Hijack
- Director
- Kunal Shivdasani
- Studio
- Eros International
- Release Date
- 5 September 2008
- Running Time
- 117 min
- Language
- Hindi
- Country
- India
Review
Rohit Shetty's "Hijack" is a film that mistakes loud chaos for tension and confuses a father's desperation with compelling drama. The premise—a ground staff worker infiltrating a hijacked plane to save his daughter—has genuine potential, but the execution is painfully by-the-numbers. Ajay Devgn sleepwalks through what should be his character's most harrowing moment, delivering lines with the conviction of someone reading a teleprompter at a gas station inauguration. The film treats us like we've never seen a thriller before, spelling out every emotional beat with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, and the supporting cast (particularly the terrorists) are so cartoonishly one-dimensional that you half-expect them to twirl mustaches between threats.
What infuriates me most is the wasted opportunity. Shetty had a chance to craft something genuinely suspenseful, but instead opts for the familiar formula: slow-motion heroics, recycled background scores, and action sequences that prioritize spectacle over logic. A man with zero combat training methodically dismantles trained terrorists? Sure, why not. The flight attendant subplot exists solely to provide exposition and a convenient ally—there's no character depth, just plot convenience wrapped in a sari. Even the climax, which should deliver emotional payoff, lands with a thud because we've never truly invested in Vikram as a person, only as a vehicle for Devgn's brand.
Rating: 4/10
Storyline
So this movie is about this regular guy named Vikram who works maintaining the grounds at an airport in Chandigarh. He's pretty quiet and doesn't have much of a social life except for his buddy Rajeev who works security there. His daughter Priya is on a flight from Delhi to Amritsar for a school debate competition, which seems like a normal day until everything goes completely wrong.
Then boom—the plane gets hijacked by a bunch of terrorists who want the government to release some criminal boss named Rasheed. The crazy part is that the plane ends up landing right at Chandigarh Airport, where Vikram works. So now these hijackers are threatening to kill everyone on board unless the authorities let their guy go, and Vikram realizes his daughter is trapped on that plane with them.
This is where things get intense because Vikram figures out he might be the only person in a position to actually get inside the aircraft and do something about it. With help from one of the flight attendants named Saira, he manages to sneak on board and starts taking down the terrorists from the inside. It's basically a one-man mission to save his daughter and the other passengers, though unfortunately things don't go completely smoothly for everyone involved.