Dhoom is back, again

DEC 21 - I have never really been a fan of the extremely popular Dhoom series. Yes, there have been a few fun bits—in both of the previous installments—and yes, I have enjoyed them, but the crowd-pleasing Yash Raj Film franchise,

known for its slick action sequences, its bikes, ‘babes’ and impossible heists, has never really won me over.

The newest, Dhoom 3, is quite like its predecessors. It is a visual treat—well-crafted cinematography, check, great thief-cop chases, check—but it lacks in terms of script and screenplay. The film has many loopholes, and is a strictly average Bollywood flick in this sense. But these things don’t really matter. Dhoom 3, helmed by Abhishek Bachchan and Aamir Khan and directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya, is going to be a huge blockbuster anyway.

Bachchan, once gain, plays good guy ACP Jai Dixit, a police officer who has been outsmarted by the bad guys in both of the previous Dhoom movies. This time, we meet him in Chicago where he is assisting the police in bringing down the mastermind behind the recent Western Bank of Chicago robberies. Dixit and his deputy Ali (Uday Chopra) have been called on to as the conniving bank robber leaves behind a clown mask and a message inscribed in Hindi once a successful bank heist has been carried out.

The Chicago Police know who the thief is; a circus owner by the name of Saahir (Aamir Khan), and yet they cannot tie him to the string of robberies—all successfully carried out in the same bank!

There is a big secret behind this phenomenon; the robber seems bent on destroying this one particular bank among all that carry on in Chicago. Dhoom 3 really goes downhill post the interval. The audience will find common sense being put on the backburner numerous times. Here, I reiterate, the screenplay is not consistent and this is the film’s biggest drawback. The movie has too many dramatic sequences for its own good, and there are quite a number of unnecessary characters as well. It would have been better to simply get away from the excess; this would have resulted in a shorter, and yet more well-rounded movie.

Aamir Khan, Bollywood’s resident perfectionist, is sincere in his portrayal of his many-layered character. Katria Kaif, on the other hand, has nothing much to do in the film. Her only task here is to groove to some songs, and groove she does very well.

The crackling chemistry between Jai and Ali, a plus point in the earlier Dhoom films, is missing here. Bachchan doesn’t seem to be in-character sometimes and Chopra’s funny one-liners often miss the mark. Overall, I would have been happier if I had had no expectations from the film. If you are adherent Aamir Khan or Dhoom franchise fan, there are chances you enjoy the

film. But Dhoom 3 proved a mediocre watch for me, nothing quite so spectacular as one might expect it to be. 

Labels: Entertainment, Highlight