DHOOM 3 - Well shot but not an intelligent or great entertaining film conflicting with Aamir's own reputation of a tough chooser. (Review by Bobby Sing)

The third part of one of the most successful, grand and famous series of Hindi Cinema is here and that too along with Mr. Perfectionist, Aamir Khan leading the sequel from the front. But before going into the review, let me put up a question that having seen its first two parts, what exactly can be stated as the main USP’s of this exciting series called DHOOM in totality? Now where a difference of opinion might be there with many friends but for me there are three major USPs of DHOOM series given as below:

1. It essentially has to be an exciting HEIST movie in particular with some nail biting robbery scenes, where the negative opponent successfully manages to fool the policemen and finishes his loot-act in style escaping right in front of their eyes and they all fail to catch him red handed. (As enjoyed in its previous parts and films like Ocean’s 11-12-13, Mission Impossible, The Italian Job, our own Shalimar and many more.)

2. The film is bound to have an upbeat, trendy & enjoyable SOUNDTRACK (and background score) which lifts the spirit of the movie at regular intervals and the viewer actually awaits each song to come on the screen with some great visuals and choreography.

3. And lastly it should have some BREATHTAKING ACTION sequences with an exceptional CGI taking the stunts to another level, forcing the viewer to come on to the edge of his seat with amazement.

However, with AAMIR being there in this third part, another requisite needs to be added in this list as per the big reputation of Mr. Perfect and his choice of scripts.

4. So keeping AAMIR in mind, a Dhoom sequel should also have an EXTREMELY INTELLIGENT SCRIPT written thoughtfully where the main protagonist plays some mind blowing tricks fooling all the police men around.

Now after studying these essential USP’s of this hugely celebrated series, let’s see what the latest sequel DHOOM 3 has to offer its viewers in the actual terms.

1. Shockingly despite DHOOM being a heist based concept, D3 shows no actual robbery happening in details to its audience. So when they say the bank has been robbed, you got to assume that it has been robbed just like that without seeing how it was done and when. Therefore for viewers like myself who were actually more interested in seeing some thrilling heist sequences with Aamir, the film has simply got nothing to offer in that field and is a big disappointment as per its first USP.

2. D3 completely fails to impress in its Soundtrack department too as it has no memorable track having the melody to stay in your mind for long. The songs are heavily arranged and worked upon but are just not upto the mark and add no value at all to this big venture. Plus it was really sad to see both Aamir (Tap Dance) & Katrina (Rope Acts) trying too hard in their individual acts on the tracks which were just not able to enhance their visible efforts on the screen in a big way. So unfortunately D3 is a major let-down considering its second USP too and the same can also be said about its background score which is not able to excite you well throughout.

3. Saving it to some extent, the film thankfully delivers the expected BREATHTAKING ACTION sequences with an exceptional CGI taking the stunts to another level. But here too the effort goes over the top (becoming hilarious) when, you see Aamir coming down from a high rise building vertically with dollars raining all over (a purpose-less inspired sequence just to add the style factor), jumping from the top with wires posing as Spiderman and then having a ‘Transformer” like motor-cycle posing as Batman.

4. Coming to the 4th essential USP of a DHOOM sequel featuring AAMIR KHAN, I would like to say that before watching the film, I was expecting some great mind boggling sequences intelligently written & executed brilliantly being AAMIR there in the team as usual. Because the last decade of the actor (since LAGAAN), forces me to keep my thinking cap on while watching a Aamir Khan film in particular. But unfortunately and surprisingly DHOOM 3 has been made on such a questionable script that I was constantly thinking that how could Aamir approve this kind of weak and easy-going script written so carelessly.

In other words DHOOM 3 forcibly made me think that,
“Am I now supposed to watch a Aamir Khan film too leaving my thinking cap at home after all this intelligent career build-up by this outstanding actor?”

Anyway by now it should be pretty clear that what kind of experience it must have been watching this (another) mediocre film by the TASHAN director Vijay Krishna Acharya. Honestly I was never interested or willing to remember that debacle at all since everyone deserves a second chance. But D3’s second half forced me to remember that repeatedly and that should say it all about its story progression.

