Vijay Krishna Acharya 2013 India
Starring: Abhishek Bachchan, Uday Chopra, Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif, Siddharth Nigam, Jackie Shroff, Andrew Bicknell, Tabrett Bethell
Regular readers of this blog will probably (at least hopefully) have seen my reviews of the Indian film Dhoom and its sequel Dhoom 2 where I raved about their blistering action and bountiful parody and crowned them as two of the most entertaining films I'd seen in recent years. Dhoom 3 is the third in the series and a slightly dangerous prospect. Traditionally a second sequel is always going to risk being a repetitive, lazy cash cow featuring diminished levels of talent, crews and enthusiasm, particularly when the initial film was designed as a parody (Scary Movie anyone?), but here the legendary producers Yash Raj Films have gone all out to combat that problem by putting in time, effort, money and creativity and retaining the actors playing the lead buddy coupling, Uday Chopra as motorbike-riding goofball Ali and Abhishek Bachchan as tough cop Jai, a man who never loses his sunglasses even as he crashes through the wall of a criminal's hideout in a flimsy paddy wagon and dismantles it in the process of fighting the felons off like the Marx Brothers on protein powder. They've also done well replacing the excellent antagonists from Dhoom and Dhoom 2, John Abraham and the wonderful double act of Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai respectively, by bringing in Aamir Khan who, while not being the level of Roshan and Rai, is a suitably huge star and, more importantly, a considerable talent and hams it up brilliantly as bowler-hatted circus performer Sahir, using his masterful trickery to rob the banks owned by an old enemy in an attempt to avenge the bankruptcy and subsequent death of his late father. In a wise move they've also made sure that, while primarily a spoof, the film functions well as an admirable example of exactly the kind of action movie they've lampooning, albeit one made with many a knowing smile, and have turned the genre's expectations on their head by making their chief bad guy (if indeed you can call him that) sympathetic and his misdeeds largely understandable although not quite justifiable. Unfortunately it's not all good news; the opening scenes, intended to give context to Sahir's motivations, are relatively poor especially considering the presence of stalwart Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff in the role of Sahir's father. In fact the best player in this entire section is the debuting Siddharth Nigam who, despite being under ten, leaves the awful Andrew Bicknell (as main banker Anderson) for dead in terms of talent. There's also the fact that, far from Aishwarya Rai's turn as the equal half of a star pairing in 2 or even Esha Deol's supporting love interest Sheena in the original, Katrina Kaif is largely relegated to a minor role and is given very little to flesh out the personality of her Aaliya other than that she's cute and a talented dancer and acrobat (which in Bollywood is hardly anything unusual). It's a terrible shame because after a bad start Kaif has proven herself as a capable performer in recent years and could have added so much more to the narrative than mere eye candy. There's a lot to like, not least the mind-blowing circus set-pieces (with the production values actually ramped up from 2) and Sahir's increasingly imaginative escapes, including one where he rides his motorbike out of a skyscraper window and across a tightrope, but overall the film is a slight disappointment and certainly not the equal of its predecessors and one has to think that the change in director may have had a negative effect. Regardless I'm still keen to see the next instalment, Dhoom 4, when it arrives although next time my expectations will perhaps be more realistic.
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