Hijack Review

Hijack is such a giddy, silly film, or at least that's what the director wanted it to be, that it is a huge surprise that the rest of the cast is not in tune with that fact. An utter mish-mash of all airplane hijack films that you have watched, and some even that you didn't, Kunal Shivdasani's debut is not so much interested in treading new ground as it is in delivering a campy fun 2 hours.

Unfortunately for Kunal and the people who pay money to watch this film, no one else is even remotely interested in what it is. For the actors this is a quick pay cheque, a forgettable adventure that pays the bills and eats time between smaller roles in bigger projects. For the crew, this is a disaster that they'd rather finish than leave on their conscience. For us, this is a tedious time spent in the cinemas waiting for the lights to go up.

If you are even remotely tuned in to what it is about, and if the title doesn't tell you what it is about, here's a quick hello: When faux emo ex-pilot Vikram Madaan's (Shiney Ahuja) daughter is one of the many passengers on a plane being hijacked by terrorists who demand that their saathi Maqsood (K K Raina) be released, he must wear his heroic cap and save the day. Helping him is a feisty but horribly wigged airhead (Esha Deol).

Of course, what this film needs is slick execution and a lot of referential jokes. What it instead has is a tired looking leading man and a script that is stuck in the '90s. Every attempt at trying to make itself seem serious by the film is a step into gloomy forgetfulness from us.

Shiney Ahuja has never appeared more tired, more lethargic. If he was any less devoid of energy, I'd have rushed with a bottle of Glucon D. I know that he has done a decent acting job or two every now and then, but he is a complete charisma black hole in this film - a feat only surpassed by Esha Deol's vapid turn as an air hostess having a bad hair day.

Everything about this uninteresting, low-budget piece of cinematic crime is terrible, low-rent and utterly unworthy of redemption. I have no idea how best to convince you not to give this one your time and money, but if the complete lack of charm and polish in the trailers somehow does it for you, why don't give it a go nonetheless? Let's see you come up with a better adjective than 'meh'.