Dum Maaro Dum

Under its tranquil sands, warm waters, vivacious party scene and the susegaad attitude, Goa hides its atrocious face that is smeared with rave parties, drugs, sex and scandals. In desperate times, some ambitious Goans fall victim to the malicious schemes that bring easy money but at life's irreplaceable cost. While the innocent fall prey to the Goan mafia, one man seeks to overturn this nexus and clean up the state of its misplaced virtues. Aided by some 'Untouchable' men from the Police force, ACP Vishnu Kamath heads the relentless hunt for the narcotics kingpins of Goa.

Lorry (Prateik Babbar) aspires to join his girlfriend in pursuit of further studies abroad but the denial of his financial aid, leads him to a local narcotics dealer who promises a career as long as he can be their carrier (of drugs). Greed, desperation and the lure of easy money are enough to convince Lorry and soon, he falls prey to the inescapable circle of crime. He is soon sent to juvenile prison, courtesy of Kamath's astute raid at the airport where DJ Joki (Rana Daggubati) assures Kamath of Lorry's innocence but to no avail. Joki's girlfriend from yesteryears, Zoe (Bipasha Basu) had a similar fate when her ambition to become an air-hostess turned fowl and her ticket to freedom from a lengthy jail term was to switch loyalties to Lorsa Biscuta (Aditya Pancholi), the evil kingpin in this entire game.

Kamath performs raid after raid in the background of a random rap song and gets ever closer to Biscuta's operations. But beyond this Kingpin is a secretive Lord to whom the mafia turns to in critical times. Who is this Michael Barbossa and what key does he hold to Goa's narcotics crime? Can Joki prove Lorry's innocence to Kamath? Will Zoe break her bonds from Biscuta? Will Vishnu Kamath rid Goa off its poison? On the faces of the multi-dimensional characters who have a marked presence of drugs in their lives, there is a glimmer of hope that life will change for the better. Vishnu Kamath and the drug lords will decide what its price will be.....

The engaging narrative is the effect of Sridhar Raghavan's ('Family', 'Bluffmaster', 'Apharan' & 'Khakee') scrupulous writing and Rohan Sippy's slick and crafty film making. A simple Cop v/s Drug peddler story is treated with stylish cinematography, seamless editing techniques, brutal action, convoluted screenplay and adroit direction. Rohan Sippy does not shy away from portraying sex, drug abuse, violence and awkward relationships with liberal profanity. Bandarkar meets RGV meets Sanjay Gupta. The combined effect of it all makes Goa look real and sizzling.

Bipasha Basu looks sensational in almost every scene. Somehow, even in a prison cell. We shouldn't mind getting used to seeing her play serious characters after 'Lamhaa' and DMD. Prateik Babbar looks and sounds innocent throughout and instantly commands sympathy while Aditya Pancholi's presence would inspire indifferent reactions. Perhaps such a shrewd character would better suit the likes of Mahesh Manjrekar, Boman Irani, Irfan Khan or even a negative Sanjay Dutt? Rana Daggubati is the film's highlight reel of performances with his susegaad lifestyle causing the bane of his loved ones. Yet, he portrays a reserved determination to make things right by aiding Vishnu Kamath's operation. Abhishek Bachchan has his best film since 'Sarkar Raaj' and clearly, playing the no nonsense cop is better suited to him than being at the other end sometimes as Beera. Playing Vishnu, whose past screams of the horrors of drug use, his unsettled state can only find solace in the eradication of the poison that is absorbed in Goa. The junior Bachchan does not let go of such meaty roles that come his way where his prowess being an angry young man comes naturally on screen.

Pritam's music has melodious shades with Te Amo and Kyun Jiye which are brought to life by Rana's on screen romance with the gorgeous Bipasha. The super-hit Mit Jaaye Gum rocks with a scantily clad Deepika and is well suited to the situation.

For its witty dialogues, fluid camera work, slick editing, intriguing mystery and stylized direction, Dumb Maaro Dumb does have Dumb in it to provide some different kind of entertainment. Its flaws however, include mildly resonating characters, a Cop-Crime story that is almost overdone and some overly experimental touches such as the rap song in a shoot-out. Yet, it is definitely a worthy watch in the theater for its stylized narration of an 80's theme if not for any moralistic value. The thrill in its succinct length will, at the very least, take you out of your Susegaad of recent films.

7.999 on a scale of 1-10.

What's comes to your mind when you think of Goa? Beaches, parties, hangovers.. Dumb Maaro Dumb starts with a hint of of all that and more – raves, drugs, sex and all that is associated with the mafia in the Goan region. The movie turns into a tale of bad-cop-turned-good; who is stubborn over uprooting the drugs-industry from the whole of Goa.

