Sunday, November 26, 2006

Dhoom2, looking sexy, speed and sequels...

Warning: Slight spoilers ahead (does it matter?)
So, I watched Dhoom 2 today, and I was bored!
I went to enjoy myself, but I am still yet to understand why I did not find the movie interesting. Opinions will surely differ from mine, and I had loved 'Dhoom', unlike many others, because it came off as an entertaining movie with loads of gloss, speed, good music and crackling funny and taut dialogues.
And Dhoom2 takes it further...it is glossier, slicker, has better dances, and loads and loads of action, and one sizzling hot Hrithik Roshan. Well, yeah, John Abraham was hot too, and his hotness quotient was heightened by a strategically placed tatoo (as pointed out by one of my friends), but Hrithik - well, um...mmmm...yep, delicious. There's just one problem, he looks too honest to be a schemer and a thief. So, they make his character emotional, make him fall in love with the first bimbo who dotes on him, and make him give up being a thief for love, make him look more like an artist, and in general make him a lot less criminal.
And that spoils it for me. I am all for criminals/villains being handsome, hot, good dancers, sleek talkers, et al. But, to make a villain less villainous in a movie of police and robbers, takes away the edge from the whole experience. The conflicts are always more enjoyable between opposing elements, not between good, and slightly good. This is a action movie with razor sharp dialogues, not a psychological deep drama, so it should not try to be deep and pretend to highlight humane nature of criminals.
Which also brings me to Abhishek, as his is the character which should give Hrithik's character a solid fight. However, unlike in the first Dhoom, here Jai Dixit (Abhishek's character) is more relaxed, and has his own set of Hawaiian shirts, bead braceletes and white shoes. He is still sharp, hard nosed and dedicated, but, he is not projected as boring any more - he is cool, suave (somewhat like his many other roles nowadays) and charming. Honestly, I love a charming Abhishek any time, but, when (1) We have a super cool, sizzling hot Hrithik around, let's keep the adversary boring and deadpan, it helps to retain some charm of Abhishek, so that we can always say later - 'Oh yeah, they were together in that movie and Hrithik did look hotter than him, but you know, he was not projectted that way in the movie, so we cannot judge and conclude that Abhishek is not as hot as Hrithik'
(2) Abhishek had already been the same cool, suave and charming, with a sense of humour in at least six movies between the last Dhoom and this one, it would have been something 'different' to see him as boring and deadpan.
So, bring me back the dark-brown-jacket clad Abhishek, who has no charm, and just one borrowed pink shirt, but efficient and dead-on when he moves.
In short, keep the emotions low, the conflict high, and the sequences taut and racy and not mushy. And ok, you can throw in heroines with barely-there clothes for the guys.
Which brings me to Ash - her clothes or lack of them, her tan, her highlighted golden hair, her put-on attitude and her silver-white eye shadow (or was it the concealer - damn, I can never get these right). Also, her lips quivering when she is 'torn' between duty and emotions, her lip-lock with Hrithik and her much-publicised bikini. Sorry, there was no bikini-clad Ash, but then, the clothes she wore, or did not wear, were slightly covered off shoots of the bikini. Ah yeah, Ms. Rai did reveal to us much more of her anatomy than she had ever done,with highlighted cleavage and also tried tapori-MTV-american-accented language, but if hot meant anorexic bodies in tiny bits of clothes, then my opinion about men and what they find hot, has now touched the pits. I know this is unkind, and people might put this down to one more 'Ash-bashing', but in my opinion, she is in Dhoom2 just for the shock value. It is actually not her fault, she does her best, but what the role needed was a heroine who would look sexy kicking ass, a-la-Shilpa Shetty in Dus, but they took Ash and made her into a heroine who is delicate and mushy.
As a jealous rant - I am still thinking what made Hrithik's character fall in love with her - the fact that she preferred burgers over salads, the fact that she asked him to make her his partner ('take me', she hisses), the fact that she can play pretty good basketball compared to other girls (as per his statement) or the fact that she mouths inane dialogues about trust and all that crap (yeah, the dialogue here is crap).
All right, so what did I like, after all my complaints? The answer, surprisingly, is Uday Chopra with his Nagpada principles, his english and his dreams. Everytime, he is there, he gives me something to chuckle over. And teaming up with Bipasha's twin sister, they provide some scenes for me to look forward to.
Ah well, Bipasha...well, she is fine, in both roles, in the denims as well as in the bikini, probably hot, and much more natural than Ash. In fact, she is delightful as the bumbling, silly, yet hot twin sister.

The second thing that I liked were song picturisation and choreography, though not the songs themselves as much as I liked the songs of Dhoom.

The colours, scenes, stunts were good, in fact, very good. But the chase sequences were too lengthy.

Lastly, I have now realized why I had also not liked 'Phir Hera Pheri' but had liked 'Krrish' and 'Lage Raho Munnabhai'. The common thread here is - story. Both Krrish and LRM had a story, different from their first part. In fact, different or not, they had a story. In case of D2 and also PHP, the story was non-existent. Agreed, even Dhoom 1 did not have a story, but it did not matter then. It matters now, because the pattern geting repeated brings in boredom. And no amount of Hrithik's rippling muscles and rubbery dance moves than cover that. At least, not for me.
For those whom the above complains don't matter and Hrithik and Ash are all the pull that matters, speed on with Dhoom2! Who knows, I might just see it a second time, if no other movies come up, and might just enjoy it, as I now know what to expect!