To give you an idea, the first half of the film begins with a lengthy flashback and then there is nothing but long introductions of each character, fights and chase sequences shot well in some picturesque locations abroad. The use of English puts you off at times featuring the Englishmen who refuse to grow old even after 15-20 years and the two poor musical tracks fail to keep up the spirits unexpectedly. Even the immensely famous ‘Dhoom Signature Tune’ also falls flat whenever used without any focused vision. Once again Uday is the only person who manages to bring some smiles on your faces through his silly acts and then the interesting twist in the interval assures you that all is not lost yet.

Raising the expectations, as the film begins post intermission; you are introduced to some more characters in the script continuing the shock but the narration again goes back to all seen before formulas of love triangle squeezed in amateurishly. In fact this love angle of D3 can easily be used as a clear indicator that, NO we cannot make any film here without using the love factor, bringing forward the heroines to kiss and do some skin show as required for selling the film in the market. Moving towards the climax, D3 goes on and on (read over lengthy) with a completely uninteresting progression and then ends on another shocking note which is unable to make any solid impact on the viewer as desired.

Talking about performances, for the first time I found Mr. Perfectionist trying too hard in almost everything and yet not coming up with anything extraordinary, even in his surprise act in the second half. And as a choice of project/script, I personally rate DHOOM-3 as the first and major mistake made by Aamir Khan since LAGAAN contradicting his own reputation of a tough chooser. Plus I don’t know if many of the readers too felt that way or not but after many years I found Aamir appearing to be quite small in stature in those huge bright sets on the screen performing his various acts.

Anyhow the film completely belongs to Aamir alone as everyone else is simply used like few hamming puppets doing their assigned roles whenever required. Katrina is only there for few songs, adding the glamour quotient with her revealing dresses, making a kiss and that’s it. Abhishek looks like a lost man playing the tough inspector who finds no harm in ruining poor people’s houses in a slum as he fights with the goons in his entry sequence riding an auto. Thankfully Uday provides the much relief moments at times but the director seems to be confused that how much of Uday he actually has to incorporate in the movie to avoid some expected backlash. As a result Uday’s character in DHOOM 3 goes no-where and appears to be just an unavoidable comic actor, till the end. Jackie Shroff impresses in the beginning as the father and so does Siddharth Nigam playing the young Aamir superbly.

In all, this is not a film of Aamir Khan we know since 2001. Putting it bluntly its quite a childish film from his standards and doesn’t give you anything at all in return to take back home. Wasting a gifted chance D3 is again an unimpressive attempt from director Vijay Krishna Acharya and the weakest film amongst the three parts of DHOOM series unarguably. Actually the film also becomes a victim of Yash Raj’s faulty marketing vision where they always try to make their BIG films half for the foreign and half for the Indian market deliberately. Due to which neither they are able to exploit the foreign elements properly (like weak portrayal of International Banks & Police) nor are willing to use the Indian elements in the required dosage (like the magic factor and Uday’s workable tapori humour). So getting affected by this confused monetary vision DHOOM 3 keeps hanging in the mid with no specific emphasis on its Indian characters operating abroad.

Still if you are more interested in watching the grandeur, Rohit Shetty style action, well shot chase sequences, eye-catching cinematography and foreign locations then you may opt for watching it once (at normal prices) as a time pass venture but don’t expect something out of the box here as an Aamir Khan film.

(Spoiler’s Ahead)

Revealing DHOOM 3’s inspirational sources, many friends would like to name Christopher Nolan’s THE PRESTIGE (2006) for the magic and magician plot and Louis Leterrier’s NOW YOU SEE ME (2013) for the raining dollars and bank references in particular.

Yes it really seems Aamir is quite influenced by Nolan again post his GHAJINI taking it all from Chirstopher’s MEMENTO. So the references of these films are right there but actually D3 doesn’t use magic factor as extensively as shown in its promos and trailers released a month ago. Therefore if you think its all about magic and magicians then you are pretty wrong because in reality DHOOM 3 is like a tribute given by both Aamir and Abhishek to the living legend Amitabh Bachchan.

Now since the explanation to this link to Amitabh will at once reveal the suspense of the movie, so I am not writing it here in details and would like all the friends who have watched DHOOM 3 to take a guess first.

Rating : 2 / 5

Note : Click at the link below to know more about it inspirational sources.
"DHOOM 3, its link with Amitabh Bachchan, Govinda and few more inspirational sources."
(Posted on 22nd Dec)