Aamir Khans’ scowling mien, the deafening vroom, vroom of BMW motorbike ads, repeated slow motion frames and the lobotomized duffer Abhishek Bachchan’s sophomoric acting are the sum and substance of the Bollywood revenge tale Dhoom 3.
After a young kid’s father (Jackie Shroff) commits suicide when a Chicago bank forecloses on papa’s (most inappropriately named) Great Indian Circus, the boy grows up into a robber (Aamir Khan) who, 25-years later, destroys the bank and himself.
Since it’s a Bollywood movie, it’s de rigueur that a lot won’t make any sense:
* A scowling Aamir Khan walks down the sides of tall buildings for no reason.
* Kids speak in a grownup tone to grownup bankers.
* Repeated use of slow-motion shots, as if it’s a newly discovered technique of film-making, lend an amateurish feel to the film.
* The Chicago Police Department gives free rein to, hold your breath now, an Indian cop to hunt down one of their city’s daredevil bank robbers!
* Bank security is no better than the security of your county library.
* The villain is a banker named Warren Andersen (a real-life American villain that impotent Indians have failed to capture for nearly three decades).
* Out of the blue, a second Aamir Khan (twin brother) is introduced in a twist carrying little credibility.
* Despite countless opportunities to nab the robber, the American cops never shoot him (only our Indian cop takes a shot at him). In reality, American cops are notoriously trigger-happy and have itchy fingers on the trigger.
* Romance track between Samar and Aliya (Katrina) was pathetic, hopelessly fleshed out.
The much-hyped action scenes, motorbikes turning into boats and the chases, are mildly interesting but nothing jaw-dropping. Nothing you haven’t seen time and again in Hollywood films.
As for Aamir Khan’s vaunted tap dancing, I say boo!
There’re occasional bursts of visual appeal, particularly in the magic acts on the stage. Alas, they’re few and far between.
I’m reconciled to Abhishek or Katrina ‘acting’ like zombies but to see the ‘two’ Aamir Khans’ constant scowling as if it’s the ne plus ultra of acting sent me into paroxysms of rage.
Futility of Being Abhishek Bachchan
I have not the least doubt that Bollywood pater familias Amitabh Bachchan is kissing people’s feet in a desperate attempt to get his worthless spawn Abhishek Bachchan some roles.
And each time Abhishek squanders the opportunity that come his way thanks to his father’s boot-licking.
Junior Bachchan can’t even run with any degree of credibility (I’m referring to the scene where Jai and Ali are confronted by a South Indian gang in Mumbai).
There is not the least conviction in the retard’s performance.
Uday Chopra as the cop’s assistant compounds the irritation quotient a million fold with his insanely asinine antics and dialogs.
Katrina Irrelevant
Katrina Kaif has no role to speak of other than to prance about in itsy-bitsy costumes
And maybe it’s a blessing, the less we see of this stripper (one piece of clothing after another comes off in her ‘audition’ scene) the better.
An utterly classless creature with no graces whatsoever, I’ve sent up countless prayers for India to deport this alien back to her native country, England. But my prayers have yet to be answered leading me to question God’s very existence!
Bottom Line – Junk in Slow Motion
Dhoom 3 is a tedious movie with a running time of nearly three hours.
None of the songs are the kind that people will recollect minutes after they exit the hall.
I did not derive much joy from this tiresome movie!
Exchange your dollars for boredom! 🙁
Related Dhoom 3 Posts:
Dhoom 3 BO – Indians Will Watch Any Junk
Dhoom 3 – 2 Aamir Khans Double the Tedium added by SearchIndia.com on
View all posts by SearchIndia.com →
*** Alert ! Spoilers for different movies ***
As I mentioned before, the story line seems to have been derived from “Now you see me” – they rob an insurance company (for refusing to give insurance for lead character’s father), a business man (who produced machines with poor standards that drowned his father), and tricks a man who reveals the tricks of the magicians into it, (because he exposed lead character’s magician father decades ago). One key difference is that the cop who investigates it is the man behind it.
