Tug of War. Review on Dhoom 2

Fantasies!

In a social structure where we run into an unwritten rule at almost every turn, in a community where barriers are set up all over with the sole purpose of thwarting our most basic instincts, it is perhaps for the best that each one of us has our own private world that exists just between our ears, a world where things happen not the way they are supposed to but the way we want them to, a world which is just a little less restricting, just a little more accommodating, and just a little less realistic. We call these fantasies, and we are forever caught in the constant tussle between our genes and our self-concept, the former goading us to do anything in our power to fulfil a fantasy, however dark, while the latter, preaching prudence, reminds us of possible consequences and holds us in check. It is not an easy life.

Given this situation, it is not surprising that we are always looking for ways to bridge the realism-fantasy abyss by searching for “props” in the real world that reinforce our fantasies. And these props come mainly from movies, and to a lesser extent, books. Fortunately though, most movies(and books) aim to achieve a double-whammy of sorts by attempting to stimulate a reader/viewer’s imagination as much as exploiting his/her fantasies, so they contribute almost equally to the tug-of-war between our genes and our social sense. However, there are some movies, admittedly a very few, that pitch all their weight to one end, sometimes on the genes side, sometimes on the sense side. Examples for the latter would be all ‘realistic’ movies that purport to show things exactly as they happen – like Satya and Company – and examples of the former kind would definitely include movies like Dhoom 2.

The good thing with Dhoom 2 is that it doesn’t pretend to be something it is not. By the time you are through the first couple of reels, Hrithik Roshan’s character had already dropped from a helicopter directly on the roof of a train to commit a robbery, indulged in some sand boarding and air-borne somersaults to escape, and even found time for a half-topless celebratory dance as the credits roll. What do you expect to follow after a start like that? A Beautiful Mind?

The story picks up two years after the first episode with police officer Shonali Bose(Bipasha Basu) briefing a room full of cops about the ‘world’s coolest and most capable’ thief, Mr A(Hrithik Roshan), wreaking havoc all over the world with his ridiculously daring robberies. By some twisted logic they decide that he is going to strike in Mumbai on a so-and-so date but fail to nab him. They then move to Junagadh Fort(looking very un-Junagadhlike) to stop him again and they fail again. But this time, they plant a girl Sunehri(Aishwarya Rai) with instructions to become an ally, if not more, to the ‘master of disguises’.

Next stop, of course, is beautiful Brazil where Jai Dixit(Abhishek Bachchan) and Ali(Uday Chopra) stay at Shonali’s twin sister Monali’s beach house. What has Mr A come to steal in Brazil? Will Sunehri do the job for Jai Dixit? Or does Mr A prove to be too charming for her? And what happens to Mr A at the end? Will he follow the John Abraham road to deliverance? I am sure you are all just dying to know.

Needless to say, the story is not really the strong point of the movie. Truth be told, when Hrithik dances, surfs, skydives, skates and kisses in a movie, all while sporting his smirky smile and Greek God looks, you don’t really need a story. Add to that the fact that Aishwarya and Bipasha do everything half-naked and there is no reason to even try. All you have to do is make two male characters, equip one of them with every characteristic you have ever heard a girl called sexy and on the other, endow all attributes of a normal, boring husband who cooks for his pregnant wife and plays the good guy. You know, just to cover all your bases.

Then make two female characters following exactly the same principles but because guys are a bit easier to please, go easy on the characterization and make sure you use a lot of leather and metal. Any guy would tell you the combination of female skin with either metal or leather(or both) is enormously sexy. This rule is so sure to work that you can equip one of your leads with an irritatingly fake accent and still manage to do a good job. Once that is done, all you need is a comedian. So what if he is a combination of amazing muscles, average height and a smile that makes you cringe? All you need to make him do is dance like a clown singing ‘Excuse me to please’.

Interestingly enough, these were the same principles they followed two years ago in the first part of this series, and going by the pattern, much is not going to change by the time Dhoom 3 comes along. But it doesn’t matter, because this formula, for all its blatant exploitation of human vulnerabilities, seems to work. It sure worked for me. Once I saw the movie for what it was, it was not hard to forget about the script, story, performances etc and enjoy the stunts, the sleaze and the style that was on display. It was fun. In a way, you could say in this particular tug-of-war, it was decidedly the genes that took home all the honours.