Film: Hacked
Cast: Hina Khan, Rohan Shah, Mohit Malhotra, Sid Makkar
Director: Vikram Bhatt
Rating: **
Television superstar and much adored Big Boss 11 contestant Hina Khan makes her big screen debut with this Vikram Bhatt directed thriller. This may not be a scare-fest of the horror supernatural kind that Vikram Bhatt’s film factory specialises in, but it has its generic moments – none that arouse interest, though.
Sameera ‘Sam’ Khanna (Hina Khan), an editor of a fashion magazine is friendly with the cute teen Vivek(Rohan Shah) living in her apartment complex. Vivek though, has a huge secret crush on the spoken for, older woman. But one misbegotten night his feelings get out-of-control and Sam becomes his victim.
Cyber crime is new territory for Vikram Bhatt. So much of the understanding here appears to come from slick Hollywood cinema rather than an innate knowledge of the process involved in the criminal ‘web’ of vengeance act. The sick young computer genius here looks nerdy but doesn’t have the apropos lingo and technical know-how to warrant being called a hacker( yeah, despite being tagged as one). His idea of looking venomous is entirely one note. Even Hina Khan prefers to look glammed-up rather than be effective. Much of the drama she enacts feels fake.
Vikram Bhatt delivers a slick, frenetically cut, fast-paced narrative but the plotting is too factitious and is lacking in sound logic and credibility. While the film might be ringing alarm bells on the possible misuse of social media, the so-called psychological thrills play out as mere frills here. The narrative lacks tension and the coherence is fragile at best. Unless you are a Hina Khan fan, it’s going to be really difficult to empathise with her plight – so there’s no attachment at all here. The other players including Sid Makkar playing the Bollywood star and Mohit Malhotra as the neighbour turned friend (who also happens to be crushing on the lovely damsel in distress), fail to leave their mark either. The music is a calculated lure in a Vikram Bhatt film and this film too has its melodious incentives but there’s nothing unique, distinctive or memorable about them either. They are just as forgettable as the movie experience.