Dhoom 3: A Review


Indian film-makers are now learning the art of making sequels. But their editing skills are still far from satisfactory. An exception like Sholay can pull off a three-hour film. But by and large, others fall short. The reason Sholay pulled it off was because of brilliance in every department-acting, cinematography, dialogue and songs. None of these qualities are present in Dhoom 3. Though they are good, they are not brilliant. The songs are actually awful.

What salvages Dhoom 3 is Aamir Khan. It is a role written for him, and he revels in it, backed by some spectacular stunts-though some are old and tiresome, like the motorbike going under a truck. Nevertheless, some are quite breath-taking, like motorcycling across buildings on a rope.

Another thing I liked about the film is that it equalizes the Chicago police with our own- they come out as chumps, like their Indian counterparts in most films. If this is not globalization, what is?

Coming to the story, a circus owner kills himself in Chicago because a bank refuses to loan him the capital he needs to keep going. His son takes revenge, by destroying the bank in question, mainly through looting it in typical filmy robbery sequences-which is fine.

What I was unable to figure out, was The Great Indian Circus that only plays indoors, and does not have a single child in its audience. The indoor colour scheme was a bit dull, I thought, for a circus.

Amir Khan, though he has started visibly aging, pulls off an angry young (!) man role well. Uday Chopra is joined by Abhishek in a role fit for an extra (bit players are termed that in our country). The climax shot on top of Hoover dam is a visual delight. Since I don’t like Katrina, I will refrain from commenting on her.

The promos of the film made me want to see it. It is worth a look, if you liked the earlier Dhooms, or if you like Aamir. Since both are a ‘yes’ for me, I came out OK.

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