Movie Title: “DUS”
RATING: (OUT OF )
Review by Ranju Anthony
India, 2005
Censor Board Certification: A
Language: Hindi
Genre: Action
(Wide Release)
Director: Anubhav Sinha
Producer: Nitin Manmohan and Sohail Maklai
Screenplay: Vinay and Yash
Cinematography: Vijay Arora
Cast: Pankaj Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Abhishek Bachchan, Zayed Khan, Shilpa Shetty, Eshal Deol, Dia Mirza, Sunil Shetty & Gulshan Grover
Music: Vishal-Shekhar
It would be an understatement to conclude that ‘DUS’ is the most accomplished full length feature film in India in the technical realms. With dollops of attitude through the opening credits itself; one is sure about one helluva joyride in the next couple of hours. The title track rocks and so does Abhishek Bachchan and Zayed Khan as wannabe super cops.
Now the plot: Alok Pat (Sanjay Dutt), Abhimanyu Singh (Abhishek Bachchan), Karan Abraham (Zayed Khan) and Leena Andrews (Shilpa Shetty) belong to an elite Anti-terrorist cell formed by the Government of India as a counteracting force to international terrorism. An international terrorist with the nick Jaamwal has planned something big in the coming DUS days and needless to say the Canadian (or for that matter the American CIA) intelligence has no clue about the approaching fiasco on their respective departments. In comes our elite task force (headed by Mr. Dutt) to handle such tight situations. The Indian ATC does not require any sort of permissions or understandings with their Canadian counterpart or so does it seems. Sanjay Dutt and Shilpa Shetty stay back for vital ‘external inputs’ and Abhishek and Zayed are entrusted this responsibility of carrying out this Ramboish act; ably supported (and initially troubled) by Sunil Shetty in Canada. The rest of the movie is the minutiae of how the group brings to a halt; the diabolique plans and eventually eliminate the bad boys. Now haven’t we seen all this way back in the early nineties in another multi-starred trash named ‘Tridev’, which again boasted of a decent enough soundtrack and technical refinements undetected during that era.
So what’s so special about this venture? For starters, the opening sequence of dismantling a bomb as a cohesive unit with state of the art gadgetry is comparable to any major international action flick’s opening sequences. The lead performances (especially Sanjay Dutt and Pankaj Kapoor) are exemplary and it’s gonna be a long time before we actually see such histrionics and chemistry among the lead players. Abhishek and Zayed stand out, although, the flippant attitude with which they incorporate in their respective assignments look downright stupid. But what the heck, you start loving the arrogance, the silly liberalism and the now so-in male bonding. Well, till now, you are engrossed and are even ready to watch occasional inanity under the monocle of royal smugness. The first half winds off just at right instance and viola you arm yourself with pails of pop-corn and cola in anticipation of a fitting finale in the subsequent half. And what do you get, a half cooked tandoori chicken while you were waiting for a seasoned lobster. Post interval, all the finer points of the first half look phony and cooked up. The action sequences look droning and the special effects cheesy. The viewers are left dry and shocked with often disregards to their intelligence. For instance in one sequence, Abhishek Bachchan seeks his senior (and elder brother) Sanjay Dutt’s permission to land the ammo laden plane into the seas to save the local population. Instead of giving immediate authorization Dutt keeps on crying and rolling on the carpet like an infant crying for a bottle of milk and the most wanted global terrorist plainly makes optimum use of this mockery to slip out of his grabs. Is this, what is expected, of an elite Anti-terrorist Cell, under the aegis of the government, of a major country; there’s more; throughout the movie Esha Deol acts as a swindle to Abhishek Bachchan and during the climax she coolly sacrifices her life for her NEWFOUND love for Bachchan or maybe Desh. And you just ponder; is it love or a two minute noodle serve. The movie tests your patience with similar arcane turnarounds but it won’t earn your abhorrence; since it fulfils what it promises; IT ENTERTAINS. And it’s no mean achievement with the kind of stuff that normally our film factory churns out.
Standing ovation to the stunt coordinator Allan Amin; cinematographer Vijay Arora and VFX team supervised by Louis Cox. Watch it for the comic timing of Pankaj Kapoor; for the intense and vulnerable expressions of the deadly Dutt, for the cool exuberance of Abhishek and Zayed and last but surely not the least; for the smacking opening sequence kick of our desi Lara Croft ‘Ms. Shilpa Shetty’.