Dum Maaro Dum – A dumdaar first half with a feeka second half

I know I am very late in blogging about this one. Considering that the buzz around this movie was quite low initially and it was yet another Abhishek Bachchan’s movie after a series of turkeys last year put this in a low priority for me. But with word of mouth, the movie gained publicity and hence prompted me to watch it last night.

The movie starts with a bang. I loved the way the title and casting appears ... just what you need to set the tempo for a suspense action thriller. By the time the interval happens, I was totally impressed... The movie was shot at such a pace that didn’t even realized when 75 mins had passed. Everything was terrific (in critics language 5 star). The pace of the movie, action sequences, dialogues, performances, the Goan set-up under the dark shady clouds of drugs, the flashback sequences, and the smart direction...everything was packed with style (ekdum dumdar).

With this, the expectations from the second half sky rockets and that’s where I think the movie fails. The first half had covered so much that post interval, there is not much left for the filmmaker to cover. So he tends to drag the movie to ensure the audience gets his due of atleast 2 hrs for the 250 bucks they had spent. The second half tends to linger with Abhishek chasing the villain in long-winded sequences.

Having said that, DMD is still a good movie. As I said, the styling is really good. After Bluffmaster, Rohan Sippy once again comes back with a sharp direction and also uses Abhishek Bachchan to his strengths. The new hero Rana Dugubatti is even better (actually cant say he is new because people say he is a big thing in South). Liked his croaky voice. Prateik didn’t have much to do but plays the small role of Goan lad well. Bipasha just had to look the ultra glam girl and I think she plays it to the core. Aditya Pancholi comes back after a very long time (don’t even remember when was the last I saw him) but he too is brilliant in the “bad mafia lord” character.

All the songs are noteworthy. There already has been lot of buzz about the stunning item cum title song of Deepika. But to me, the best song was “Thain Thain”. With the choreography and rapid movement of story in background, this song tends to grow. The other soft song which is very nice is “Te Amo” with the Goan and Bipasha backdrops.

The camera has played a good role in styling the movie with the entire movie pasteurised in shades of yellow adding to the Goan feel.

Some scenes especially a jail torture scene might be quite uncivilized for Indian standards but I think they form a good part in portraying the tough cop character of Abhishek.

The director wanted to create a suspense thriller. The end does have a suspense but I think somehow it loses its relevance. May be if he would have stuck to the thrill part, the movie might have come out better.

Overall, Dum Maro Dum can be watched. The movie is in its 3rd week so you will need to watch it this week itself as it is unlikely to last one more.

All the Best ... Paisa Vasool

3 movies releasing on Diwali long weekend. How do you decide which one to go after? Well after so much of marketing hype with each one claiming to be the best, you just make a pick. BLUE was simply not chosen because it was over-marketed. Also I had already burnt my fingers, sorry wallet, on a similar Akshay Kumar movie (Kambakht Ishq). Mr & Mrs Khanna was left for DVD viewing.

So we end up watching All The Best. Interestingly, the 9pm show on the first day was half empty. So we started the movie by wondering whether it was a wrong decision.

The movie is Ajay Devgn’s production (please note there is no spelling mistake. Mr. Ajay has dropped an “a” for good luck). And he sure has got it this time because this movie was certainly a sparkler.
Don’t bother about the plot, storyline, sense, logic because Rohit Shetty’s movies defy all of it. Rohit Shetty who shot to fame with the Golmal sequels (which by the way also propelled Ajay to comic league) has advanced this time. The movie is much better than his previous two. The movie revolves around the usual confusion, chaos, madness and too many characters intertwined for a common cause.

But that one thing that makes the movie clicks is its one-liners which in most cases are first-class. And they keep coming again and again and again making the movie a series of PJs, jokes and in some cases double entendres (though very subtle and unless heard properly might have gone unnoticed). Their timings are really good so the credit should be given to the editing team. The conversation between Sanjay Dutt and RGV (sorry don’t know his real name) on “Geeta ka Saar” is just one of the many examples.

Among the main star cast, Sanjay Dutt is the best with his low voiced perfect witty andaz. In fact the movie picks up only after his entry. He seems to have found his genre as he himself says in one of the dialogues… “comedy to abhi start ki hai … 30 saal se to action kar raha tha..”. Ajay Devgn does a classic Arshad Warsi while Fardeen Khan is his usual self. His role is ditto replica to some of his other multi-starrer comedies for instance No Entry. Bipasha is OK and Mugdha doesn’t have much screen presence. The real show stealers of the movie are the satellite actors, many of who are from Rohit Shetty’s earlier movies. Each one of them are perfectly cast for their roles and they all give their best.

The movie is shot in Goa and any paint company could have used it for in-branding promotions because the movie is full of vibrant colors.

Over all the movie is as people say “paisa vasool”. Just leave your brains at home and have fun!