Dum Maro Dum is definitely a movie with no repeat value whatsoever, unlike Rohan Sippy’s earlier film "Bluffmaster" which had a few entertaining comic moments, however I can’t say the same for DMD. Dum Maro Dum majorly succeeds because of it’s amazingly witty dialogues which add the extra punch to every scene. After delivering major duds back-to-back both Abhishek and Bipasha now take a sigh of relief.
Synopsis -
ACP Kamath(Abhishek Bachchan), who was once a corrupt policemen has now mended his ways and is out to end the world of drugs in Goa. He nabs Lorry(Pratiek Babbar) who is an innocent kid caught in the web of drug dealing. There’s Joki(Rana Duggubatti) who is Lorry’s friend and Zoe’s(Bipasha Basu) ex-flame who’s out to save Lorry and helps ACP in his mission. Zoe is a free spirited girl who once aspired to be an air-hostess but now is unwantingly a part of drugs scandal and she’s the keep of Goa’s biggest white collar drug mafia Lorsa Biscuita(Aditya Pancholi).
Will Lorry be able to prove his innocence? Will Joki be successful in saving Lorry? Will Zoe ever get freedom from the vicious circle she’s caught in? Will ACP Kamath be successful in his mission? For all these answers you have to watch Dum Maro Dum.
Now the Problem with Dum Maro Dum is that the maker of the film Rohan Sippy still has the "Bluffmaster" hangover, the stupid twist in the end is so silly that you feel as if it was just added for the heck of it. Sure the filmmaker thought that this action flick will also be a smart thriller but it backfires completely. P.S. - All those who liked the twist no offence to you. Also Dum Maro Dum had all the potential to be a cult classic, but at times the pace of the movie just drops, it’s engaging at times but doesn’t keep you at the edge of your seats always. Also barring two songs - "Te Amo" and "Mit Jaye Gham" all the other songs seem to be forced in the narrative and does no help to carry the story forward. The basic rule for a action movie is that it should be slick and fast paced but these songs further reduces the pace of the movie.
Other Aspects -
Direction - The movie is very well directed, the flashback cut to the present type of story telling could have been very confusing if it wasn’t handled properly, but Kudos to Rohan Sippy that he hasn’t made it very complicated. Rohan Sippy is definitely one of the directors to look-out for in future. With his Directorial Debut "Kuch Naa Kaho" which was uninspiring and lame to "Bluffmaster" which was a complete paisa vasool according to me, to DMD, Rohan Sippy has a come long way.
Cinematography - What I really Liked about the cinematography of DMD is that the genre that it belongs to, one expects it to be a "Dark Movie" somewhat like - "Kaminey", "Satya", "Company" no doubt all these movies mentioned are classic gems but such kind of movies don’t appeal to everyone, it certainly doesn’t appeal me atleast. Thank god DMD has some colours in it. Definitely it’s not as colorful as "Devdas" or "Hum Dil De Chuke Hain Sanam" but it’s definitely not that dark either.
Music - The music of the movie is given by Pritam, it is not one of his best works but it isn’t that bad either. However after watching the movie only one or two songs are going to stick in your mind the others are just forgettable. And I think "Mit Jaaye Gham" was good but I still prefer the orignal track which according to me is a masterpeice.
Cast -
Abhishek Bachchan - I fail to understand why Abhishek Bachchan in every movie of his has to try so hard to be cool, I have noticed this is in almost every movie of his in recent past where he is just trying to be this "Yo I’m the real stud" kind of a guy. There is no variation in his acting in any of the films be it Paa, Raavan, Dhoom franchise, Game or any of his recent films he is just the same. He seriously needs to do somethin about it considering this is just not working in his favour.
Rana Duggubatti - He is good-looking and all that but he’s just plain expressionless, considering he has acted in regional films before I had high expectations from him, however luckily he doesn’t have a accented Hindi like Vikram did in Raavan(which was funny at times) until and unless his voice was dubbed.
Bipasha Basu - Her role doesn’t demand any histronics from her. She’s just about okay in the movie. Neither great nor bad.
Pratiek Babbar - What I found really funny was in the titles of the movie his name is mentioned as special apperance whereas he is almost there in the entire film and the length and substance of his role is more than even the female lead(Bipasha Basu) of the movie. He’s pretty good in the movie, he seems to be quite a natural performer.
Aditya Pancholi - Aditya Pancholi is good as the drug mafia Lorsa Biscuita, infact he’s always been good with negative roles be it in Striker or Hamesha. He looks evil without any extra effort and that works in his favor.
Choreography - None of the songs have choreography worth mentioning even the title track picturized on Deepika Padukone has uninspiring choreography with no signature movements that the song required.
The verdict - Dum Maro Dum definitely is a great one-time watch but don’t expect too much from the film. It could have been much much better but then it’s not that bad at all infact considering the crappy movies that have released oflate like "Thank you" and "Faltu" this one is a far better pick.