Dishoom

The Buddy-Cop genre hasn't been a regular in Hindi movies, but with 'Dishoom', it somewhat makes a comeback. Though the film isn't as fun as it should've been, its fast-pace & grand visuals make for up for it. Well, almost.

'Dishoom' Synopsis: When India's top batsman Viraj Sharma (Saqib Saleem) goes missing in Middle East, two cops Kabir Shergill (John Abraham) and Junaid Ansari (Varun Dhawan) from either side of Arabian Sea must team up for a 36-hours man-hunt before the final match between India and Pakistan.

'Dishoom' is fast-paced & always on the point. And that's its biggest strength. Its minus, however, is that there is no soul here. No, I wasn't expecting a soulful experience, but 'Dishoom' is just chew your popcorn entertainment. The first-hour runs on a rocket-speed & the camaraderie between its two leading-men, is fun to watch. Its the second-hour, where the pace drops. The journey to find the celebrated batsman is dragged for long & even the crispness wears you off. In short, 'Dishoom' has a winning first-hour, but a disappointing second.

Hussain Dalal's Screenplay tackles the buddy-cop genre & runs on a fast-speed, but is not up-to the mark post-interval. The Writing needed to be crisper. Rohit Dhawan's Direction is decent. Ayananka Bose's Cinematography is marvelous. 'Dishoom' is a visual delight & the ace cinematographer, nails every frame. Editing is sharp. Art & Costume Design are excellent. Action-Sequences are ably executed. Background Score is super. Songs are good.

Performance-Wise: John & Varun work well together. John dominates on his huge personality, while Varun oozes energy. But its Akshaye Khanna who steals the show. As the menacing bookie, Khanna stages a comeback & chews on the scenery. Jacqueline Fernandez looks stunning & delivers fairly. Saqib Saleem is decent. Rahul Dev is first-rate. In Cameos, Akshay Kumar is a riot & brings the house down. Vijay Raaz excels.

On the whole, 'Dishoom' is, at best, a one-time watch.

Varun Dhawan will keep you to the edge of your seat with his comedic performance as a cop. The action sequences were executed perfectly just like the helicopter scene. If you're a fan of pure 1990 masala entertainment, then this is definitely a film for you which has a mixture of action and comedy. Pritam has successfully delivered good energetic music and would want to make you stay for more during the film just like Sau Tarah Ke. It makes sense that since this is Rohit Dhawan's second film and they put a song from Desi Boyz called Subha Hona Na De in a remix version. Akshay Kumar in his cameo appearance role made it bearable as well as Nargis Fakhri and Parineeti Chopra. Akshaye Khanna's comeback was outstanding. You would want to stick for more because of him the way he plays the role as the kidnapper of Viraj Sharma, played by Saqib Saleem who also played his role really well. Despite its pros, lets get to the cons. After Welcome Back, I lost hope in John Abraham although Rocky Handsome was bearable. This time his role was below average. He was too dark and very quiet at times during the film. Jacqueline Fernandez was average during 1st half but during 2nd half, it lacked some sugar that I was expecting. The direction of the film is something that was a letdown. Ayananka Bose did a good job with the camera-work but the angles felt like I missed something in the movie. The editing was too sloppy and I felt that the editor added to too much that wasn't needed. Overall, the movie is decent in parts but does have its flaws.

The review for this movie can easily be summarized in one word thrash.

The writing was uninspired and really didn't even make sense. It's like the writers were more focused on trying to fit in as many clichés as possible and not on an actual story. With the first half an hour you'll lose count of the number of clichés you've seen. There are so many clichés that you will cringe all the way through.

Apart from John Abrham the acting was not good. John Abraham managed to capture all that could be caught of his character but the other actors in this film showed that they only know how to do one thing and that is overacting.

This film's music was repetitive to the point in got annoying.

Honestly this film is a borderline human rights violation, watching it felt like torture. Oh and when at the start when it says, "no animals were harmed in the making of this film" that statement is very hard to believe when you lions chains. The purpose of the lions in the scene also didn't really make sense and just left you wondering what was the point of torturing those poor animals.

If I could I would give this movie 0

This adventure has some good action for fans of that genre, but it seems logic wasn't invited.

