Dhoom 2 (धूम २)(Hindi, 2006)

What should I say about this movie – इश्क ने आर्यन निकम्मा कर दिया, वरना वो भी आदमी थे काम के (Love has made Aryan useless, else he was a very capable man). Or should I use the one that ACP Jai uses at the end of the movie - आशिक का जनाज़ा है ज़रा धूम से निकले (it’s a lover’s death procession, should have some bang in it)?

Dhoom 2 shows a gruff ACP Jai Dixit (Abhishek Bachchan) chasing the super-thief Aryan aka Mr. A (Hritik Roshan). Supporting Jai in his efforts are ex-mechanic, now sub-inspector Ali (Uday Chopra); Jai’s college-friend, now ACP Shonali Bose (Bipasha Basu); Shonali’s sister Monali Bose (again, Bipasha Basu), a brazilian beachcomber at Copa Cabana beach and a pregnant wife Sweety (Reema Sen). Supporting Aryan is a small-time crook Sunahri (Aishwarya Rai), who has been appointed by Jai to help catch Aryan but who falls in love with Aryan herself.

Mr. A is not an ordinary thief, though. Like Hritik says in his earlier movie, Lakshya, “Life में जो भी करना है अच्छे से करो”. तो चोर बनना है तो Mr. A जैसा बनो (If you have to be a thief, be like Mr. A). He just steals priceless antique pieces from all over the world, choosing his locations such that connecting them on a world map will form an A, the same symbol that he leaves as his mark at every place he steals from. A master of disguise, extreme sports and gadgetry, Aryan works alone and does not trust anyone, till Sunahri comes into his life. He plans a heist with Sunahri where Jai is expecting Sunahri to give Aryan away but Sunahri falls in love with Aryan and betrays Jai.

Dhoom redefined “style” in Indian movies. Dhoom 2 ups that style quotient ten times. Just as Dhoom belonged to John Abraham, Dhoom 2 belongs to Hritik Roshan. He is just too good. His style in executing the extreme sports sequences (I don’t even know the names of all of those), his dancing, his comfort with various disguises is just amazing. Other actors were as expected. Aishwarya Rai does a good rendition of a girl torn between two things, and the pair of Hritik-Aishwarya just rocks. Abhishek Bachchan is his normal cool self. During the movie, I was thinking what’s the difference between cool and hot in terms of style. Abhishek is cool, Hritik is hot. Uday Chopra is avoidable, as usual. Bipasha does what she is good at doing, oozing sensuality.

The action sequences are well-shot and are sure to draw a wow! The only drawback of the movie is its pace, which goes quite slow at times. The movie could have been better by focusing more on heists and less on the Aryan-Sunahri love story. To the extent that Jai in the end says – Love story hai, isliye… I would have loved to have a couple of more “steals” in the movie. That’s a minor point, however, in a movie which otherwise is thoroughly enjoyable. I found a lot of similarities to The Thomas Crown Affair, wonder why no-one else noticed that.

Recommendation – Has to be seen in theaters
Rating – ✔✔✔