Dhoom 3 Review

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Dhoom 3 Review

Posted By : Animation Galaxy At 12/21/2013 4:10:13 PM

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Review by Amit Baliga

Dhoom 3 Review – No Spoilers

I have been a huge fan of Dhoom, since its first edition, as much as I love superheroes. No, I don’t love it for Chota B or Ali but because its essence is speed, racing, challenge, heist and the like. And yeah, I had watched the original Dhoom (2004) a whooping 14 times successively, an explanation which justifies another blog post.

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Dhoom machale – I just love the songs and the background score of the entire franchise, the revving sounds of the bikes, the title song, etc., etc. John or Hrithik, it didn’t bother me as long as the story was on track with lots of heists ‘perfectly’ done and Dhoom playing the role of the Indian version of Fast and Furious for bikes. So when Aamir was signed for this movie, I was like, WOW! Mr. Perfectionist in the most popular franchise for Bollywood would be rocking. Well, ummm, the reality wasn’t exactly like this.

Dhoom 3 Back in Action is the third in the installment and supposed to be the epitome and pinnacle (considering rumours that the Dhoom franchise is shut now) of the series. The movie is good. Good. Without any ‘very’ or ‘very, very’ as I had expected. The entire plot exactly fits into the template as created by the original Dhoom. Ali f*cked up somewhere, our hero Chota B appears like magic to rescue him, they meet a chick, Ali dreams of biwi and bacche, robbery occurs, they try to catch, (repeat – attempt 1, 2, 3) robber and hero face to face, action, end. Yeah, add some mandatory buffoonery by Ali, Chota B’s steel cold looks, some masquerading, chases on bikes and cars, emotions, songs and you almost done. Don’t forget the compulsory suspense.

Essence: This installment slightly modifies the Dhoom recipe described above. Lots of freshness has been added. Especially the revenge-with-a-reason part. But is it better than the previous ones is something what the viewer has to decide. Director Vijay Krishna Acharya gives a real touch of emotions here. Bonding between a father and son (and “others” – see the movie for this), vengeance, love and more such stuff unseen in the previous editions. There is perfect sync with all scenes and storyline and is near flawless – of course considering Aamir is here. Aamir, as the circus performer, Katrina, as his pretty doll, Chota B and Ali in their usual roles do not mess up anywhere, thankfully. Balanced movie. The circus aspect actually gives us an insight on various new things and is quite a change from the other run-of-the-mill ones. And I didn’t watch it in the acclaimed IMAX format, still the clarity was better than the others I had seen earlier on the same screen.

What’s good? Unprecedented acting by Aamir. Fabulous, marvelous, mind-blowing. It is like a collage with all shades of his acting right from the immature guy in QSQT to the fiery boxer in Ghulam to the passionate lover of Raja Hindustani to the revengeful patient in Ghajini, though the shades of 3 Idiots and Taare Zameen Par are more prominent. His performance is far, far superior and should have been used for a much better role than this established action flick with a strong expected brand set-up. You will also see shades of Aamir which have never been revealed before. This movie, for me, is for Mr. Khan than the bikes, chases and heists I went for.

The child actor who plays kid Aamir, Siddharth Nigam is the find of the season. Brilliant acting as if he has been doing it since ages. Bravo! It is also amazing how people don’t change in nearly a decade. Chota B ‘performs’ exactly as he did in the first installment, that is, if you call it a performance. Katrina is again a glam-doll with titbits to speak and dance around. Jackie Shroff has a cameo but his presence is always there in form of his inspiring lines.

And yeah, how can I forget Ali. No, this is not Rajiv Gandhi Rojgar Yojna for Uday Chopra. He is really, really good here. After an intense day at work, it was Ali only who put a smile on my smile, much more times than the real clown in the movie. May be a good director with a suitable comic role can make him a star in that genre atleast. Seriously.

What’s interesting? Other than the twin cylinder BMW bikes, there are couple of gadgets in the movie which would put Bond to shame, nay, even Batman to shame. Few carwreck scenes are good, justifying why Chicago came to a standstill for this movie. New for Bollywood and amazing work. Kudos!

Twists and turns: Yes, there is an amazing suspense which opens up midway and is the backbone of the movie. The suspense is really good and unthought of too. Unfortunately, my expectations were different and I believe it could have been presented in a much better/different way. Nonetheless, still very good turn.

Why it disappointed me? Dhoom symbolizes the speed and heist for me, masquerading is the icing on the cake. This movie is good, really good. But unfortunately doesn’t seem to fit exactly in the frame of Dhoom brand, what it has created and nurtured in the previous two editions. The heists are not appealing, the masquerading is below average, the chases are below expectations. Worse, the VFX is at its worst (save for a couple of brilliant scenes) – what was Tata ELXSI benchmarking against while making this? Some 1990s movie or what? There are dozens of movies with far superior special effects, including the avoidable Ra.One. The movie might also slightly bore you in the second half, with a couple of not-so-necessary scenes. This is not what I was been waiting for since months L

Flaws? Every movie has and this is no exception. I am not saying it is copied from Prestige or has elements of Ocean series or the Italian job. There are a couple of them but they won’t stop you from enjoying the movie. And pointing them may even spoil the fun of watching.

Watch or no: Of course you should watch it! The movie is NOT the desi bike version of F&F. And can be safely seen as a standalone movie too. This edition has emotions, sub-plots, love, portrayed much in-depth than the previous editions which have made this movie a guy-only, bike-only movie. Don’t expect too much action or wow moments but Aamir would surprise you with his moves and Ali wouldn’t let the smile go away from your face. And yeah, this final installment could well be the launching pad for a certain Tabrett Bethell.

3.5/5 For me, the Hrithik wala had raised the bar for this edition. Personally I expected more spice than given. May be it has got to do with my choice of food too :P

About Amit Baliga
He is a Don Boscoite, a Gujju at heart and a passionate quizzer by nature. He has been been in quizzing close to two decades now and is an avid reviewer too. Reviews films, analyses tech in news and loves to write, long before his MBA days. A fierce film critic who doesn’t mind writing what he thinks. A strong opinion generator. You can love him or hate him – you can’t ignore him. His tech writings can also be found here and you can know more about him in general on FB.