Kidnap

Rating : See the last para below
Running Time : 149 Minutes
Release Date : 2nd October ‘2008
Director : Sanjay Gadhvi; Writer : Shibani Bathija; Music : Pritam Chakraborty
Starring : Minissha Lamba, Sanjay Dutt, Imran Khan, Vidya Malvade

I’m going to just list the positives and the negatives – with each item being given a +/- points tally which will lead to a final rating. Am writing all points in random order, the positives and negatives mixed up and not in any order of weightage

 Opening credits : +3 points : beautifully crafted pencil sketches tell a complete wordless story by themselves and make sure that time is not wasted and we are hooked right from the first frame.
 Minissha Lamba : +1 point : looks truly Punjabi, especially figure wise and especially in a bikini. A relief to see a voluptuous bod unlike the size zero fad. And she acts decently too.

 Songs : -1 points : not that great, forced and a distraction (slows down the story, releases the tension build-up of the plot). One song (Mit jaye) is very good but only comes at the end. The film actually didn’t need songs, just background music would’ve been fine
 Sanjay Dutt : +1 point : He can act for sure, brings a little of his unique flair to the party
 Plot : -2 points : Interesting premise, of someone kidnapping a daughter of a rich man but its not for money. However, what happens later is a let down – the tasks given to Sanjay were a bit too implausible, all that stuff about him being the ‘richest man on the planet’ was unnecessary as it wasn’t used at all for the story (but should have, in my opinion). And the end was a bit contrived, unnecessarily sentimental.
 Casting : -1 points : for whoever had the brainwave of casting vidya malvade as the mom. Its not that she acts badly but look just too damn young to be a mom unless she was one of the balika badhu’s from Rajasthan
 Imran Khan : 0 points : he looks good but could’ve acted better. However, I’m glad he took up this role else he would’ve been stuck doing choco cute boy roles for the next 50 films. He will get better as an actor, the guy has potential, lots of it.
 Dialogues : -2 points : a bit forced, lacked humour / spark. Needed a better scriptwriter.
 Locations : +1 point : am giving it one point just because they didn’t blow up a packet shooting songs in 3 continents, fancy locations. It wasn’t necessary and they desisted, unlike most producers / directors of today.

So, I went in with my usual mid-point rating of 5 and found that different elements balanced themselves out to leave me a 5 as a final rating. Could’ve easily been so much better. I think the producer / director got excited by the overall concept and then didn’t pay so much attention to the little details that could’ve made it brilliant.