Dhoom 2

Also Known as: D:2 - Back in Action
Runtime: 152 min
Language: English / Hindi
Genre: Action / Thriller
Directed by Sanjay Gadhvi
Produced by Aditya Chopra
Original Music by Pritam Chakraborty (as Pritam)
Salim Merchant (as Salim)
Suleman Merchant (as Sulaiman)
---
Cast:
Hrithik Roshan .... Aryan Singh/Mr A.
Aishwarya Rai .... Sunehiri
Abhishek Bachchan .... Jai Dixit
Uday Chopra .... Ali Akbar Fateh Khan
Bipasha Basu .... ACP Sonali Bose
Rimi Sen .... Sweety Dixit

---
For fans of Dhoom 1, this larger than life movie will serve as a great thirst quencher. Action, comedy (minus Uday Chopra) and even some suspense has been built into this blockbuster of the year, which has been possible because of a very powerful storyline strong enough to keep it going for two movies with the same theme: Thief-fools-cop-fools-thief.

Indeed, it comes as no surprise then that most of the original hit cast has been maintained. In comes Hrithik "Macho" Roshan who steals the show from start to end. It's entirely his show and he makes the other "heroes" look like cameo stars, just put in place so that the movie need not be rechristened "Hrithik 2".

The bikes are yet another feature of this movie that make it pulsating and keep the viewers on the edge of their seats. Now, which cops have we seen riding such trendy bikes in a hypothetical question altogether. The villains, though, always seem to out-run, out-play, out-and-out take the cops for a ride. I wasn't at all surprised when I read a news article about thieves in Punjab telling the cops that they have been highly influenced by this movie.

Hrithik is a classy villain. He has been portrayed as a master of techno-gadgets which get used effectively in the movie, his rippling muscles themselves make him a force to reckon with, a true master of disguise (revealed in the first 10 minutes of the movie), and of course, a great dancer (Hey come on! Villains need to relax and chill out too!). It would have been tough to say who would have been a better villain: Shah Rukh (who was supposedly in consideration) or Hrithik, but I prefer Hrithik so as to avoid an over-dose of a negative Shah Rukh K-k-k-khan, especially after DON.

No premise has been as to why Mr. A (Hrithik) starts to make these robberies, that are globally spread out except a pattern that (who else!) Jai Dixit (Abhishek) is able to pinpoint. And guess where the next target is? Mumbai! After the failure to thwart that attempt, there is the introduction of Sunehiri (Aishwarya), with her irritating addition of the word "like" in most of her sentences.

e.g.) "Sunehiri ne to like faisla kar liya hain...". The audience cries -- Why? Why?!

One thing to her credit is that she has lost oodles of weight and with her a new tanned skin look, oozes tremendous oomph. Kudos to her for that. In fact, I don't think baring Hrithik and Aishwarya, anybody can get away with a dialogue in the movie like: "So, are you checking me out?"

Jai Dixit is a shadow of his original self from the first Dhoom, who doesn't seem to care two hoots about his pregnant wife, Sweety (Rimi) whose only job in the world is to complain. I now realize why Jay is shown as a grumpy police fella throughout the movie; the only smile on his face is when he sees Sonali (Bipasha). Hello?! Bipasha is this gun totting bimbette who is a lady-cop wearing a banyan and roaming about and I don't blame the male cops at all for ogling at her. Unfortunately her brain is pea-sized, which I guess is a compromise that gets made when bimbettes join the Indian Police Service. The worse is yet to come. The second half of the movie, Sonali gives way to her twin sister in Brazil, whose brain is virtually non-existent. And then the audience screams again -- Why? Why?!

Let me not even get started about Uday Chopra, playing the role of Ali. This 5 feet something midget, built like an Ox, is the ever I-am-funny-cop, who seems to have a smile even when there's a gun to his temple. Even though his acting and dance steps have dramatically improved since his last few movies, I will find it surprising if he gets acting offers from any movie outside the Yash-Raj banner. In any movie, it's all about how well you perform in relation to the others. Uday Chopra, I'm happy to say, is able to show a little credibility in his comic sequences, much unlike Jai, who thinks he is he new Ajay Devgan, to carry on a serious role with some hint of comic taste -- sorry, you are not yet there, in fact, there's a very deep chasm you need to cross Mr. Bachchan Jr.

It would virtually not make sense trying to outline any part of the plot here, since it's all the usual police-thief chase, but the plot has been very nicely laid out with thrilling action sequences.

In closing, if Hrithik ranks 5 stars, Ash would come second with 3 stars, and others would each end up getting 1. A statutory warning to Abhishek fans is to not see his dance steps in this movie, otherwise you would end up crying until you reach home. It's not his fault -- Hrithik is too good and the human mind simply can't stop comparing. It's worth a one time "dekko", maybe two simply because of the awesome breathtaking sequences and charismatic Hrithik and the improved Ash; others can simply be skipped.