Dhoom Dhaam 2

Mass meter - ***1/2
Class meter - **1/2 (For some stylishly shot sequences)




Dhoom 2 - While watching this movie you will learn -

*How lack of story can be overcome by shooting some reels of your movie in slo-mo for most of the sequence ?
*How, some frames of Bipasha in bikini can numb the senses of logic and rational seeking male audience thereby giving the movie 3 Star rating :-)?
*How, many a frames of Hrithik can create a similar effect on the opposite sex and male audience alike ?
*How college reunions can have perfectly choreographed salsa for celebration and none from the crowd looking as if he/she ever visited a college ?
*How Mu Po (Mumbai Police) which is yet to complete the CCTV installation in mumbai completely , can suddenly function like NYPD / LAPD, albeit more caricaturist and amateurish (..talk about MUM to SHANGHAI dreams) ?
*Whatever Uday Chopra does, no one will take him seriously as an actor?
*That Hrithik is really the god of great dancing and good looks.
*How ASH can look like a fake bronze anorexic babe , hailing from (hold your breath)...Andheri ? *Why the actors were made to sign a NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) for not revealing the story (of course no story, lead to no revealing) ?
*...And the female actors had to sign the MEC (Maximum Exposure Contract ) :-))
*How Jr AB can be reduced to playing a sidekick, thanks to the splendid screen presence of Hrithik ?
*How a thief can go scot free and run a BAR in Fiji Island, if he is legally dead as per Mu Po records?

And the last learning is

Why script / screenplay is so important for movie making ? The tag line of the movie did claim `Back in Action' but forgot to mention `Lack In Content' !

Requires a great deal suspension of disbelief, to watch this movie ! Searching for plausibility and logic in this movie is akin to searching for Osama in US under the table of G W Bush, but then pray tell me which last hindi movie you have seen which was logical / plausible discounting parallel cinema ?!!

Action sequences have been picturised very stylishly (Courtesy Vic Armstrong - Hollywood and Allan Amin ), the kind never before seen on Hindi Cinema, but the so called CON / HEIST sequences really will CON the living daylights of the audience and wish the director / writer would not have treated the audience as nincompoops.

Enjoy D2 while it lasts and pray that if at all D3 comes, the production house invests in good creative writers.

Movie Review - DON

Mass meter - *** 1/2 (hype)
Class meter - *** (Only for the style /attitude / technical upgrade:-)




Question is whether remakes should be encouraged or not ?

There is a generation of people who have seen the original like in the case of DON, who may feel that it is sacriligious to their favorite movie, then there are multitude of AB Fans who are waiting to run the movie down. How can we forget the SRK fan club who are sure that he is the DON …..

Personally I feel remakes should be watched in isolation with no attempts
at comparing the products.
With very heavy expectations, Dir- Farhan Akhtar sets out to adapt DON starring superstar SRK and give it a contemporary look . The movie is high on SQ - Style Quotient and the production values are as expected from the banner . Farhan Akhtar as a director / technician has only grown in leaps, with his very 3rd outing and refuses to keep on dishing the same formula which has worked in the past for him.

The Plot - Most of you all would know the same, hence leaving this aside….:-)

The Crew in this cut of DON - SRK as DON / Vijay delivers a restrained and powerful performance which could not have been possible if his regular circle directors would have been at the helm of affairs (In which case, the entry of DON would have been in slow motion and there would have been n number of stuttering hyperactive sequences …aaaee…types) . The dialogue delivery by DON is full of attitude required for the character. The best dialogues are reserved by the director for DON .Boman Irani shifts gear from always seen in comedy slot to super cop D'silva and displays his versatality . Priyanka Chopra as Roma is as delicious as cherry on a dessert . Isha K as DON's tol moll ke bol is good enough and further enhances the glamour index . Kareena Kapoor in a cameo looks ultra sexy (whether she can beat Helen's part is left to the reader) . Om Puri seriously requires some complimentary Gym Membership quickly . Arjun Rampal is okay and sleep walks through this role …Sushma Reddy is in a blink and you miss cameo.

Cinematography by Mohanan is top notch , mix that with stylish action sequences and razor sharp editing . Music by SEL is good , with Aaj Ki Raat stealing the show for the disco era style like picturisation, wonderful….!

Sorry but Khaike Paan Banaras wala fell flat on face …..

Background scores by SEL creates the mood required for the movie.

Besides this there are lot of other good actors who have been assigned a walk through part in the ensemble. Malaysia as the location serves as a good virgin backdrop if you are tired of NY vignettes in most of the movies .

The Twist In The Tale - If the complete starcast / crew was not enough for the newness of this film, farhan decides to add intrigue in the script. I felt though the idea was innovative it had some see through loopholes . The movie is fast paced in the first half and drags towards the pre-climax especially the arjun rampal track…..Cannot put my finger on that one thing missing
in the movie which could have made it 4 star rating for sure, but musters 3 stars only for the entire execution and ensemble .

Sometimes the best of efforts do not yield desired outcome . DON fell in that category for me at least .

The Era of Multiplexes accompanied by smart marketing, the excitement surrounding this movie and the Diwali / Eid festive weekend will only set the cash registers ringing, no doubt about it .

If you are a SRK fan dont miss it, if AB fan rejoice and rent the DVD of original DON again.