Dec 02, 2006 06:18 PM
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The guns are out again… The chase has begun yet again…. Onceagain two geniuses will face off against each other with the only result possiblebeing the complete victory of one and the total annihilation of the other. Thehunt is on… the dice has been rolled…. the game begins….. Testosterone levelsare on the rise and a battle of wits is underway…. But this time the stakes arehigher, the prize enormous, the excitement sky-rocketing.
The cat and mouse game is now international… from thestreets of Bombay to the carnivals of Rio De Janeiro, the game has indeed goneglobal and so also has the antagonist. Unlike Kabir in the original who plannedeverything in cahoots with his team and was hence vulnerable to a mole, thistime around Jai is faced with a mastermind who not only carries out his plansalone but is also adept at maintaining complete secrecy and actually positivelyabhors company and hold on, he’s a master of disguises and a versatile geniusof gadgets. Who will win… the street-smart analytical skills of Jai or thesophisticated charm of Aryan?
Welcome to Dhoom 2….. A classic follow-through to the sheermadness of Dhoom and one that not only carries the series forward but alsoestablishes it’s usp firmly as the battle of equals. While many had expectedthe sequel to only be a bikes and babes story, the director astonishes all bytaking it forward and mixing it to a love story – without making it either toomushy or too dry. In the process, the movie does lose a bit of it’s sheen asthe avant-garde of the bike thriller genre but emerges as a perfect turningpoint in the Dhoom franchise.
As Jai Dixit, Abhishek Bachchan continues right from wherehe left off in the prequel… In the interim, Abhishek has grown bounds as anactor and this seems well evident as we find him slowly and steadily grow intohis space. His confidence has taken wings and he really looks committed to therole As a smart cop who would stop at nothing to outwit his adversaries,Abhishek is cool and fits into the role as a hand in glove. Unlike the prequelwhere the actor would often slip into his illustrious father’s shoes, this timearound he manages to remain truer to himself and thus what we see is Abhishekunplugged. If the director had concentrated a little more on strengthening hischaracter the movie would have been more exciting than it is right now. Nevertheless,Abhishek is completely in his elements.
Uday Chopra yet again complements his partner Abhishek to agreat degree, however, at times – and sadly, there are many of these- you do findsome frustration and self-doubt creeping up in his performance, maybe hisfailure to establish himself as a frontline star in the industry rankles him…toadd to it, even the director has chosen not to highlight him in this movie aswas the case in the previous installment thus adding to his self-doubt ... Sadbecause this partnership has all the potential to develop into an exceptionallybrilliant one, provided both the director and Uday manage to remain true to thecharacter. To give him his due, Uday performs well but as stated he has withinhimself to do better.
Bipasha Basu in the twin roles of Shonali and Monali addsoomph to the film. She is really hot and looks gorgeous but the best part isthat although she has no major part in the film, she still manages to rivet theattention of the cinegoers. In fact, to be true to the lass, Bipasha manages toout shine Aishwarya in the looks department…. the director makes an error ofjudgement when he proceeds to completely shun her in the second half of thefilm. However in the better interest of her career, it would be better if sheconcentrates on roles that carry weight. Maybe she could try for the Bondgirl…..
Aishwarya Rai as Suhani is good although I would not rate itas one of the finest performances of the film…. It’s important for Aishwaryaconsidering her billing and her talent that she starts paying attention to thegraph of her character and begins to understand that every film and role has alife of its own and is not a furtherance of a role in some other movie. Theactress does a good job but somehow the inner turmoil expected of one who fallsin love with the person she has to betray to save her own neck is notwell-graphed. Although she stands out in some scenes, in others she seems quiteordinary and in fact pedestrian…in fact sometimes you really feel that she’slike a fish out of the pond. Still it’sbetter than her performance in most of her contemporary movies and hence I hopethis will be a turning point in her career.
Rimi Sen is brilliant in her cameo role… she carries forwardfrom where she left off in Dhoom and reprises the role of the jealous wife withélan.
And now we come to the man who carries Dhoom 2 on hisshoulders – Hrithik Roshan…. The guy ispure dynamite… He has a scorching screen presence and gives a scintillatingperformance as Aryan – a thief with the mind of a computer and the heart of aprince. He’s equally adept in the emotional scenes and his confrontations withboth Aishwarya and Abhishek are seemingly perfect….. Look out for his look whenas a clown in the parade he senses betrayal… Never has a clown looked sopainfully beautiful and you are immediately reminded of the legendary clown ofIndian filmdom… his eyes speak volumes and still possess a calm that’s just unbelievable.Cut to the coffee scene and you can feel the betrayal again wrapped in pain butstill kept close to his own heart… Again the scene with Aishwarya where he isso vulnerable and still so much in command. The guy is just brilliant. Watchout for the Adonis of the Hindi Screen. The guy will make history or breakhistory.
As far as box-office is concerned, Sanjay Gadhvi has provedthat he is no flash in the pan with a brilliant sequel to the original. But tobe very frank, his direction leaves a lot to be desired. Unlike the first part,the film lacks a complete cohesion and the director has failed to providesupport to the main leads in his film. Also, he has killed off the verycharacters that actually are the salient features of the film thus making themredundant and impotent and by the time he get on with resurrecting them, it’seither a case of too little or too late.
He should, in my opinion look at the manner in whichRajkumar Hirani has actually taken pains to further develop the characters inhis sequel, thus making them worthy of handling a series. While persisting withhis efforts to make the villain extra-ordinary, the director has actuallyreduced the aura around his main characters, reducing them to also-rans,something that may not be good in the long run for the series. Still thedirector can be appreciated for his brilliance in including and executing anemotional angle to the film without impacting severely the actionfranchisee…However, he would do well to bring back action centre stage in thenext offering of the series. Secondly, the music by Pritham is totally alet-down
Still, the cool charm of Hrithik, the unruffled style ofAbhishek, the icy sexuality of Bipasha, the firebrand look of Aishwarya and thehumour of Uday more than make up for the director’s errors of omission andcommission.
Till then here’s wishing for the next Dhoom!!!
