Dhoom 2

Director: Sanjay Gadhvi

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Bipasha Basu, Uday Chopra, Rimmi

4.5/10

Comparatively smaller, more modestly mounted, Dhoom (the prequel) was a cops and robbers on bikes fun film which entertained with its simple plot, spontaneous acting and humour. But director Sanjay Gadhvi’s sequel, Dhoom:2, hyped as hotter (super-glamorous star cast) and heavier (budget, action, plot — what plot?) falls flat on its face with a weighty thud. Well, you may still get entertained. Same kind of entertainment as watching AXN (Hrithik’s awesome stunts), FTV (Aishwarya and Bipasha clothes-horsing) and MTV (vigorous dancing). Just don’t expect any real/logical connect between the items. Coz it’s only variety showtime, folks! Then why make a movie? And spend so much, that in order to recover cost, we ordinary mortals have to pay more for tickets? For us, it’s not even, ‘like’ (Ash’s verbal mannerism ad nauseam), Paisa vasool.

Highflying master jewel thief Hrithik steals priceless royal crown and Mughal diamond, disguised as a queen, janitor, carnival clown, and even a marble bas-relief sculpture (fantastic makeup job)! His daring escapes are as thrilling as his clever heists. Hung-over from Krrish role, our super anti-hero parachutes down international skies, sandskates in Namibian deserts, motorcycles and rollerblades through Mumbai streets and on Brazilian beaches. And dances Samba like only he can.

He also falls for beautiful partner-in-crime Aishwarya (remember the Hollywood film Entrapment?) who’s actually a police informer. But did we need to learn that so soon and ruin the suspense? What a total bummer screenplay!

Abhishek and Uday are the good cop and sidekick duo from Dhoom 1 who’re still trying To Catch A Thief but mostly end up as dumb fools. Well, at least Uday’s the resident buffoon who hogs comic lines and screen time. But what’s Abhishek doing here? In some scenes he actually just twiddles his thumb. Bipasha enters as Abhi’s sexy ex-girlfriend, cop woman. Exits with broken foot. And in second half, becomes double role twin sister. Why? So Uday can get a chance to romance and sing-and-dance? How lame is that? Honestly. The only thing about Dhoom:2 that comes together cohesively is probably the line-up of actors striding forward with hot babe/cool dude attitude — in the promos and posters.

Mandira Mitra