High Jack review: Walk in for a trippy time with Sumeet Vyas!

Movie: High Jack

Cast: Sumeet Vyas, Sonnalli Seygall, Kumud Mishra, Nipun Dharmadhikari, Sarthak Kakar, Mantra, Ross Bucharn

Director: Akarsh Khurana

Producer(s) Viu, Phantom Films

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Have you ever wondered what would have the Sonam Kapoor-starrer Neerja be like if the intention of the film would have been to make a mockery out of plane hijacking and was laced with sly current affairs with a dash of sexual and sexist innuendos and a bit of “magical” substances? You’d probably get a High Jack for sure. While the former would leave you with a gritty and morose feeling, you can’t help but laugh until your stomach aches uncontrollably and play a few scenes in your mind on loop.

The story out here is rather simple. A bunch of airline employees, who are yet to receive their dues for their service for over half a year,  decide to hijack a plane of their employer who is clearly modeled after Vijay Mallya. That very name is enough to give you a fair idea of the background of this story. Except, you have a high-as-a-kite DJ Rock-esh (Sumeet Vyas) accidentally peddling his “consignment” to his fellow co-passengers, Mr. And Mrs. Kuku Taneja (Natasha Rastogi and Kumud Mishra), probably one of the most “physically stimulated” couples you’d ever come across, amongst other people. What follows is a literal and figurative bumpy ride that you may perhaps not mind hitching if you have time to spare this weekend.

Here, director Akash Khurrana has decided to majorly rely on improvisations while he captures them in provocative and deliberately odd camera angles, to which he has chosen to add tinges of purple, blue and almost any psychedelic colour you can think of, and it’s pretty evident from the word go. 10 minutes into the film and you are more than aware of what kind of audience High Jack is meant for, not that the non-targeted ones are at a loss in any way. Sumeet Vyas as the internally depressed and witty DJ is clearly the one who is supplying situational humour in a setting where the standard of jokes are gyrating between impressively witty and face-palm worthy one-liners. A major contributor of the same is Kumud Mishra as Kuku Taneja, who is clearly having a blast as the womanizing and lecherous senior citizen, and his on-screen better half is no less. She here is perhaps the flag bearer of inappropriate comedy and we sincerely salute her for letting her inhibitions go. 

However, given the intention of this film is clear and so is its target market, expectedly, the script in the second half is practically all over the place. The post-intermission portion is all about visuals, psychedelic music and inappropriate situational humour.

However, We would still take the liberty to complain about one thing: Why couldn’t they give Sonnalli Seygall a meatier part? For, to us at least, she came across as a fine artist.

High Jack is perhaps the nearly perfect marriage of the collaborative efforts of Phantom Films (co-owned by Anurag Kashyap) and Viu (the digital platform that’s debuting into film production, and what a debut it is!), and you’re reminded that the film belongs to both the banners time and again.

Overall, High Jack may be a little bumpy and jarred, but at the end of the day, it’s a feel-good film with its heart in the right place and stunning (and clearly deliberate) visuals and choice of colours. We don’t know whether the film is original or otherwise, but High Jack could set new standards for a seemingly indie comedy for sure.

Stick to this space for the latest in Bollywood!