I read Naveen’s comment in another post – In the movie “Prestige”, christian bale has a real double (his twin brother), and hugh jackman gets a machine from Tesla (which really produces clones / duplicates). Which of these two this movie inspires from?
Btw, I liked Prestige’s magic tricks and its visual appeal.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
In Dhoom 3, Sahir (Aamir Khan) has a twin in Samar (Aamir Khan).
It is likely a mishmash of multiple Hollywood movies. I think Dhoom was already in shooting when Now You See Me released.
WTF man!
why did you mention that twin brother twist here? thats not fair..
i stopped reading this review at the very moment when I saw the word twin.
this is bad 🙁
at least you should give a warning note before revealing such twists
SI, Don’t you have anything to say?
You should edit or delete this review. Dont be a dick…
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: SI, don’t you have anything to say?
Sweetie, wise people speak more eloquently through their silence than the rabble through their incessant jabber! 😉
This a good site and I love your works but ‘keeping silence’ about this problem wont make you wise!
You just made the big twist of a just released movie as heading for your review..
Dont you think that its a mistake?
I wont comment about this if d3 was an old movie.. but this is not right dude.
However shitty people will call words against them as ‘incessant jabber’
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: Don’t you think that its a mistake?
Napoleon erred when he conceded:
Au contraire, look at what Mera Bharat Mahaan’s Bold, Brave, Dashing, Fearless, Bollywood darling and “Being Human” hero Salman Khan told the BBC when they interviewed him after he drunk-drove his Land Cruiser over a bunch of homeless people in Mumbai, killing some and maiming others. Salman Khan never conceded his mistake but told the BBC the lesson he had learned after the incident was:
Jai Ho, Sallu. Jai Ho!
Source for the monster Salman Khan’s comment ridiculing his murdered and maimed victims – BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2369251.stm
there is no need to bring that shitman khan into this talk.
and whats your stand here?!
it need some guts and bravery to admit mistakes which you dont have.
you dont have to use words like mera bharath mahan blah blah when mention about this incident. people like these celebrities not based on their life… some may like shitman khan some others may like morgan freeman only… its their choice. some like them for their mere looks and some for their talent. A reviewer like you should know that
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Blah, Blah and More Blah! 🙁
“See Dhoom:3 with your expectations at half-mast. It’s not the popcorn thrill ride that I expected. There isn’t enough joy in it. But Aamir and the stupendous action make it worth watching”. So says Anupama Chopra.(HT)
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Stupendous action? Ha ha ha.
Someone please buy Anupama a dictionary.
True that.
Not cool, SI.
Not cool.
hell yes.. and they wont admit it
Abhishek’s father is no less of a buffoon.
Check out his twitter account, his latest tweets calling Dhoom 3 “spectacular” and “spell-binding”, while proclaiming how large the collections are for a non-holiday release.
Generally, he praises only movies that star himself and his family.
He sometimes will praise those movies that have a director/producer that has contributed to his career (Ram-Leela/SLB), but I believe this is the first time he has actually tweeted collections.
Even D3’s ‘Samar’ character would know that Abhishek is not responsible for a single crore of those collections.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Even if Abhishek’s father tweets 100,000 times, it will not make an iota of difference to his duffer son’s Bollywood career unless he falls in the shadow of Aamir, Ajay Devgn, SRK or Salman.
Abhishek recently said of dhoom 3 that “I am the hero of the film and nobody can take that way from him”. what is he trying to say?
Is that remark not a sign of jealous or being irritated.
I mean he was left out of two events for promotion.
Is his career going to get better now??
Also it seems that now is he going to survive in bollywood by starring in movie where he is piggybacking on big stars like ajay (Bol bachanan), shah rukh khan (Happy new year), aamir (Dhoom 3)????
If dhoom 3 is successful, should he or uday get any credit???
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Futility of Being Abhishek
All his life, Abhishek Bachchan has been defined only with reference to others:
He is Amitabh’s son.
He is Jaya Bhaduri’s son.
