Dec 21, 2006 02:14 AM
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First of all, Dhoom (the first) wasn’t all that path-breaking to begin with, so were it not for the new larger than life, and never seen before cast, I would have had little interest to see this movie.
D2 is unforgivably soul-less. From the first frame to the last, it hinges on a terrible money spinning formula, and reeks of cliché, chauvinism, and unoriginality. Aditya Chopra probably made a helluva lot of money out of this no-brainer-no-soul movie, but this cannot be a product he can objectively be proud of.
OK.. There’s not much of a plot of begin with- Mr. A is master thief, international at that, who steals with ease, and he is(apparently) the most wanted criminal in the country? So the policeman and his sidekick set out on the impossible journey of getting this man. And then, there are two women who are introduced plainly as eye candy. More about that, later.
All this said and done, D2(maybe without the blinding star cast, and a competent director-Sanjay Gadhvi should not be allowed to make movies) could have been a gripping movie. I mean, the very concept of con movies seems appealing to most of us, and we’ve hardly seen any exceptionally good ones(No, B&B, does not qualify as a smart good one). Last year’s bluffmaster had something interesting going for it, but it wasn’t a con movie in the right sense- for those who have seen it, it was after all a total set-up, at the end. Yes, written well, these movies are the kind of real entertainment we’ve seen from the west and the wonderful mystery/thriller books we’ve read as kids, and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed them. And we have come to expect a decent something from these movies. What do we expect? We expect it to be smart- we don’t want an average thief, with an average IQ, who only gets away because of luck or chance, or because of the police’s inability, but because he(OR SHE) is such a genius, that he is capable of outwitting the minds of the best law enforcing officials. And of course we expect the style, the chasing, beautiful people and all that, BUT NOT AT THE EXPENSE OF the basics- good writing, a gripping script, and a capable director. Given, cinematic freedom allows some level of luck, and maybe even the clever thief does get away fortuitously at times, but there’s a fine line between scripts written with that kind of subtlety and the travesty that is D2.
D2 has a smart thief, but we only know of the cool things he does, and he is apparently smart, because he outwits everyone, but do we actually believe that he does? Are we really taken aback by his genius? Not really, because the director just assumes that the audience is stupid, that we’re not really smart enough to see through the numerous loopholes in the movie- or maybe it’s just being complacent- yeah, we know this movie isn’t all that great, but we’ll probably make money, so it’s OK.. Whatever happened to basic integrity people? Bollywood’s basic flaw today is lack of integrity in its products- I don’t think that the producers and directors of these movies themselves believe in their movies, or the characters they create on screen, which is why they don’t work for the audience. Very few makers have the guts to make something original and path breaking and to stick to their creative vision, whatever that maybe.
Moving on… I also had a big problem with production design, and I tend to have this problem with most Bollywood movies, especially the YRF and Karan Johar varieties. OK, yes, sometimes, we do go to the movies to see something larger than life, and enjoy a special story, but can there not be a brilliant movie, with sets and costumes looking at least remotely normal? How come the cops don’t look like cops at all? Why are their homes soooo huge, and why do these sets look so fake(especially when these set designers are paid so much), with no semblance of reality to them? This, being a thriller movie, the excessive style maybe OK, because no one is actually believing this to be a straight out of real life movie.. But going off on a tangent- what’s with the terrible set design in big movies like Black, Karan Johar’s movies, and so many more. I much more appreciate the normal, earthy character as seen in Mani Ratnam’s movies, RGV maybe, and even the simplistic style in Priyadarshan movies. His movies talk about the extraordinary trials and tribulations of the common man, and finding humor and tragedy in everyday life - which is where the most poignant cinema comes from? Not to say that Priyadarshan is an ace director(I think he has his moments, Hera Pheri was brilliant), but my point is, whatever happened to keeping it real??
And yes, I had much to observe about sexism in Bollywood. I don’t really mind a bimbo girl character once in a while, but having two bimbo chicks, who have nothing to do except show their bodies, and be stupid was too much for me. The cop Bipasha Basu was supposed to be smart, but she was only in the movie for the first half, and hardly did anything brilliant there. And when the thief falls in love with Ash’s character(which was also terrible writing, I mean, why would the thief fall for her to begin with- the romance was not developed at all), how is it that the thief is always right? Why couldn’t the thief have fallen into Ash’s trap till the end? But no, they had to make it such that Hrithik outwitted Ash’s character, and had that terrible confronting(and kiss scene) at the end. Why can’t the girl character have any actual consequence in a Bollywood movie? For all the talks that Aishwarya Rai is going away to Hollywood, and picking only prize special movies in India, this role, is her idea of a great role????
OK, lastly the cast. Hrithik is perfect as the thief. He has the style and form to take on such a role, of course the meat of the role is nothing brilliant, as I have ranted on for much of this review, but he fits this role much better than an SRK fit Don. Aishwarya Rai- First of all, I’m no Ash fan at all, but after having read all these reviews saying that she was soooooo bad in the movie, I expected a bad performance. However, this is just normal Ash- she’s never brilliant, but again, I think this was the director’s fault, because she can only do what the director makes her do, and sadly, she doesn’t have the acting prowess to rise above a mediocre script, and even more mediocre director. I kinda liked Bipasha Basu- her best quality is that she knows that D2 is an out and out no brainer film, and she does whatever she can with it. She doesn’t pretend it to be any better than it is, and that works in her favor. Abhishek Bachchan sadly goes down in the movie. I mean, he’s not bad, really, but he seems to have lost interest, or doesn’t care, or has resigned to a weak role, and sleepwalks through the role. I didn’t mind Uday Chopra throughout the movie- the flashbacks, especially the Baywatch scene, are priceless.
Yup, D2 sucks. Most of you probably saw it despite the warnings that came your way (I was one of them- at least I didn’t pay to go see it in the theater), but come on, Bollywood, shame on you, for bringing us a travesty like Dhoom 2.
