Kick
Year: 2014
Director: Sajid Nadiadwala
Cast: Salman Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Randeep Hooda, Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Over the last few years, it has almost become a Bollywood tradition that a Salman Khan-film gets released on Eid and then it goes on to become a blockbuster! This time around the buzz is even louder. The promos look slick; there is Chetan Bhagat’ name in the credits and there is Sajid Nadiadwala trying his hand at direction.

By the time I get a chance to go to theatre, Kick has already amassed a 100 crore-plus collection. But still I walk in with a question in my mind- Is the film good enough to give a real kick of entertainment?

What’s the plot?

An NRI psychiatrist girl (Jacqueline Fernandez) falls in love with an Indian guy (Salman Khan), who is a happy-go-lucky person willing to go to any extent to get a kick (As in excitement!) in life. But their romance hits a roadblock when the girl in a fit of rage accuses the guy of not taking life seriously and not earning enough! The offended man walks out of the romance and takes up a new ‘masked’ identity of a high-tech robber emptying the coffers of corrupt rich people. A dare-devil cop (Randeep Hooda) and a crazy villain (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) are now after him. Will these adversaries foil his elaborate robberies? Will the separated lovers ever come together? Why is he committing these crimes anyways? Is it only for getting cheap thrills or is there some other hidden agenda?

What’s hot?

·        As a producer, Sajid Nadiadwala spares no effort to turn this film into a big screen spectacle. The foreign locales, the high-adrenaline stunts and the song-and-dance extravaganza… the film has been packaged really well.

·        The film moves at a fast pace.

·        Salman Khan…well, he is Salman Khan. As usual, it is fun to watch this superstar who has made the silly stylized antics his signature act. Here he looks damn good, too. The great thing about Salman is that he doesn’t take acting (or perhaps anything) too seriously. He just enjoys what he is doing in front of the camera and that enjoyment comes through!

·        Randeep Hooda and Nawazuddin Siddiqui leave their mark, particularly the latter dishes out a memorable negative performance.

·        The camera-work, action sequences, music and choreography are top-notch.

What’s not?

·        As a director, Sajid Nadiadwala practically does nothing. He just lets Salman take charge and cares little about story-telling.

·        The plot is terrible; it veers pointlessly from a love-story to cops-and-robber thriller to a mushy melodrama.

·        Jacquelline Fernandez, Mithun Chakraborty and Archana Puran Singh add their own dimwit bits to the nonsensical anarchy on the screen.

Verdict

To tell you the truth, I hated the film but I still loved Salman! Post- Dabbang Salman-films have all cared two hoots about tight, interesting plots and they have all just relied on Salman’s popularity and charisma to carry them off. How long this harebrained formula will tick is difficult to predict but till the time it does, the critics will just have to be prepared to look wide-eyed at the mind-boggling box office figures generated by the films they have trashed!

Kick is an insufferable torture but if you are a Salmon-fan (as I am!), then the chances are that you would still go ahead and watch it.

Rating

2 stars