 "Dhoom 3")
You know that thing must be a hundred years old?" the Dhoom 3 trailer says cheekily about the first two films in the action series. Indeed, the newest instalment, which has writer Vijay Krishna Acharya turning director as well, is more ambitious and flamboyant than its predecessors. Set in Chicago with ample screen time devoted to the city's tall buildings, bridges and lake, it looks like a Hollywood product. In terms of plot and treatment, however, the film is decidedly desi.
Dhoom's third chapter has Mumbai cops Jai Dixit (Abhishek Bachchan) and Ali (Uday Chopra) fly to Chicago to help the local police nab the clown thief or Sahir (Aamir Khan) who has been robbing branches of a bank and leaving behind messages in Hindi. Sahir, who was raised in a circus, uses speed and an almost magical deception to escape arrest.
Unlike before, when Dixit's targets - Kabir and Aryan - seemed to commit crimes just for the thrills, Dhoom 3 invests time in building a back story for its Robin Hood-style anti-hero. His adversaries - big banks - are those that are frowned upon by 99 per cent of the audience, making sure they root for him too. A dramatic twist at the interval lets Khan flex his acting muscles and makes room for some good lines. Some credit for these probably goes to the actor, who does not often sign fluffy films.
Despite the character-building exercise though, the film is not too layered or deep. After all, Dhoom is mainly for fans of monstrous bikes and incredible stunts. The noisy BMW Motorrad bikes featured do amazing things - swerving, spinning, leaning and jumping. At one moment in the film, that could only be an ode to the computer game Road Rash, Sahir even hops away from the seat to kick a cop off his motorcycle. A short sequence filmed in Mumbai has the humble auto rickshaw performing gravity-defying tricks, which will give the masses another reason to whistle. The music is foot-tapping but forgettable. Comparisons will also no doubt be made to various Hollywood movies that seem to have influenced the film.
Action-packed blockbusters often overrule logic so there are questions we have learned not to ask. Among them - how does Ali manage to find his bike handily parked anywhere he goes and where did Dixit learn to fly with precision? But some other liberties taken in the plot are harder to digest and to prevent it from becoming a sophisticated film despite being technically superior to most Bollywood films till date. Would Chicago's law-enforcement agencies really enlist the services of the Mumbai police and follow their orders? And why is Sahir, who was seen by Chicago cops during one of his robberies, not detained when he strolled casually into their headquarters a few days later?
Khan steals the show with his performance. The abs and angry glare from Ghajini make a comeback, enhanced this time with tap dancing and parkour skills. While John Abraham and Hrithik Roshan's roles in the earlier films required them to mostly look intense and walk in slow motion, Khan adds brains to the brawn. The Bachchan and Chopra tomfoolery seems repetitive. Katrina Kaif, who plays Khan's love interest Aliya in the film, has little to do but dance and look pretty. Jackie Shroff is efficient in his short role as Sahir's father, and a congratulatory mention must also be made of the child artist who plays a young Sahir.
With a stellar actor leading the pack, the film has just enough boom for the viewer's buck.
