A kidnapped woman sends out SoS calls to an unknown good Samaritan through a broken, barely functional phone lying next to her? Now don’t say you’ve seen that one before!

Well even if you have, that kidnapped woman couldn’t have been Urmila Matondkar, weeping her way through most of the film. And the good samaritan couldn’t have been Zayed Khan, looking completely lost with a cellphone in place of a girlfriend. And no, you could never have seen Sanjay Suri playing MI5, a chhota Bond, trying to save his wife, his kid and the Indian Prime Minister, all in one go. Nah! Hollywood could never have got so many things mixed and matched with so much cinematic liberty.

Vikram Bhatt’s given us some great Hollywood rip-offs but Speed isn’t one of them. Nor is it engrossing original fare. Set in picturesque London, the assassination plot is squidgy and stodgy. Of course, there is a smart twist in the tale, but the director fails to develop it, leaving it as a forgotten aside. Wish there had been a bit more about the troubled relationship between the PM and her son....

The film unfolds in slow motion speed with Urmila displaying her age lines, Tanushree her terrible sartorial sense (a bright green and red dress!), Sanjay Suri ending up helpless once again (he’s actually a good actor) and Zayed wasting his boyish charms, ek baar phir.

Speed (thriller)
Cast: Zayed Khan, Sanjay Suri, Urmila Matondkar
Direction: Vikram Bhatt