Writer: Janak

Writer Ratings:
Overall:
Cast:
Plot:
Effects:
Cinematography:

Watch this if you liked: “Dhoom”, “Dhoom 2” & “Fanaa”.

After a gap of seven years, the Dhoom franchise returns to the silver screen again. With John Abraham being the first villain and Hrithik Roshan as the antagonist in the sequel, "Dhoom 3" features Aamir Khan as the anti-hero this time around. Why he's the anti-hero and not the villain or hero is an answer that audiences may find in the film.

Based in Chicago, the film tells the story of a man name Iqbal Haroon Khan (Jackie Shroff) who runs a circus but due to bad debts and not getting help from the bank, young Sahir (who is the son of Iqbal) witnesses his father's suicidal death. Years later, all grown up Sahir (Aamir Khan) pledges to avenge his father's death by robbing the banks in Chicago, leaving his trademark each time he performs his loot. Jai Dixit (Abhishek Bachan) and Ali Akbar (Uday Chopra) is finally brought in to capture Sahir. Thinking Sahir is an amateur thief, Jai eventually confronts a surprise twist about Samar (Aamir Khan in a double role) that makes Sahir's catch impossible. The police duo must figure out a way before Sahir makes a great escape and never appear again.

Aamir Khan is definitely spellbinding. Whether he is tap dancing, scaling tall buildings or suspended mid-air in an aerial acrobatics sequence, pure passion, theatrics and artistry spill over into every frame, Khan is simply unmatched. Reprising their roles, Abhishek Bachan and Uday Chopra return as the magical Jai-Ali duo. Abhishek delivers a confident performance (take note on the scene where he comes face to face with Aamir in the same frame) while Uday Chopra brings brief respite from the thrills as the comical character he portrays. Katrina Kaif also does a splendid job of looking beautiful in a role that doesn't extend beyond quite blatant eye-candy.

The same screenplay writer of the two previous films, Vijay Krishna Acharya was placed to direct the film instead and he formulated more on loop-holes than coherency as the storyline was overwritten and has an overly-long narrative. The film also heavily borrows from Hollywood flicks such as "The Prestige" and "Now You See Me". The first half has a thrilling decent pace but as the story moves forward with the final twist, the pace gets lost completely. The film does have some good editing though.

Cinematographer Sudeep Chatterjee made a great impact with his camera work as it added value to the entire film in the form of brilliant and dazzling colors. As for the effects, the Great Indian Circus performances, the bank robbery scene and 15 minutes of nail-biting motorcycle chases provide some thrilling jaw dropping stunts and high voltage action sequences.

Unfortunately, Pritam's background songs for his third installment were not his best. (Yes, he is the same the music director who have provided all the songs for the "Dhoom" franchise). Tracks like "Malang", "Kamli", "Tum Hi Junoon" and the "Dhoom Machale" (mainly the Arabic version) will surely top the charts for a while.

Overall, the "Dhoom" films are always essentially a glamorous, grown-up game of cops and robbers with babes, bikes and slick action sequences which are set against the backdrop of the brilliantly infectious title track. With this, the film is a solid entertainer that matches the hype but most importantly, it manages to deliver a typical Bollywood revenge saga in a very modern way.

If you have thought the previous "Dhoom" films were great, then "Dhoom 3" will surely surpass the expectations of the previous films put together.


Cinema Online, 30 December 2013