STATUTORY WARNING: This reviewer will not delve too much into the story of the movie, reckons a one line description will do just fine. For filmophiles who have suffered for years at the hands of sadistic reviewers including yours truly, all SPOILERS are at the end i.e. are only for those already done watching.
STORY: Sallu Bhai ki film hai! Need I say more?
INTRO: Back in the 1950s and 60s, Yusuf Saab( Dilip Kumar) and Haribhai( Sanjeev Kumar) made some laudable remakes of south classics starring thespian Sivaji Ganeshan. And later in the 80s, we all know that most of superstar Rajinikanth’s blockbusters were faithful copies( for lack of a better word) of Big B’s cult films( Namak Halaal, Lawaaris, Sharaabi to name a few). So it is not like there is anything derogatory about remakes. In fact, one of Hindi cinema’s comedy gems, Hrishida’s’ GOL MAAL’ remake of auteur K Balachander’s THILLU MULLU( one of the rare films where Kamal & Rajni share screen space) was so good that I dare say it outshone the Tamil original. On that postive note, let us begin the review of KICK which is a remake of a hit Telugu film of the same name helmed by producer-turned-debutant director Sajid Nadiadwala.
CAST AND CREDIT:
The background score by Julius Packiam was so much better in Dhoom 3. The editing by Rameshwar S. Bhagat is very average and as a result the cat and mouse game between Hooda and Salman’s characters lacks the edge which was vital to get the audience involved. Additionally the placement of songs leaves a lot to be desired( the most inexplicable being the timing of the surefire hit number’ Jumme Ki Raat Hai’ which suffers as a result.) To no one’s surprise, each shot and scene looks rich and lavish what with this being a Nadiadwala production. But beyond that, the picturisation of the songs( supposedly in Poland) is run of the mill fare. The camera is handled by Ayananka Bose and is nothing to crow about nor are the lyrics attributed to Kumaar & Co.
The villain of this enteprise is not Nawazuddin Siddiqui but the trio of Rajat Arora- Keith Gomes -Sajid Nadiadwala who botch up the screenplay and how! The basic premise of the film, that of a youngster wanting to get a KICK out of his mundane life has potential. Alas! Though the first half raises a few laughs here and there and is all right, it goes downhill in the second half. One problem is that the heist scenes are ill conceived and are hardly gripping. Secondly, Salman has zero chemistry with the Sri Lankan beauty and hence the entire romantic track falls flat( remember the sizzling chemistry between Sallu and Sonakshi in DABBANNG) Scene after scene is devoid of logic, reason or sense and unfortunately even the emotional scenes at the end seem contrived and fail to move the audience. And as is the case with most films with hackneyed screenplays, none of the characters are well fleshed and leave little impact. The music by Reshammiya is paisa vasool but the build up to these songs is staid and so they seem forced.
Equally unpardonable is the wastage of the sheer talent on view. Be it veterans like Saurabh Shukla or Rajit Kapur( wonder what he was high on when he gave the nod to this shoddy role) or even the most promising actors of our generation, Randeep Hooda( his acting in the drinking scene with Sallu is so bad, it has to be seen to be believed) and Nawazuddin Siddiqui( who probably needed the money to pay the down payment for a flat he acquired for himself in Mumbai) they all sleepwalk through their roles. Mithunda is passable and Archana Puran Singh is uncouth and loud like always. About Jacqueline Fernandez, it is difficult to say what she is more bad at -emoting, dancing or dialogue delivery. Completely miscast as a geeky, plain jane( in the mould of Preity in KAL HO NAA HO and Deepika in YEH JAWAANI HAI DEEWANI) she spends the whole film with a star struck expression on her face( cannot blame her, blame the director instead)
Finally, how does one of Hindi cinema’s most successful producer fare as a director? Suffice it to say that based on the evidence on view, Nadiadwala should have probably stuck to what he knows best. That is splurging moolah. And what can one say about the Khan among Khans, Salman Khan. KICK is sadly a disappointing follow up to the dismal JAI HO. Forget everything else, what is a little suprising is that there is very little of even the typical’ Salmanisms’( mannerisms unique to the star) no fundoo ishtyle, no quirky dialogues or feisty dance steps. And no, not a single chest baring scene to boot. Frankly the Salman we got to see live on weekends on the controversial BIG BOSS was much more full of attitude, real fun, unpredictable and typically Salman. And it is befuddling that the biggest superstar ever of Hindi cinema cannot find half decent writers to pen his films. And this coming from the son of arguably the greatest writer of Hindi cinema, Salim Khan. How ironic is that?
The biggest question of course is this. Will Salman’s fans give him the perfect " IDI " this festival season? In other words, will KICK turn out to be Sallu bhai’s first 200 crore film?( the milestone which both the other Khans have breached) . The answer is a resounding NO.
RATING: 2/5