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 movie starts out pretty well but goes downhill fast. The characters are shallow, scenes are cheesy and the movie wanders like a lost traveler in a desert. Only with songs and some action, they can keep the movie somewhat flowing. The usual climax scene is really bizarre and lame.

BTW, the movie glorifies not just smoking but violating non-smoking rules and regulations. What jerks!

Rohit tried to recreate his dad's oldies magic with "Dislocated" script, Beautiful locations, some exceptionally brilliant chases and great bonding between John and Varun. Akshay Khanna was under-utilized. Jacqueline and Nargis were stunning. Great cameo from Akshay Kumar and Satish Kaushik through mobile. Dialogue specially one-liner can give you some sense of comedy. Pritam has given good Title track cum Moral anthem but disappointed with Item song "Jaaneman Aah".

1) Good to Watch: Chemistry between John Abraham and Varun Dhawan, Chase sequences 2) Not to watch: Brainless Script, Item song from Parineeti Chopra

DISHOOM REVIEW : Finished watching it on FDFS and all i can say is, its not that movie to work after Weekend on Box office. Basically trailer promised that Film will be full of Action and obviously with Mad Max Fury Action Director, expectations were high. But film broke all expectations and served them into small pieces. Less in comedy, less in action, less in humour, less in entertainment, overall less in everything. Film failed to impress but still entertained as other Average movies does. Akshay Kumar impresses in 5 minutes cameo. Details below -

Acting - Entire Starcast miserably failed to impress. Actually can't blame them entirely cause their roles weren't well written. In between John Abraham impresses as Rude Cop, some funny dialogues from Varun and Jaqueline looks hot in some scenes. Akshay Khanna came back on screen after a long time and failed to impress. Overall nothing impressive in Acting field.

Screenplay - Thank god it had only 2 hours run time otherwise it would have been headache. Film looks average at the point of Interval only then same scenerio continues in 2nd half.

Music - Title song starts the film and it's Rocking. Then no songs in First Half. '100 Tarah Ke' comes quickly after Interval which is situational song and its Bombastic. Then 'Janeman' at End Credit. Overall a Good music album.

Cinematography - Good but not great. Action scenes have been shot well.

Direction - Average ! The main problem is Director failed to keep film pacy despite small run time. Tried too hard to add all the elements but nothing worked big. This field definitely could have been much much better.

Final Words - Overall its Strictly Average Film. You will be entertained for some time but that some time actually comes for a while. This film won't work Critically as well as Commercially. Watch it only if you don't have any other option. 5/10* Stars by me.