kabir puts a series of orders for Vikrant and he had option but to obey inspite of being the world’s richest Indian.
Who is Kabir? What does he want from Vikrant?
Does he want money? Or something else?
And will Vikrant be able to save his only daughter?
Kidnap begins wonderfully. Imran’s painful childhood showed in the form of gory animated sketches gives a thrilling opening to the film. In fact, the entire first half was full of excitement and mazaa!

On the flipside, the director and the screenwriter takes a lot of cinematic liberties throughout the film. The train sequence, the robbery, the scene at the construction site and the jail sequence were totally nonsensical but still they were entertaining and bearable. However, the scene at the disco in the end failed to make any sense. Some of Imran’s acts were confusing. Also, the film dragged a lot, especially in the 2nd half.

Another problem was Imran’s character. Unlike John in Dhoom and Hrithik in Dhoom:2, Imran Khan’s character lacked a certain coolness which I feel was necessary.

But the film indirectly also throws lights on the pathetic condition of the remand homes of our country which serve no purpose and corrupts the individuals instead of counseling and civilizing them.

Imran Khan does a great job, even though his character was not properly sketched. His cold and suave look is immensely impressive. He proves that he’s here to stay. His next flick is Luck, which also has Sanjay Dutt!

Sanjay Dutt has a longer role than Imran and does the best job than the rest of the cast! Right from the beginning till the end, he was terrific! In fact, no one other than Sanju could have essayed the part with utmost perfection.

Minissha Lamba’s sexy makeover needs to be applauded and performance-wise, she was as usual fantastic! But why was she shown as a 17 year old? Same with Vidya Malwade who doesn’t look like a mother to a 17 year old. She does her job well though. Rahul Dev was great and it was good to see him after a long time. Reema Lagoo was okay. Others were good.

Pritam and the Vyas Brothers’ music was excellent one of the plus points of the film. He best song of the lot was undoubtedly ‘Hey Ya/S For Soniya’.

Bobby Singh’s cinematography was topnotch. Raju Singh’s background score added thrill to certain important scenes of the film.

Shibani Bathija’s story, as expected, was like Zinda to an extent. But it was excellent-full of twists-n-turns, excitement and mystery. However, her screenplay was faluty at times and she also took lots of cinematic liberties, leaving viewers bewildered at times.

Sanjay Gadhvi’s direction at times was also not perfect, although he did a great job in many scenes. But surely, he is not in a form this time, like he was during Dhoom and Dhoom:2. Better luck next time Mr Gadhvi.

Some of the best scenes of the film:
1. The sketches at the beginning
2. Minissha, Sanjay, and Imran’s entry
3. The railway train sequence (best scene of the film!)
4. Sanjay at the engagement
5. The intermission point
6. The scene at the construction site
7. Sanjay at the jail
8. The scene at the petrol pump
9. The last scene of the film

On the whole, Kidnap is a nice one time watch, but it fails a bit due to its long list of flaws. The film will have a tough time from today onwards will not remain in theatres for a long time.

My rating-*** out of 5!