Said to be loosely based on Taxi and Point Break, I thought Dhoom (Blast) seemed to be a whole lot more like the original Fast and the Furious, with a gang of robbers pulling of heists and escaping in their high octane machines charged with nitrous oxide gases, only this time, the sports cars are replaced with sports bikes. But unlike FnF which had its cop infiltrate the gang, we have a supercop hot on the heels of the gang with the help of the fastest rider in Mumbai, with shades from Taxi in a way.
Abhishek Bachchan plays ACP Jai Dixit the supercop, a proud man dead sure of his abilities to apprehend the crooks, though himself has no qualms about meting out violence to deal with violence. John Abraham's Kabir looks like Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt in M:I2 with his wavy hair flowing while riding a bike at top speed, and with his merry men from the Pizza Place, throws down the gauntlet at Jai. Rounding up the testosterone picture is Uday Chopra as the top biker and mechanic Ali Akbar Fateh Khan, who reluctantly joins forces with Jai Dixit, and gets embroiled against his wishes in this cops-and-robbers chase. He prefers to chase skirts, given his lack of appeal in the ladies department, and provides the complimentary comedic moments.
The female characters here, with Rimi Sen as Mrs Dixit and Esha Deol the singer, somehow become bit players, with not much room for their characters, given that it's understandably an action movie after all. And the action doesn't disappoint even if it's not exactly A-list jaw- dropping material. There's always that tinge of familiarity, but the stars pull them off with aplomb. If you were to think they're copying their counterparts in Hollywood with vehicle stunts, and that fight atop a moving trailer which looks suspiciously like Matrix Reloaded's, well, if imitation is a form of flattery, at least Dhoom managed to come off rather convincingly.
For a Bollywood movie, it clocks in at a surprisingly reasonable 129 minutes, and given its fast pace, there's rarely a moment where you'll get bored. I totally enjoyed Dhoom's soundtrack, and the song and dance numbers are fast ones which is an additional plus. I never cease to be amazed by the dance choreography, and my favourite one was where Dhoom Machale song being performed on stage, complete with pyrotechnics.
Dhoom lives up to its name, and it's easy to have a blast of a time on a lazy Sunday afternoon with his, even though the story's pretty straightforward and rehashed from elements seen frequently from Hollywood. For someone who enjoys song and dance routines, I think I'll be looking towards covering more Bollywood movies real soon.