When a popular Indian cricketer is kidnapped by an unknown assailant, the government sends Kabir (Abraham), a no-nonsense, disobedient, and beasty special ops officer, to Abu Dhabi to salvage the situation. He teams up with Junaid (Dhawan), a fledgling cop with a comic nerve. Together, they trace the cricketer's last known whereabouts, which becomes the foundation of the story.

The first ten minutes will intrigue anyone who is interested in thrillers, but Kabir's entry with the arrogant, to-the-work attitude plays with our patience. To add to the annoyance comes Junaid in his perpetually oversmart air, trying to find humor in every effing thing around him. The narrative throws in characters and special appearances like that malfunctioning automatic tennis ball thrower which does not stop at all. We have Akshay Kumar playing a homosexual man who wants to see the protagonists in their unmentionables, Jacqueline Fernandez who plays a small-time, identity-stealing thief, Rahul Dev as a left hand guy, and finally Akshaye Khanna in a role that he portrays quite smoothly. Be that as it may, the character thrower does not stop even towards the end. And over everything, everyone in Abu Dhabi seem to understand and be able to converse in Hindi.

Dishoom is just another of the mindless action comedies that rely on the lead actors' muscles and lead actresses' clefts; why else would they cast Nargis Fakhri in a 20-second role? There are a couple of twists and turns towards the second half which has the ability to keep the audience partially hooked. However, at the end of the whole charade, one WILL ask if it was worth it. And the answer will most probably be on the negative.

Abraham does what he does best: showcasing of his fit bod. Dhawan complements him, but in addition, tries very hard to be funny. It was great to see both Dev and Khanna after a very long time. They both do a fine job. Had no expectations from the actresses because all they do nowadays in male-centric films is flash their assets and laugh at their male co-stars' jokes.

The writing is stale, but the execution is what I have given four stars here for. Some good locations were chosen and some good angles in the photography. Overall, it's just an afternoon watch on Netflix six months from now.

BOTTOM LINE: Rohit Dhawan's Dishoom is a rundown action film where the unintended humor wreaks havoc with the story flow, which is not that great in the first place. Wait for TV premiere!

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

When I first saw the trailer I felt this is not a typical thriller movie and will be a good kidnapping drama. Casting also gives some hope because John is a good action movie actor, Varun has to prove more but he is liked by the youth and doesn't matter of her acting but Jacqueline Fernandez is a good choice right now. And the main attraction was Rohit Dhawan, he is the brother of Varun but not only that, he is a good director. His previous venture was Desi Boyz, which is a comedy movie but different story line and not a backdated storyline. These all things made me very curious about the film but you have to remember the saying, " All that glitters is not gold". This movie had a lot of opportunities to execute but the director didn't utilize them well.

I am not telling this is a dumb and boring movie or the direction is bad. I just want to say that there are lots of missed opportunities taken by the director and if the director would take them properly, The movie would be more enjoyable and funny.

For nowadays Bollywood is looking for numbers and stars. Not asking acting or fundamental storyline. They just demand the box office performance and the publicity. This movie publicized well and there are huge star cast in this movie which is also favorable for box office. But if you don't concentrate the details and storytelling style you have to suffer. Maybe you will have a good opening at the box office but after ending the weekend you will loose profit.

The movie starts with a good pace and the first half is quite good for comedy movie lover. The movie also keeps a good pace till the intermission and sometimes maybe you feel the suspense and the thrill which the director wanted to give you but after the intermission, the pace slowed and the second half is ridden by unnecessary dialogues and cliché twists. There is at least 15 unnecessary scene which would be edited. The twists and the story bending is almost predictable and sometimes the lead actors made some overacting.

Performance-wise John is OK. Varun is OK but if he avoids the overacting he would be good, Jacqueline is very cliché and she have to learn what acting is and body showing is not acting. Akshaye Khanna is good and he did nothing new for this role but I think almost it is a good comeback for him. Direction for Rohit Dhawan is OK but could have been better. Editing should be more polished and the screenplay was not bad. Songs are OK but not great. Overall it is OK movie and maybe the casting will make this a profitable one. My verdict is Semi hit or hit.