RELEASED IN 2008 and directed by Sanjay Gadhvi, "Kidnap" chronicles events in India when the daughter (Minissha Lamba) of a rich tycoon (Sanjay Dutt) is kidnapped by a man driven by vengeance (Imran Khan). Vidya Malvade is on hand as the beautiful mother and ex-wife of the mogul.
This was only my third Bollywood movie so maybe I'm not the best person to appraise these movies, but I find them interesting for cultural reasons and generally entertaining.
The animated credits sequence is overlong and is curiously followed by a pop music video led by Minissha Lamba before the actual movie starts at the 8.5 minute mark. There are a couple of other music videos thrown in later. The language mixes Hindi with some English here and there, which is interesting (I gather this is how they actually speak over there).
The story and some of the dramatics seem too contrived and sometimes too quaint. The prison break sequence, for instance, is akin to a goofy Spaghetti Western from back in the day. Nevertheless, this is a unique crime thriller in that it bends over backward to entertain, literally throwing in kinetic song & dance routines. Lamba is curvy, the aging Dutt is resolute analogous to Bruce Willis with a small spare tire and the young Khan is unrealistically formidable, but likable. There's a dynamic rooftop chase in the second half and I liked the moral of the story, which is unmistakably driven home. But the movie is overlong at close to 2.5 hours.
WRITERS: Shibani Bathija and six others.
GRADE: C/C-
This was only my third Bollywood movie so maybe I'm not the best person to appraise these movies, but I find them interesting for cultural reasons and generally entertaining.
The animated credits sequence is overlong and is curiously followed by a pop music video led by Minissha Lamba before the actual movie starts at the 8.5 minute mark. There are a couple of other music videos thrown in later. The language mixes Hindi with some English here and there, which is interesting (I gather this is how they actually speak over there).
The story and some of the dramatics seem too contrived and sometimes too quaint. The prison break sequence, for instance, is akin to a goofy Spaghetti Western from back in the day. Nevertheless, this is a unique crime thriller in that it bends over backward to entertain, literally throwing in kinetic song & dance routines. Lamba is curvy, the aging Dutt is resolute analogous to Bruce Willis with a small spare tire and the young Khan is unrealistically formidable, but likable. There's a dynamic rooftop chase in the second half and I liked the moral of the story, which is unmistakably driven home. But the movie is overlong at close to 2.5 hours.
WRITERS: Shibani Bathija and six others.
GRADE: C/C-