Redemption Revisited!

What makes director Sanjay Gadhvi’s Kidnap really special is the way it treats the very notion of redemption. The revenge saga isn’t an unused theme in Bollywood so far, and neither is the rest of the paraphernalia in Kidnap an outcome of an outstandingly innovative thought process. But what really works for the film is the treatment of the story, apart from the dialogues, and most importantly, the way in which the message of the film is delivered.

The pace is just perfect, and it is indeed gratifying to see Gadhvi go beyond just glorifying hot bodies and celebrating the human triumph on the technological front. There is more meat in the story this time, and there is an agenda, a revenge, which at least justifies the life threatening and mind deafening pains which the characters take to make the film engrossing and entertaining, unlike his previous offerings, where all this and more, is a mere matter of tashan.

An interesting element of the film is that it actually makes its characters experience the thrill and the corresponding shrill which they are suppose to portray. Regardless of the impractical execution of the tasks, what I really liked in the writing is the attack on the thought process of an individual. To witness a crime, to hold someone responsible for it, and to make the person experience the act of crime are completely different phenomena, and this is where Kidnap transcends the boundaries of an average thriller, and goes beyond, on the story level.

And about the execution, rather the unfolding of the plot, there couldn’t have been somebody more suited for the role than Imran Khan. Just to say that he is superb would be an understatement. What makes up for the loopholes in the film is the bravura performance of Imran Khan. If Jaane Tu… was his arrival, Kidnap is his conquer; his victory all the way.

Whether Minissha Lamba’s career switched gears post Bachna… was quite debatable. But with Kidnap, she sure is speeding up to the top gear, and her songs in the film are a testimony to the same. This film doesn’t offer her too much in terms of histrionics, but she plays the part of a Sanjay Gadhvi heroine to the T. Her mass appeal will surely take a meteoric rise after this one. As for Mr. Dutt, it is generally a pleasure to have him on screen, be it as the sinister gangster, or as the adorable Munnabhai, and Kidnap is no different for him, and his fans.

In terms of story telling, Sanjay Gadhvi has done a good job this time around, mainly because he has a story. Of course there are flaws and lose ends, and then there are the cinematic liberties which keep coming every now and then, but most of them are strictly for the visual pleasures of the viewers, and the rest of them, though significant look tiny when compared to the larger issue which the film tackles, and the message it delivers. The film definitely is worth a watch, and the dark hours in the theatres, with a dark story are sure to brighten up the box-office windows.