Rehab Pictures Pvt. Ltd.’s Aliya Basu Gayab Hai (A) is the story of two kidnappers who abduct a lady with the intention of asking for a huge amount of ransom from her multi-millionaire father so that they can live in the lap of luxury and happily ever after.
Vikram (Vinay Pathak) and Deepak (Salim Diwan) kidnap Aliya (Raima Sen) and hold her captive in a bid to extort money from her super-rich father. Do they succeed?
Gibran Norani has written a suspense story and a screenplay, both of which fail to involve the viewers for several reasons. For one, the story is predictable and instead of involving the audience in a guessing game, it puts them off it because it is full of clichéd scenes. Vikram repeatedly going out of the house looks weird because nothing has been shown to be of such urgency that it cannot be done after 24 or 48 hours. The screenplay, therefore, appears to be one of complete convenience. The viewers understand that Vikram is leaving Aliya under Deepak’s watchful eyes just so that there is room for drama between the two (Deepak and Aliya). This is just one example of contrived scripting. Also, scenes have been stretched so much that they lose in impact. For instance, the scene in which Deepak tries to flush down the bullet in the commode looks stretched too much. It is scenes like the above which rob the drama of its seamlessness which was the need. Again, Deepak promising Aliya that Vikram would not harm her, but doing nothing to ensure that Vikram, in fact, would leave her unharmed, looks weird. All in all, the screenplay doesn’t look like much thought has gone into the aspect of human psychology while writing it. Gibran Norani’s dialogues are quite basic.
Vinay Pathak does a fair job as Vikram. There’s nothing about his acting which stands out. This is partly because of the routine script and partly because his performance lacks fire. Raima Sen is alright as Aliya. Her performance does not evoke sympathetic feelings for her in the viewers’ minds. Salim Diwan is ordinary as Deepak. He needs to brush up on his diction and pronunciations. Others pass muster.
Preeti Singh’s direction is average. Limited by the lacklustre script, she has tried her best to keep the audience engaged in the drama but succeeds only partially. Mannan Munjal’s music and Dr. Sagar’s lyrics are functional, at best. Mannan Munjal’s background music is not half as impactful as it ought to have been. Arvind Yadav’s cinematography is proper. Ajay Thakur’s action and stunt scenes are ordinary. Smita Gupta’s production designing is okay. Amit Kumar’s editing leaves something to be desired.
On the whole, Aliya Basu Gayab Hai will go largely unnoticed as it will be a non-starter.
Released on 9-8-’24 at Metro Inox (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Cinepolis India. Publicity: dull. Opening: weak. …….Also released all over. Opening was below the mark everywhere.