Updated on Thursday, October 02, 2008, 00:00 IST

Spicezee Bureau

For all those who were looking forward to a dazzling performance by Imran Khan after the impeccably good ‘Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na’ there is some disappointment in store. This chocolate boy (Imran) makes a hard but sincere attempt to shed off his ‘cute boy next door’ image but unfortunately isn’t that convincing in the entire endeavour.

Sanjay Gadhvi’s ‘Kidnap’ is something that had the prowess to rule the BO this weekend, but the sincere (or not so sincere?) attempt falls flat and the flick turns out to be a dampener instead. Gadhvi, who is known for his ‘Dhoom’ series, fails to recreate the ‘Dhoom’ magic in spite of a gripping plot and unmatched action.

The plot of ‘Kidnap’ had everything going for it until the creator decided to incorporate some irrelevant scenes and idiotic logic (some would even leave you in splits!) to perhaps add the glamour and commercial quotient.

The story is somewhat similar to Sanju’s previous movie ‘Zinda’. This too involves an abductor, who is trying to settle his previous scores and a hostage. Sonia (Minnisha Lamba) is kidnapped right in the beginning after dancing to a ‘not so required’ item number. The kidnapper (Imran Khan) wants to bargain with Sonia’s father Vikrant Raina (Sanjay Dutt), who is divorced from her mother (Vidya Malvade). But this is different, he doesn’t demand a ransom but gets going with a game where he leaves puzzling clues for Vikrant through various means and expects him to resolve the mystery to reach Sonia. The bamboozling game begins and rest follows.

If only Gadhvi had not expected that all the viewers leave their brains home, it could have been a better flick. Why would one not question the designer clothes of a hostage after all and then what about the abductor allowing Sonia- a dip in the oh-so blue beach? (get some sense dude, get out of the Yash Raj mould!)

Though the Indian audience is used to gulping and ignoring certain-something’s, but there has to be a line drawn somewhere (is that asking for a bit too much?). When on earth would filmmakers stop creating space for the irrelevant, out of the scene songs and that too when there are not even hummable? Guess, Pritam Chakraborty went original this time…phew. Minissha Lamba (looks stunning) seems to be clearly trying hard to shed her cutie image for a hot new avatar but then ends up overdoing it.

Imran Khan needs to work a little harder before attempting such grim stuff or else going back to romance won’t be a bad idea either. Sanjay Dutt attempts a mature performance but the role in itself has a lot of shortcomings. Vidya Malvade is left to play a hottie mother with nothing much to do.

The film can be a watched for once if one has a penchant for action but rest all is very average. The only thing that one ends up remembering is the beautifully enigmatic picturisation.

As for the verdict, this one can be called a one-time watch or a pure time pass! Two cheers for this one.

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