Ad film maker Kunal Shivdasani’s directoral debut Hijack is a fast paced action thriller with some exceptional mid-air action and stunts by Allan Amin. Hijack movie review …
Vikram Madan (Shiney Ahuja) is a ground maintenance engineer at the Chandigarh Airport. His social life is limited to one friend Rajeev who is the security chief at the same airport.
As luck would have it, Vikram’s daughter is travelling with her teacher for a debate contest to Amritsar from Delhi. That flight gets hijacked by a group of 6 terrorists working for a man named Rasheed (KK Raina) who has been captured by the Indian Police.
This flight is forced to land at Chandigarh Airport itself. These terrorists demand the release of Rasheed from the Indian Government or they threaten to kill the hostages inside the aircraft at large.
Vikram cannot forget how his wife died in a similar incident way back. Unable to get any help from the relevant authorities, he decides to take action. The film has a secondary track, apart from the hijack drama, which is about Vikram’s past – when his loving wife died in a previous hijack. Shaken and disturbed further that also led to his demotion from a pilot to a maintenance officer.
Now Vikram is faced with the dilemma of being the only man who can sneak inside the aircraft and try to save the life of his daughter Priya as well as other hostages. Once he breaches into the aircraft with the help of airhostess Saira (Esha Deol) he starts plotting and planning and killing the terrorists one by one.
Few innocent passengers become the victim of these angry, ruthless terrorists. But somehow Vikram and Saira together manage to save the day.
Kunal Shivdasani who debuts as a director has edited hundreds of ad films. This editing experience shows in the film which is technically superior. He calls this a transition from ad film making to feature films as a process of self discovery. Yet there is a difference in a 30 second ad film and a 2 and half hours feature film. His talent is supported by below average scripting and performances. Even Jehangir Chowdhary’s brilliant cinematography Bijon Das Gupta’s production design and Allan Amin’s action falls short of expectations in Hijack.
Shiney Ahuja has less to emote but shines in action scenes. There are some mind-blowing action sequences in Hijack. Esha Deol as an air-hostess is just average, while K. K. Raina is not to terrifying, Kaveri Jha as Shiney’s wife is a relief in this drama.
Cast of Hijack:
Shiney Ahuja – Vikram Madaan
Esha Deol – Saira
Mona Ambegaonkar – Simone
Kaveri Jha – Pooja Madaan
Ishita Chauhan – Priya Madaan
K.K. Raina – Rasheed Omar
Mukesh Chabbra – Shakeel
Ujjwal Chopra – Co-Pilot
Ashwin Dhar – Abraham
Bomie E. Dotiwala – Kersi
Sunil Godse – Home Minister
Shruti Gupta – Wife (Honeymoon Couple)
Harman – Airhostess
Mushtaq Kak – Mushtaq
Anoop Purie – Army Chief
Rasika – Neha
Jagat Singh Rawat – Sajid
Pradip Sagar – Tiwari
Satyajeet – Rajesh Kumar
Kush Sharma – Bingo
Shradha Shrivastav – Neetu
Sillu – Philu
Rakesh Soni – Businessman
Vipul Vig – Altaf
Bikramjeet Kanwarpal – Amrinder Singh
Raja Kapssey – Pandey
Jiten Mukhi – Rajeev Malhotra
Amit Nagpal – Puru
CREDITS of Hijack:
Presented by Eros Entertainment, Aliya Motion Magic
Produced by Nidhi Padda, Dinesh Vijan
Directed by Kunal Shivdasani
Screenplay by Gavendra Agarwal, Kunal Shivdasani
Cinematography by Jehangir Choudhary
Stunts – Allan Amin
Casting by Abhimanyu Ray
Art Direction by Bijon Das Gupta
Costume Design by Payal Saluja
Music by Justin-Uday
Executive Producer – Nidhi Padda
Makeup Artist – Nithish Pawar
Hair Stylist – Serena
Production – Anbarasan Mani, Sameer Murkute, Rishi Parmar, Ajit Pal Singh
Assistant Directors – Nadeem Mirza, Deepa Alimchandani, Iva Bagchi, Tushar Ramakrishnan
Hijack, movie review