I will put it in plain and simple words, Dhoom 2 did not work for me on the whole! The sequel to the surprising Dhoom overdoes what it is supposed to do. It’s lavish, it’s breathtakingly beautiful, it’s the most hyped film this year, with a huge starcast! But, somewhere it lacks something…
It is the same cops and robbers story, but this time it is mounted on a global scale, from the beautiful deserts of Namibia to the hitherto unexplored Brazil, sandwiching Aamchi Mumbai in between too! Hrithik plays the greatest thief Mr. A, and Abhishek and Uday continue where they left. Add Aish and Bipasha to the mix, and voila, you get Dhoom 2!
The opening sequence is unbelievable, but Hrithik manages to make it believable! Namibia looks awesome! The second heist is great too, and Hrithik’s disguises are cool. Bipasha plays a double role, as the cop Shonali Bose, and the NRI in Brazil, Monali Bose. She looks a million bucks, but adds nothing to the plot. Aish plays Hrithik’s muse, and looks stunning and acts well. The couple looks great. Abhishek’s role is paled compared to Hrithik’s but that was expected. Uday Chopra is a scene stealer. Rimi Sen has a 5 minute role as the pregnant and jealous wife.
The main culprit is the plot. The screenplay is not worth calling a screenplay. It tries to balance romance with action and coolness, but fails! While the heists are cool, the romantic portions drag endlessly. There are loopholes galore, but I will ignore them here. There is absolutely no real surprise/twist anywhere in the plot, it is very predictable. Simply put, the movie is basically some sequences of heists and romance strung together in a convenient fashion. There are very minor and expected “twists”, for the lack of a better word.
What did work for me was Hrithik, Aish, Uday, and Abhishek (not completely). This is Hrithik’s movie from start to end. Abhishek looks supporting type, and in fact Uday has more meat in his role than Abhishek. Bipasha is wasted, and Aish should do more such kind of roles. Hrithik carries the movie on his shoulders. In fact, Hrithik overpowers the movie, and makes it watchable at least once. He is not the villain, I would call him an artist instead, a superhero, with a demented mind. He looks better than the two hotties Bips and Aish. Aish looks scorching and does justice to her role. Watch out her “trust” scene with Hrithik, she rocks there. Uday steals every scene he is in, and brings the much needed comic relief every now and then. This guy has a lot of potential, Priyadarshan where art thou? Bipasha is wasted, but looks good in the bikini.
I think the biggest problem here is that Abhishek’s character has been relegated to the background for most of the movie, and the guy has to maintain the same expressions throughout the movie. There should have been more shades and nuances to his character. The ending scene of the movie is the best for Abhishek. Abhishek, to his credit, does well with whatever he has been given.
There are great one liners, the dialogues are witty, cinematography is top notch, and background music is great too. But the music is the weakest link here. Songs come randomly, and none of the songs, barring Hrithik’s dances, work here. They slow down the movie excruciatingly, and make the viewer restless. Action is good, some of the best action seen in Indian cinema, but the SFX should have been better, specially considering the budget of the movie. But one feels the slow motion technique has been overused here. There should have been more action, but instead, some jarring romantic scenes are interspersed.
Instead of being cool and slick, the movie comes across as overcool and too smart to be good. There is really too much slick to digest, and many elements are overdone. Director Sanjay Gadhvi does a fine job, but his previous two efforts were better. This movie doesn’t come across as his movie, any other director with the starcast and budget would have made the same movie, and who knows, maybe even better! There is no real “direction” in this movie, and this is precisely what the movie lacks. It goes haywire trying to add every masala ingredient, out of which, only some work.
There are far too many Hollywood inspirations to count, so I would not go into all that. So for those of you who follow Hollywood closely, Hrithik is your sole reason for watching this movie. Even Aish pales in comparison.
To sum up my thoughts, I would recommend watching this once, just for Hrithik. Other than that, Namibia and Brazil are beautiful, and Uday makes you laugh. The rest of it is all been there, seen that. Expected much more from this, and I am disappointed!
