Kidnap Review

Goldie Behl who last directed Abhishek Bachchan in the box-office dud Bas Itna Sa Khwab Hai is back with a superhero movie titled Drona. Abhishek Bachchan portrays the title superhero role with Priyanka Chopra as his bodyguard. Kay Kay Menon is Ritz Raizada, the main villian. The buzz was that about 22 crores was spent solely on Kay Kay’s character in a film which was made at a budget of 90 crores (according to Yahoo) and insured for 50 crores!

Drona is about an orphan Aditya (Abhishek Bachchan), who has never experienced or felt love. The only thing that gives Aditya comfort is a magical blue rose petal that comes wafting into his room, making him smile through his tears. One fine day, the blue petal leads him to a beautiful Kada (a thick bangle like bracelet), which he starts wearing around his wrist. The Evil Riz Raizada (Kay Kay Menon) a descendant of the Asuras (Demons) has become by now desperate in his quest for the special ‘Amrith’, the only missing link in his grand plan of taking over the world. To get to the Amrith, he knows he will have to defeat Drona. But Riz is unaware of who and where Drona is!

Soon at the Riz magic show, Aditya and Riz come face to face. Riz sees the kada around Aditya’s hand, and recognises him as Drona. Aditya is now running for his life. Just as he is about to be captured by Riz, Sonia (Priyanka Chopra) comes to his rescue. She reveals her own identity i.e Drona’s bodyguard and Aditya’s real identity to him but he refuses to believe he is Drona, the savior of the world. Drona is in real the son of Queen Jayati Devi (Jaya Bachchan)!

The fight now is between the good and the evil. Its Drona versus Riz Raizada! Drona has to succeed to save his mother and the world!

Drona Review

On asked what the audience should expect from Drona, Abhishek said “I want them to expect a lot. I never say this, but I want them (the audience) to expect the world. Goldie proved that my expectations weren’t high enough. So I want them to expect a lot more.” Woah, not bad I thought! Yet, not trusting Abhishek as I read something similar from him about Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, I went in with low expectations.

And yet I was heavily disappointed. Disappointed to see Abhishek being part of such a poorly directed low quality movie. Disappointed for the fact that a huge amount of money was wasted on great special effects in a horribly illogical film!

Gustaki Maaf are Kay Kay’s two most favorite words in the movie. Gustaki Maaf Goldie Behl saab, but seriously what were you thinking? Even a 12 year old school kid could have scripted a better superhero story for his school project! Its hard to believe I just saw a movie as bad as Drona. Try figuring this out..

• Drona and his bodyguard Sonia are in the middle of a vast desert and out of nowhere, Sonia is pulled into a huge sea! Sea in a desert? Update: Such a location where the Desert meets the sea does exist! Director Goldie Behl says “We got exactly that place it was “Desert meets the Ocean”. After seeing this Abhishek was stunned to see such a fantastic location.”
• Which century or era does this movie belong to? We start off with a modern town with all the high funda cars, cut to the next scene we have a palace in a desert that looks dated, back to the early regime of kings!
• Drona is warned, open the door, you’ll meet death. He opens and voila out comes a ferocious and filthy looking monster. One punch from our absolutely unfit-for-a-superhero-role Abhishek, down goes the monster!
• Jaya Bachchan (Drona’s mother) is mummified, yet tears trickle from her eyes!
• If Love Story 2050 had the butterfly which magically assisted Harman Baweja to find a way when in trouble. Drona has a blue flower petal!

Mind you these are just a few of the numerous senseless scenes that Goldie and his Drona team treat us with. Can be forgiven in the name of Fantasy, but then there is hardly a connection between any two scenes.

The characters are poorly written. Kay Kay’s character is more clownish than devilish. The extent of his evil powers and its repercussions if he succeeds is not clear. Same goes with the main character of Drona. His strengths and power are not dealt with in detail which is so very important for a superhero flick.

For all Goldie Behl had to tell, he could have easily reduced the runtime to about 1 and a half hours instead of its actual 2 hours 15 mins runtime. Would have reduced the cost of making and the viewers pain. Though, thankfully it wasn’t longer.

Coming to the songs, which have no significance in the movie, are unbearable. The only thing that stands out in Drona is the brilliant special effects, which are way ahead of Bollywood standards.

Performances are poor. Abhishek Bachchan is no Hrithik Roshan or Akshay Kumar, although he tries hard in the action sequences, his body language or physique just doesn’t suit the role of a superhero with unprecedented physical power. His excess flab around the tummy area is quite clearly seen in the Drona costume. Priyanka Chopra is at her sexiest best! She oozes sensuality and performs the action scenes remarkably well.

Now the much hyped role of Kay Kay Menon, its such a dud. This has to be one of his worst roles ever. A great actor degraded by a stupid role. Jaya Bachchan has a very small role.

Overall, Drona could easily be placed a notch or two below some of the worst movies I have seen. Also, hardly have I witnessed an audience so restless during a movie. Goldie’s childhood promise to Abhishek could turn out to be his worst nightmare ever! At the box-office, Kidnap as a rival will severely make a dent in Drona’s collections. Weekend should be decent, but Monday onwards the fall could well be inevitable.

Positives : Special effects and Priyanka Chopra.
Negatives : Almost everything else. Poor direction, bad story, below average performances.. to name a few.

Strictly avoid!

Rating: Half star for Drona.

Kidnap Movie Review

Other notes – Firstly, thanks for reading the Drona review. Drona quite often reminded me of Mani Shankar’s painful Rudraksh in 2004 starring Sanjay Dutt, Bipasha Basu and Suniel Shetty. Rudraksh was also a fantasy movie.

Moving on from the Drona nightmare, Kidnap directed by Sanjay Gadhvi releases tomorrow. Imraan Khan could prove to be lucky the second time too. Its a co-incidence that Love Story 2050 another Fantasy / Sci- Fi movie released against Imraan’s Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. And the rest as we all know is history. Hopefully Kidnap which also has Sanjay Dutt and Minissha Lamba turns out to be a much better watch. The review will be up by around 3 PM Indian Standard Time. Be sure to check back in.

Update : Kidnap Review has been published. Go here -> Kidnap Movie Review

Vote on the Drona Poll below. Did you watch the movie? How did you like it? Remember, if you haven’t watched the movie yet, please choose “Yet to watch Drona”. Your vote could mislead readers while they decide on spending their hard earned money.

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