A movie that’s in very bad taste
Cinema can be fun when it has ‘losers’ as its focus — the subjects offer a great set-up for satire. Add in a stoner or two and you should have a mad caper that’s fun for everyone. High Jack is not that film.
It has all the right ingredients — a group of amateurs trying to hijack a plane, a failed DJ attempting to smuggle drugs, a middleaged couple who has the hots for other people, and a teenager whose superpower seems to be curiosity. It’s got a great ensemble cast. But it fails to come together.
Instead, it’s confused and chaotic, marred by sexist jokes and clichés.
DJ Rakesh aka Rock-esh (Sumeet Vyas) has a dad who wants him to become a doctor. He meets the wannabe hijackers on a flight from Goa to Delhi and mistakes them for the cops. Afraid he might be arrested with the stash he’s been coerced into smuggling, Rock-esh decides to consume them. He passes them around to destroy the evidence quicker, and soon a number of the fliers are high.
Sadly, the rest of the flight — and film — are a mess. There are attempts to take on topical issues like the definitions of patriotism and azadi, but it feels arbitrary and there’s little to tie it all together.
Vyas, an online sensation thanks to the web series Roommates, does his best to keep things moving, and amusing, but is hobbled by a clumsy narrative.
Mantra, who plays the leader of the group of hijackers, is perhaps the best of the lot. He is understated and business-like, hilarious and no-nonsense, even as his fellow hijackers start to unravel.
Kumud Mishra is wasted in a film that offers him only a few clichéd lines about freedom.
The tone-deaf jokes about transgenders, women and the elderly leave you stunned. Is bad taste back? We hope not.