Talaash is a story of a young man who is in search of his sister who had been picked up by underworld dons when both of them were kids. With the father having been murdered by the same dons to avenge a wrong done to them and the mother having lost her mental balance due to the aforesaid incidents, it falls on the little boy to battle it out alone in this mad, bad world. He is helped in his mission to rescue his sister, by a police officer who trains him up in all his growing years.

Once he grows up, the boy begins his search which takes him to Rajasthan, Delhi and thereafter, South Africa. The two dons, who had kidnapped his kid-sister and who were presumed to be dead, are actually alive and carrying on their nefarious activities in South Africa. His task is to track down the mafia and reach his sister. He is also handicapped by the fact that he doesn`t know what his sister has grown up to look like. As fate would have it, his sister is to be sold in the flesh market on the very day he reaches the spot where she is on sale. How he recognises her and rescues her while killing the dons forms the climax.

The story and screenplay (Suneel Darshan and Robin Bhatt) are replete with hackneyed scenes and clichéd situations. The biggest joke, however, is that the girl has not been sold off for years together. Was she picnicking in South Africa? The writers don`t even attempt to answer these and many similar questions which crop up in the viewers` minds for the smple reason that no answers exist. In short, the script is one big platform of convenience - anybody can do anything and get away with it. There seems to be no word as `plausible` in their dictionary! K.K. Singh`s dialogues try to elevate the drama but even a learned writer like him finds himself helpless in an illogical enterprise like this one.

It is sad to see good actors like Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor being wasted in mindless stories like Talaash. Akshay impresses in the stunts he performs in the pre- climax and climax where he gives himself completely to the film. Kareena Kapoor`s case is worse still. She seems to be completely at sea. She tries to make do with the half-baked and inconsequential role she has by putting in her best. Raakhee leaves a mark in the scene in which her husband is killed in front of her and her little daughter is taken away by the dons.Dalip Tahhil, Raj Babbar and Kabir Bedi play the routine villains. Pooja Batra looks pretty and acts naturally. Suneel Darshan`s direction is hardly any better than his story. On the whole, Talaash is a dated drama with minimal entertainment value.