In this season of ’Yuck-een’ and ’Pa-hell-i’ comes another multistarrer Dud..uhmm..err..I mean Dus, and once again, you ask yourself - ’Why did I trust the promos and not the common sense?’
A bad rip-off of famous TV show ’24’, Dus comes across as a confused jelly of emotions, action, and mindless slick shots. Story, trust me, you don’t want to know. And even if you want to know, I can’t tell it because there is nothing called story in this 140-minute drama of Anti-terrorist troops who have got more fashion sense than the common sense!
In the world depicted in Dus, ATC (Anti-Terrorist Cell) is more like a close-knit family from K-Jo brand where the chief, chief’s brother, chief’s girlfriend, and chief’s sister’s boyfriend, are all part of the same team. Now, isn’t that reason enough to not know what happens next when they get the information that an unknown terrorist, at an unknown place, due to an unknown reason (and they never tell the reason to us) is going to blow-away 25, 000 people. Boy! The scenario is dreadful but more dreadful is the way it is handled.
Logic is the first thing the crew of the film ate before they started shooting, and you do the same on the afternoon before you watch the film. If you do, that is. The ’commandos’ are like angels, with no interference from any law-enforcing agency in Canada when Abhi and Zayed virtually do everything which could land them in prison for at least ’Dus’ saal. And the topping on the cake, Sunil Shetty, a local cop who never wears the uniform, always helps them because, hold your breath, they saved his life. Sob.
Now for some facts, Shilpa-Tattoo-Shetty has just one-flying-kick in the whole flick. Zayed Khan looks horrible without those sun-glasses, The song Dus-bahaane is in the opening titles and kills all the chances of a dashing entry for any of the cast members since they all have been seen in the titles only.....
But then, Dus also has its moments and almost all of them have been provided by the versatile Pankaj Kapoor. As the punjabi associate of the master-villain Jamvaal, Pankaj Kapoor livens up the proceedings with his dual-personality take. Also, the now-hot Abhishek comes up with a few one-liners which would look good in any movie. Aprt from these two, the rest of the cast, unfortunately Sanjay Dutt included, is uninspiring and almost bored. Allan Dhoom Amin’s action is still top-class, but again, at places, he has gone overboard and forgot about some very basic laws of gravity, anatomy, and human-machine differences. Camera work, attempted to be classy, turns out to be the most irritating part since the simple shots, like opening the car-door, have been stylized to give the film a techno-look. Sorry buddies, not working.
Music is good, but do such movies require music and melodrama...? Anubhav Sinha, who has earlier made Tum Bin and Aapko Pahle Bhi...still seems to be stuck into that family-drama mould and if Dus couldn’t get him out of that, what will..?
So guys, this week, cool your heels watching the re-runs of oldies on TV and stay away from anything that Dus’nt ring the excitement.
P.S. - Fareb, I hear, is even more horrible.