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 To start with, there is nothing quite like the Masala Hindi film. But then, even a commercial pot-boiler needs a decent screenplay and some sense and sensibility thrown in to keep the audience engaged through its duration. Sadly, most of Salman Khan starrers, in the recent past, have had a wafer thin screenplay which piggybacked on it lead actor's stardom and aimed to satiate the appetite of the masses who longed to see their favourite hero doing such swashbuckling films. Barring a few movies like 'Ek Tha Tiger' and 'Wanted', the rest dished out boredom in the name of entertainment. With 'Kick', an official remake of the Telugu film of the same name, the expectations are high as the trailer of the film itself has pleased everyone, right from the fans to whom Salman Khan is no less than a demigod to people who don't think too highly of his acting abilities.
Shaina Mehra (Jacqueline Fernandez), a psychiatrist by profession, lives with her bureaucrat father (Saurabh Shukla), a sister and grandmother in Warsaw. Her father is insistent upon her getting married to his friend's son Himanshu, a police officer from India. Shaina and Himanshu meet while on a train journey where Shaina talks about her ex-boyfriend Devi Lal Singh (Salman Khan), an eccentric person who lived for kick. 'Kick' here refers to adrenaline rush, she explains. Himanshu, on his part, talks about a notorious thief called Devil, whom he has been unable to catch. Little do they know, they are referring to the same person. The story goes into flashback with Shaina's story and then follows it up with Himanshu talking about Devil. Forty minutes into the movie and I was flabbergasted by what I was seeing on the screen. Except for the eye filling cinematography and Salman Khan's introduction sequence (beautifully shot), I was struggling to suppress yawning throughout those forty minutes or so as I watched Salman and the other characters making several direct/ indirect references to the star actor's personality and his personal life. He even reprises his Chulbul Pandey act for a while. Even though these scenes were meant to make fans happy, they should have trimmed these portions by half their duration, if not more, for a better impact. On one hand, Devi Lal is a guy who bashes a bunch of goons for harassing women and even lectures the dormant spectators for not standing up for the women and on the other hand he stalks a girl (Jacqueline Fernandez) himself. Add to it, you have an annoying set of characters playing parents to Salman (Mithun Chakraborty and Archana Puran Singh), you start wondering where the film is heading towards. Things start looking brighter when Devil gets into his Devil avatar and one sees very well executed action sequences and starts expecting there be some twists and surprises in store in the way with which Devil executes his plans. However, that does not happen, as the so-called twists are predictable and feel like a rehash of many heist thrillers one has seen in the past. Even, the scene that comes just before the interval point fails to excite. The second half is fast paced and offers many such thrills and does a good job at camouflaging the weak writing. The climax, though, leaves a lot to be desired. The confrontation scene between Devil and Firoz (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) is underwhelming and the way Devi fools Himanshu is a trick one has witnessed in many films in the past.
Rajat Aroraa does very well with the dialogues and writes subtle as well loud or claps trap dialogues as one would call them as per the requirement of the particular situation in the film. Music (Himesh Reshammiya, Meet Bros Anjjan, and Yo Yo Honey Singh) is strictly functional and barring 'Jumme Ki Raat' not a single song lingers in one's memory. The songs (particularly 'Jumme Ki Raat' and 'Yaar Na Miley') have been shot beautifully though. A lot of scenes, especially in the first half, could have been done away with. Special mention must be made of Ayananka Bose, Director of Photography, who has shot the film so beautifully and has done complete justice to its lavish scale. In the recent times, apart from 'Ek Tha Tiger', no other Salman Khan film had boasted of good production values. 'Kick' , of course, is a step ahead of 'Ek Tha Tiger', in that department. On the whole, 'Kick' fails to meet the high expectations one had from it and is for "I am a Salman Khan Fan" segment who expects the same thing from him and he has delivered. It will no doubt shatter the box office records and earn many many crores for its makers but overall it could have been much better!
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Salman Khan, as is the case with most of his movies plays himself and well, isn't that enough for his fans! The mannerisms, idiosyncrasy that his character has are the ones that you associate with his real life persona. Jacqueline Fernandez looks lovely and shows a marked improvement over her earlier performances. She dances like a dream in the 'Jumme Ki Raat' number and unlike most of Salman's heroines in the recent past, pairs up well with him. Randeep Hooda has, thankfully, as much screen time as Salman has and the talented actor, as always, shines. Nawazuddin Siddiqui character is poorly etched and not as long as one would have hoped. But, he makes the most of the opportunity that he gets. His sinister laugh, for sure, is going to be remembered for long. Mithun Chakraborty character aims to provide some laughs but fails. It's heart breaking to see a gifted actor like Rajit Kapur wasting his talent in inconsequential roles in films like 'Dishkiyaoon', 'Purani Jeans' and now in 'Kick'. Saurabh Shukla is, as always, dependable. Sanjay Mishra leaves a mark in a brief role. Archana Puran Singh, Kevin Dave, Sumona Chakravarti, Vipin Sharma provide able support. Sajid Nadiadwala shows a lot of promise as a director. Although he has helmed numerous films in the past as a producer, this is his first film as a director and he has done a fabulous job at it. He makes a visually appealing film, engaging in parts, despite a weak screenplay. Kick's screenplay (adapted) has been written by four writers (Rajat Aroraa, Keith Gomes, Sajid Nadiadwala and Chetan Bhagat) and yet, one of the major factors that let the film down is its uninspired writing. The writers seemed to have tried too hard to incorporate a twist or surprise at regular intervals but as I mentioned earlier, most of these gimmicks are absolutely unoriginal and unimaginative.