DHOOMED
Dhoom 3 is an action thriller film, written and directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya and produced by Aditya Chopra(in his spare time when not serenading Rani Mukherjee.) It is the third installment of the Dhoom series, not necessarily in that order.
Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra reprise their roles as Jai Dixit and Ali Akbar with Aamir Khan and Katrina Kaif being the antagonist duo. Tabrett Bethell, the Australian TV actress with lips like the fiery bows of Arjuna and hair like cascading strands of golden light stars as Victoria, the US investigator.
Khan, Bachchan and Kaif took up special preparations for their roles. Khan reportedly learnt ballet, aerobatics and the French technique of parkour, a method of movement focused on negotiating obstacles with speed and efficiency, while Kaif took paragliding training and singing lessons. Khan and Kat have scored an envious physique while Bachchan reportedly lost nine kilos of weight to prepare for his role in the film and thereafter proceeded on a paternity leave, for no fault of his. Acne-faced, plump and shuffling about in an ill-fitting beard and glasses, he looks far from being capable of being held in any way responsible for the little bee.
According to several trade publications, Dhoom 3 has opened to an overwhelming response at the domestic box office. Critics have given mixed reviews from outstanding to thumbs-down- I say, ‘the audience decides!’ And the audience decided by getting increasingly restless, taking popcorn breaks and ordering chicken momos and squirming in their seats every time a song came up. The songs are brilliantly shot but I can’t say the same for the melodies or why they were there at all!
I wonder which circus in the world is based on a one trick magician and gymnasts singing and dancing in perfect obeisance to a Bollywood choreographer rather than swinging from a rope and shoving their heads inside sedated lions as per established norms of known circus behavior and conduct. There are no semi clad beauties or in-you-face clown acts in this circus. No wonder the bank decided the circus was bad business and shut it down, prompting its chief trickster- Jackie Shroff to shoot himself in the head before coming up with the profound one-liner inanity - ‘teri aisi ki taisi!’ Aamir Khan, the child prodigy witnesses the act and swears revenge on the bank.
When he grows up he keeps up robbing the banks branches, benevolently sharing his loot with homeless onlookers that chance upon the treasure with happy serendipity, driving it into bankruptcy. The bank bosses call upon the myriad skills of Jai and Ali to save them from this Hindi scourge, hoping their language skills, if nothing else will nail the slippery rascal.
Alas, Jai fails miserably- understandably so, given the precarious detective skills of his partner whose confused affections for him border on gay love, yet strangely haunted by outlandish dreams of straight love, mostly involving the gilded Australian ex-cheerleader. The duo are prodigious at driving the Great Indian Rickshaw with Shockers of Kevlar over rooftops and chastising domesticated villains, but this circus pony seems well out of their league.
Jai arguably has no love interest, or for that matter any interest at all after having bagged for himself the much coveted and eagerly fought-over Ms. Rai. He seems indifferent, and so do many others, including the bronzed, thunder-thighed, wide shouldered and fast ageing Katrina who never makes eye contact with her love, Aamir. She towers over him like a gargantuan goddess while he returns the favor by kissing her as if he is kissing his sister. One can infer the matrimonial status of one and the implied status of the other in this quick and awkward transaction of body fluids. For commoners like me It never ceases to amaze me how you can kiss your neighbors wife and then look the bloke in the eye?
The movie has too much of hype and hoopla and less of the gentle narrative of the previous versions where the characters grew on you and made a connect. Aamir fails to portray the intensity of the wronged thief with his menacing frown or autistic, ‘Rain man’ style act. He is pretty much wasted here, age showing in the close-ups. Abhishek should take care of his health and paternal obligations rather than presumptuously chasing hoodlums far in excess of his bounds. The chases and songs are technically sound but far too many and far too unproductive.
The stunts and graphics are very good for our standards so far, but for a multiplex audience already breast-fed on Hollywood’s best and latest, these fail to impress or convince. The humor is bland and brought over as legacy from the previous versions, the romance, a tasteless ingredient in the cocktail.
Must watch the film for its cinematic excellence, for everyone else is doing so, but don’t expect the kind of entertainment you got in D-2 or K-2 or a D-2. We must encourage the efforts of our homegrown industry, and laud them for courageous inroads into Hollywoodian territory.
Believed to be one of the most expensive Indian films of all time, Dhoom 3 was released in IMAX format. It is the first Bollywood movie to be released in the IMAX format- guess we will never know how that helps.