He is Karisma’s fiancee.
He is Aishwarya’s husband.
Without the crutch of other people, Abhishek Bachchan is no more than the furniture in the Bachchan house – A table or Chair in the Bachchan household has as much acting talent as this Zero a.k.a Abhishek.
A more talentless, worthless Bollywood actor than Abhishek Bachchan is hard to find. The idiot couldn’t even run properly in Dhoom 3 during the confrontation with the South Indian gang in Mumbai.
Abhishek is God’s greatest curse on the Bachchans!
If Dhoom 3 turns out to be a success, as it most likely will be, it will be despite the presence of Abhishek or Uday Chopra.
Abhishek is the laziest actor in Bollywood and makes no effort to improve.
I dont know why people overreact for this review as if they check SI’s review first and then take a call whether to watch every other film releasing..
When our directors shamelessly steal the works of others and credit them as their own, what’s the big deal in revealing the plot/twist.
I wont be disappointed if there are more such giveaways in future….
If people depended solely on SI’s review, then a sub mental garbage like Chennai Express wouldn’t have collected an astonishing 227 crores and one would shudder when he/she see names like Abishesk bachchan and Ajith Kumar …
THIS is SI’s space and let him/her rule the roost..
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: If people depended solely on SI’s review, then a sub mental garbage like Chennai Express wouldn’t have collected an astonishing 227 crores and one would shudder when he/she see names like Abishesk bachchan and Ajith Kumar
Thank You, my astute Sweetie!
Yesterday, today, tomorrow & the day after that, you have been and will always be my favorite! 🙂
Dr.logu,
2 reviewers I constantly check is Rajiv masand and SI.
I am one of them who depend on SI to know how good/bad a movie is.. peple may watch a movie from theater or they may see after dvd release. However its not good to say all the plot twists in a review. A reviewer should keep some limits when he explain the story line.
And regarding the copying from hollywood, krrish 3 was ‘inspired’ from Hollywood filcks according to SI. then D3 will come in the same category. Just because Prestige used 2 identical persons, D3 doesnt become a copy of prestige.
I saw D3 yesterday and I think D3 is inspired from Prestige and Now you see me not copy. but I second, movie sucks!
but please please dont reveal the twists of new released movies.
I found Dhoom-3 to be more enjoyable fare than YRF’s previous opus, Jab Tak Hai Jaan.
What did put me off in this film though was the permanent scowl sported by one of the two Aamir Khans. Given that Aamir himself has played a negative character without a scowl in Fanaa, he didn’t need one to look menacing, and instead ended up just looking silly here.
That apart, Abhishek Bachchan’s diminishing role in the Dhoom franchise does bring to mind one of the gags in Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCTa8Y4CYmw).
Far from the madding films, one movie you might want to check out is “Children of Heaven.”
It is an Iranian movie directed by Majid Majidi, and was one of the nominees for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 1998 Oscars, losing out narrowly to “Life is Beautiful”. It is available on Netflix with another of Majidi’s films, “Baran”. Another good Majidi film to pick up is “The Song of Sparrows”.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
I have added Children of Heaven & moved it to the top of my NFLX queue…I should get it by 27th or 28th. Will watch & review by 29th.
Speaking of Iranian directors, Ramin Bahrani is good. I have seen his Chop Shop and intend to see his other films.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramin_Bahrani
The Oscar winning Iranian film A Separation is solid too. We reviewed this one.
http://www.searchindia.com/2012/08/27/a-separation-gorgeous-divorce-drama/
It is surprising that SI has not watched Children of Heaven. I recommend it. Like he said, “The Song of Sparrows” is also a good movie.
The children who play the main roles in these movies will put entire Kollywood to shame.
priyadarshan have made an adaptation of ‘children of heaven’. I think its title is bum bum bole. That tare zameen par kid played a key role in that movie
SearchIndia.com Responds:
I have not seen Bum Bum Bole but this Priyarashan bloke inflicted one of the worst atrocities of my life in the form of De Dana Dan.