ACP Vishnu Kamath played by Abhishek Bachchan, lost his family in an accident; a car accident which was a result of a driver's drug abuse. This transforms his life and he sets out to transform Goa – his road to redemption. His biggest target is Lorsa Biscuta (Aditya Pancholi), who is the main connect to the foreign mafias, suppliers and the rave parties.

Meanwhile Lorry (Prateik) is a minor who is lured into carrying drugs to the US as his fees to a certain university is paid in return, gets caught by the police. This is when Joki (Rana Daggubati) takes centrestage, in order to save the innocent lad, and in turn deliver, what he couldn't to save hi ex-girlfriend Zoey (Bipasha Basu) from entering the illegal world. Thus the two men in redemption work together for the clean-up. And need I mention, truism in a suspense-thriller is not a great news!

Rohan Sippy does a fine job as a director, and sticks to his style as in Bluffmaster. But clearly the story of Dumb Maaro Dumb has nothing new to offer – owing to the mega 80s and 90s where a single cop was enough to ask for a super-hero. The difference lies in the theme, where drugs, raves and trance surface up. A bit more research in this field and proper exploitation of trance could have been something fresh; and also justified the use of the song(and title!) Dumb Maaro Dumb. Where Hare Rama Hare Krishna was a depiction of the Hippie culture of the 1970s, this movie tries to relate to the modern Trance era, but in the end is another cop story. Even Deepika Padukone's sensuous attempt falls flat in the Munni-Sheila-era. But the good direction, as it stays, was beautifully covered by the camera personnel. The colors used are perfect keeping in my mind the story and.. well, Goa! The movie does not rely on powerful duologue's alone, as has been the trend recently. Instead, intense scenes and heavy action are the dominant part.

The idea of "universal approach" given by Rohan Sippy is not totally baseless, but his claims – "Drug consumption is shown in films only when it is crucial for a script" should be hint of pure Indian-cinema-ness of the script, and the lack of naturality and adventure as much as the original is evident. But I'll accept, the movie is more about Dumb(power & action) than Dumb(drug injection)

The music used in this movie is highly ordinary not at all pertaining to the genre and theme(the expected one of course!) of this film. Having a musician(Joki) in the movie is an advantage though, and the song Ti Amo catches on a few lips as people exit the theaters. Sunidhi Chauhan's experiments and the 'potty' lyrics fail to pull off, being the worst expected in a Rave party!

Rohan Sippy, son of the well-known Sholay director Ramesh Sippy, has given us a crime thriller here. I must say the film doesn't disappoint. Very good script.

The film starts of well with Prateik Babbar. The pace is fair as the film introduces the characters in the movie and lets you develop opinions of them. Things continue at a fast pace, with plenty of unexpected events along the way, keeping you interested throughout.

The music of the film is average. The remix of the famous song 'Dumb Maaro Dumb' doesn't live up to the original from the Zeenat Aman starrer. It is an average item song, after the season of chart-buster item songs last winter. Deepika tries her best to save it, and is helped by the music, which is very good.

The performances are good. Abhishek finally impresses after Guru, this time as a cop after the second in the Dhoom series. Prateik impresses again after Dhobi Ghaat. The performance of Rana Daggubati is very good too. Bipasha Basu is OK. Aditya Pancholi does very well indeed.

Verdict: go and watch it. It is worth a trip to the cinema (theatre). If you don't, you might just regret it.

Item girls are back with a vengeance given the much talked about Sheila Ki Jawani with the midriff baring Katrina Kaif in Farah Khan's Tees Maar Khan, that fast forward till today the buzz baton was ringing very loudly for Deepika Padukone in her item for Dumb Maaro Dumb. But personally I still preferred Sheila for the music, the narrative flow in which it was picturized on, and of course the dance performance. In Mit Jaaye Gum (Dumb Maaro Dumb), Padukone got decked with a shorter dress number sporting a mean looking cobra tattoo, but I don't have a thing for the drugged out look, given this was solely a song and dance number performed at a rave party before Abhishek Bachchan's ACP Vishnu Kamath came gatecrashing with the cops in tow.

Dumb Maaro Dumb provided what I would deem as a lift from the rather lacklustre lineup of Bollywood films released so far in this year, with the story keeping it fairly simple, yet intriguing with a mystery, with a great ensemble of actors fleshing out their carefully crafted characters. It's a basic cops and robbers tale on the war on drugs in Goa where the stakes are high on either side of the law with matters and issues hovering around the grey, never outright black or white. Cops are on the take, gangsters can turn informers, and you're never too sure just who you can trust, and who will switch allegiance.

