Movie: Kick
Director: Sajid Nadiadwala
Cast: Salman Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Randeep Hooda, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Mithun Chakraborty, Saurabh Shukla
Rating: ***
All the worries about the adaptation of the ‘novelty weds craziness’ film, the Ravi Teja starrer Kick getting clouded in a wider scenario ended when this Salman Khan spin began unfolding. The style that could have been integrated into the original largely is a substitute to the sealed comic quotient in this version. The give and take has indeed worked. This film rightly has Salman who gives the rubbish a very neat exterior. Producer cum director Sajid Nadiadwala’s idea of polishing some class and justification to a film that celebrates wackiness could have been a disastrous move if it wasn’t for its crowd-pulling male protagonist to rub some dimensions of his madness to it.
The film more than the humor is obsessed with varying mindsets of its four principal characters. Devi Lal Singh craves for an adrenaline rush in each of his doings and his lady love Shiana being a psychiatrist tries to find reasons behind them. Himanshu doesn’t want anything to fiddle with his ego and the corrupt politico, also the baddie is similar but has the backing of law. Kick with all this hullabaloo about the mind is also a script that takes freedom to slip into imaginary sequences quite continuously. You know such material can’t do sans a larger than life coating to come off with some elan.
Frankly, a film like Holiday in Hindi, regardless of the 100-crore air encapsulating it to an extent raised voices about logic being put to the bin. Kick wouldn’t have an issue on similar lines. That’s precisely the difference between Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar. The focus is on the script when you watch the latter and you don’t mind it being a mockery when it is a film like Kick. He in a chase sequence requests Randeep Hooda to make way for him on a highway by merely shaking his head and coolly takes his truck down to the waters to avoid getting nabbed. This is the million dollar reason why such films can strike a chord barring all its follies.
Another case worth considering here is it’s comparison with the Dhoom series that is constantly trying to being a Hollywood equivalent in an Indian context. Here too, the combination of emotion making sense for the action might warrant some complaint. This is more within the heart and grips of its audiences. The character being a hit with the children and a curse with the cops is a conflict that evokes an instant connect.
The visual quality of this exercise, as mentioned before is as if a classic is waiting to be unravelled. Shiana, essayed well by the surprisingly comfortable Jacqueline Fernández is rather too poetic for a film of this nature. Through a bush full of roses, the shot moves close into her eyes and she gets an introduction that heroines in arty films would dream of. Welcoming Nawazuddin Sheikh into this villainous territory doesn’t seem a bad idea after considering his ease at making his dark shades work so well here. The film on the whole progresses through the strengths of the star and that is some indication that it is in safe hands.
Review by Srivathsan N. First published in Cinegoer.net