14 Comments:

Blogger Beth Loves Bollywood said...

"...but if hot meant anorexic bodies in tiny bits of clothes, then my opinion about men and what they find hot, has now touched the pits."

Right on, Aparna!

I really liked this post. You're talking about lots of things I hadn't thought of and I'm glad I'll get to go into the movie with these things in my head. Your point about how to play Abhishek and Hrithik off each other is especially interesting to me - both are hot, both are cool, both are popular, both have some character types they've played repeatedly, but the two actors are different, so how do you make the most of that in an interesting way? I don't know how many movies they've done together - the only one I can recall is MPKDH, and in that one, the characters were really different, with Abhishek being low-key and Hrithik acting like he's on speed.

Sun Nov 26, 08:47:00 AM  
Blogger Aparna said...

@Beth:
Hrithik acting like he's on speed.
Yes, it seemed exactly like that :) I really hated him in that movie, though I suppose he was role-acting, but still...
To add to the point that Hrithik's character was made more likeable and less criminal, probably the difference was that in the first part, John's character stole for money, which makes him an out and out thief, whereas in D2, Hrithik steals only 'perfect' and priceless antiques, never sells them, and does so only because he wants to make a mark on the world.
The logic that abhishek uses to pin point where he is going to strike next, is downright ridiculous, unlike in Dhoom, where it was slightly more probable.

Sun Nov 26, 10:21:00 PM  
Blogger Monika said...

intersting review... was planning to see it this weekend... thinking now :)

Mon Nov 27, 05:09:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Now see, this is exactly why Hindi films are an hour too long. That extra hour gives a person enough time to think of all sorts of socio-political concepts that can ruin the general "cotton candy" effect of a film. When things move along so slowly, one has time to question various aspects of the plot.

*tsk tsk* I wish nothing to interrupt my 3 hours of lovesick swooning!

Mon Nov 27, 06:36:00 PM  
Blogger Aparna said...

@Monika: It's not bad...it is just that..I felt as if I knew what was to happen...and maybe I expected something more.
Otherwise, most others said that it is nice timepass

@t-hype:
I wish nothing to interrupt my 3 hours of lovesick swooning!

Well, your FPMBF is worth swooning....

Tue Nov 28, 12:12:00 AM  
Blogger Daddy's Girl said...

Hmmm...interesting review, thanks. I haven't even seen Dhoom...

Tue Nov 28, 09:40:00 AM  
Blogger Dinesh said...

Dhoom 2 is terrible. So much I could not sit through the whole crap. I am not going to comment on the movie. I am just tired of women making up their minds about what men find hot. Please allow us to make some personal choices. Do not do to us something, we are accused of doing to you. Please do not stereotype.

Thu Dec 07, 03:57:00 PM  
Blogger Aparna said...

Dinesh, welcome to my blog.
I am just tired of women making up their minds about what men find hot

Well I did add an 'if' there somewhere (if hot meant anorexic bodies in tiny bits of clothes) ...just needed men to agree or deny that...

Thu Dec 07, 11:35:00 PM  
Blogger Bald Monkey said...

Things we have learned from Dhoom2
1. You do not need a coherent story for a hit. People making movies hits are not thinking coherently.
2. It is possible to make inconsequential characters and situations for sartorial purposes and be loved for it. Example thought process:
"We have this hot babe Bipasha we have to strut around. Let us strut her around in a hot dress. Cool ! Hey, we also need a foreign location. What about the Brazil ? Cool. Hey what about the hot babe Bipasha ? Damn ! Did not think about that one. Let us manufacture a twin sister in Brazil and strut her around in a bikini. Cool ! High Five !"
3. Ash cannot act for nuts. She cannot act to save her life.. like.

Sun Dec 10, 10:22:00 PM  
Blogger Aparna said...

@BM: Yes to all...and also, sometimes the 'heat' emitted from collective people can get too much.
Also, message to abhishek: When hrithik is around, DO NOT get up on a table and dance...NO!!!

Mon Dec 11, 02:31:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree. Dhoom2 is really a treat to watch with exotic locales of Brazil and breathtaking Bips... Yeah Bips and not Aish... However I was really over impressed by Hrithik who really looked dashing...

Tue Dec 19, 01:37:00 AM  
Blogger Aparna said...

@Anon:
Bips and Hrithik...yeah!!!
And what I love about Bips is how she seems to enjoy the role of a fluffy, bubbly, hot girl...somewhat like what she did even in 'No entry'...someone who knows she is sexy and enjoys it...

Tue Dec 19, 02:53:00 AM  
Blogger Alexandre rocha said...

eu estou escrevendo do brazil , participei como figurante aqui durante as gravações no rio de janeiro, gostaria de saber quando vocês virão novamente tenho vários contatos aqui no rio se voçês precisarem estou ao seu dispor desde já agradecendo e mantendo contato

Wed Mar 05, 03:41:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Who knows where to download XRumer 5.0 Palladium?
Help, please. All recommend this program to effectively advertise on the Internet, this is the best program!

Sat Nov 14, 09:28:00 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home