Which makes the film thoroughly engaging to follow, paced fairly quickly and clocking just over two hours. The first half of the film before the interval allowed director Rohan Sippy to dabble with a non linear narrative structure to introduce the lead characters, starting with Lorry (Prateik, last seen in Mumbai Diaries), a student at the crossroads of his educational path, being stopped short at clinching a scholarship, and therefore unable to follow his girlfriend to the USA for further studies. Money woes meant subjecting himself to influences from a friend who had persuaded him fast cash from being a drug mule. Then there's the story of ACP Kamath, a once corrupt cop on the take who had now turned his life around given the death of his family, and going all out to take the war on drugs by the horns. The romantic story arc of DJ Joki (Rana Daggubati) and Zoe (Bipasha Basu) has the lovebirds being impacted through the drug trade, with the former being a easy-going, laid back bystander to his girlfriend's woes, with the latter being really hard up to be an air-stewardess, and got sucked into a road of no turning back when short term gains were traded for longer term loyalties.

In some ways this is like Brian De Palma's The Untouchables, where Elliot Ness gathers a few good, uncorrupted man to form a core team to challenge the biggest gangster in town, and here, ACP Kamath does just that when he goes up against Lorsa Biscuta (Aditya Pancholi), a well connected and well oiled businessman who dabbles in the drug trade and is one of the biggest in Goa, carved out into various territories as controlled by various foreign enclaves operating the drug business. With ACP Kamath turning the heat on their operations, Biscuita becomes the guarantor of every drug baron's illegitimate business with the involvement of an enigmatic Michael Babbossa, who becomes the primary mystery man that ACP Kamath and team are trying to unravel.

So begins a cat and mouse game after the interval, where all story arcs merge into a single thread but between the two halves, the first was more of Sippy's playground with tremendous use of seamless and slick editing techniques and transitions. And something that I've always enjoyed watching is the extended single take of an action scene, which Dumb Maaro Dumb now has bragging rights to, involving a very fluid camera following ACP Kamath and team as they go on a drug bust in a building, continuously weaving into and out of corridors and doors, windows and down a drain pipe even in one long extended take. I'm always in awe given the sheer amount of planning that goes behind the scene to have this achieved, and it is nothing short of fascinating always.

The violence is strong as well with ACP Kamath and the villains all dishing out punishment in no holds barred style, whether using a weapon or through their bare fists. And again there will be the usual police tricks and unorthodox techniques used by the no nonsense ACP that may raise some questions, even though he's given the mandate by the chief minister to eradicate the drug problem. It's been some time since Abhishek Bachchan had headlined a box office success, and I'm backing this film to be that shot in the arm for him as he reunites with director Rohan Sippy (since Bluffmaster). Rana Daggubati also shone especially in the second half of the film where his role got expanded and turned meatier, but unfortunately for Prateik he had opened the film, but because of the narrative had to disappear for the most parts in the second half.

Still, this is one of the more satisfying Hindi films that I've seen in recent weeks, with a strong story by Shridhar Raghavan (dialogues by Purva Naresh) coupled with strong performances from the ensemble cast that makes you feel for the characters and their predicaments. Music by Pritam stand out excellently, and if you're in need of a good old fashioned cops and robbers thriller with a mix of interesting cinematography techniques employed, then Dumb Maaro Dumb will be your film of choice this week. Highly recommended as it goes into my shortlist as some of the best of this year!

Most of the movies that we see will either be captivating from the very beginning or will be a complete let down, with little or no fluctuation in the interest factor of the viewer throughout the show, Dumb Maaro Dumb does not fall in any of these categories, it is a movie that starts off with a lot of promise only not to keep most of it. As I said the movie starts of well with nicely narrated introductions, gripping screenplay and building of suspense which keep the movie graph rising on an upward trend, but then comes the interval after which the graph starts fluctuating like an after recession stock market, it falls then rises and then falls again but never reaches to the post interval high, unnecessary melodrama and songs slow down the speed of the movie and the tight script starts to loosen its grip. DMD being a suspense movie could have still scored had that part been handled well but that was not to happen , a good concept fails to deliver because of the poor way it was revealed, the scriptwriter and director should have come up with a better way of revealing the suspense.

What I liked: 1) Abhishek's performance. 2) Direction and Screenplay in the first half. 3) Some nice dialogues.

What I didn't: 1) Direction and Screenplay in the second half with infusion of unnecessary songs and melodrama. 2) The way revelation of suspense was handled.

Verdict: A one timer, that could have been an excellent movie.