Movie review: Dhoom 3 on par with Hollywood's action flicks

Dhoom 3

Cast: Aamir Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Uday Chopra, Katrina Kaif, Jackie Shroff, Siddharth Nigam

Director: Vijay Krishna Acharya

Rating: 4 Star Rating: Recommended4 Star Rating: Recommended

Aamir Khan has repeatedly said that he chose Dhoom 3 for its script. It must have been a breeze reading it given that half the film's running time is devoted to high-speed chases spread across Chicago, a city whose cops seem thoroughly incompetent if one is to go by the events in the film. One third of the film centres on lavish song-and-dance sequences - featuring tap dancing, hip hop and acrobatics and trapeze - and there is a speck, emphasis on speck, of romance. The remaining bit of drama is so tiny that its impact is miniscule.

Young Sahir lives in Chicago, where his debt-ridden father (Jackie Shroff) is struggling to keep his circus company, The Great Indian Circus, afloat. When the banks are unimpressed with his new act - the boy in the box - and refuse to assist him, he decides to kill himself.

Traumatised with his father's suicide, Sahir grows up to be a vengeful son (Aamir Khan) whose mission is to make the stern bank owner go bankrupt. On one hand, he revives his father's company, on the other end he robs the bank repeatedly, leaving behind a message in Hindi "Tumhari Aisi Ki Taisi" and a clown mask on the vault. You'd think such specific clues should be enough for the Chicago cops to nab the culprit but that isn't the case.

 Enter Mumbai's Jai Dixit (Abhishek Bachchan) aka India's celebrated top cop and Ali (Uday Chopra) aka the real clown who are brought in to catch the trickster thief. So begins the unending chor-police game.

The twist shouldn't be surprising to those who have fed on Hollywood flicks (watch Christopher Nolan's The Prestige) but Acharya just about manages to keep it under wraps. The conflict which subsequently emerges is predictable and results in only one memorable moment - a dramatic confrontation which addresses the need to have your own identity. Acharya is guilty of stretching a paper-thin plot too far. There are only so much of slomo sequences involving bikes you can see; adding to the film's weakness is that Khan and Kaif are mismatched as lovers.

Chopra is a poor sidekick, whose job of providing comic relief borders on annoying. Bachchan's act as the dour cop is limited by a script which offers him little to do other than prance about looking irritated. Kaif spends the brief screen time she has to demonstrate her hip hop moves and balancing act. She has, we guess, two scenes which allow her to speak.

Dhoom 3 is essentially supposed to be an Aamir Khan show. While the 48-year-old actor impresses with the physicality of his acrobat character, he looks awkward with the leather pants and also goes overboard with the scowling and menacing looks. A lethal action hero doesn't seem to be Khan's terrain. The real find of Dhoom 3 though is Siddharth Nigam, the child actor who essays the part of Aamir as kid. He lights up the screen with his self-assured performance and charming presence.

The third instalment of the action franchise is on par with Hollywood's action flicks when it comes to gravity-defying and stylised action sequences, topnotch cinematography featuring fine aerial shots and massive sets. But Dhoom 3 is a ride which often loses steam and direction. If there's one thing that the film will be remembered for is that it celebrates bromance and not romance, which is actually the film's best twist.


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