All audience reviews of Dum Maaro Dum

The impressive promos, the catchy songs and the fact that Dum Maaro Dum is written by Sridhar Raghavan and directed by Rohan Sippy made it a good candidate to be watched on a Friday evening. Although it doesn't blow your mind away, it is a decent flick that could be enjoyed with a bag of popcorn.

The story runs around 4 core characters. ACP "Bad ass" Kamath. He is given the responsibility to clean up the drug racket in Goa by taking any measures necessary. The young naive kid Laurie who gets involved in carrying drugs to pursue a career abroad. A local DJ by the name of Joki who is very 'serious' all the time. His girlfriend has aspirations to become an air hostess and has to carry drugs to fulfill her dreams as per to believe it or not Newton's 4th law "kuch paane ke liye kuch khona padta hai". I did not know Newton was a fan of Baazigar SRK. All of these characters are held together by the linchpin villain Biscuita played by the super cool Aditya Pancholi. How ACP Kamath breaks the code and ruins Biscuita;s well established business is what the movie is about.

The movie starts of pretty well and is pretty gripping till the second half kicks in. The second half is pretty slow paced for a crime action thriller. None of the songs justify their place in the movie except probably "Jeeyein Kyun" which is kind of spread out. As good as Thayn Thayn and the title track are, they are a total misfit and buzz kill for the movie.

Music wise, Pritam does a decent job. The music is favorable to listen to but will end up just being a flavor of the season. It is not of the long lasting category which Pritam has been churning out of his factory for quite some time now. Out of all the songs Jeeyein Kyun stands tall for me.

Acting wise, Abhishek does a decent job playing ACP Kamath. The role suits him like a glove and he doesn't need to take too many efforts. Rana Duggubati is okay in parts but does not get much of a scope. Bipasha is wasted. Prateik Babbar hams like no tomorrow. Aditya Pancholi puts through his cool villain look and pulls it off.

Rohan Sippy has come out with a movie after a long gap and to be fair to him he has delivered a decent flick. Its not as cool as Bluffmaster but its pretty close. The pace of the movie could have been better as the movie is supposed to be a high paced edgy thriller. The climax was brilliantly conceived and by not giving in to the public expectation it is a very Ram Gopal Varma-isque ending. The songs should have been left out of the movie. They hamper the movie's pace very badly.

All in all a good movie to spend your money on.

Reasons to watch:
1) Good story/ screenplay
2) Interesting characterization
3) Gripping and a good climax.

Reasons to skip:
1) DVD movie
2) Songs slow down the pace.

Repeat value: On DVD less

As the latest flick this weekend Dum Maro Dum is another venture of Rohan Sippy. All the controversies as well as gossip about the movie come to an with its release with much talked about debut of Telugu actor Rana Daggubati in a glitzy Bollywood movie.
The Goan beaches and the tourists is not the only thing that makes it famous, being a drug capital of India under the lawless rule set by greedy politicians and businessmen. Abhishek Bachan plays ACP Vishnu Kamath assigned with the task of ridding Goa of all its drug trades and the business men who do it. In comes Aditya Pancholi as Lorsa Biscuita aka Biscuit as the main drug dealer who traps youngsters in his deals and uses them to smuggle drugs. Prateik Babbar aka Lorry is one high aiming whose life is on a downward spiral gets into the murky web of drugs. Bipasha Basu is introduced as an air hostess with high dreams who is caught in this web as well. The cat and mouse chase of cop and criminal is interesting with few twists and turns to make the film interesting along with some good dialogues and shots to keep the audience interested. The soundtracks are average with item song dum maro dum taking the audience by the storm. The actors too play their role to the T, with Abhishek delivering good act of a serious cop, Prateik of a young reckless guy and Rana almost feeling a bit uncomfortable in a Bollywood flick.
All in all a good watch if one has nothing better to do than to settle for a movie instead. less

Rohan Sippy does make stylo movies. Har frame bindaas. The scene where Prateik Babbar is walking in a daze, the blurry closeups of Bips and Rana in the 'Te Amo' song, or ACP Kamath a.k.a Abhishek Bachhan's entry (including the car crash as viewed from inside the vehicle). All of 'em are pretty sleek and exude confidence and the fact that the Director has put in some effort to think them out. And while we are talking about ACP Kamath, kudos to Sippy for coming up with a good film which stars Bachhan junior. This is proving to be a tough task nowadays - Junior B and a good film.

DMD is a great new experiment in Indian film making - a taut, thrilling script with enough twists and turns to keep you engrossed, yet not that many which makes the script look ridiculous (a.k.a. Race). There is so much happening onscreen that the 2 hours plus runtime doesnt pinch.

The story primarily revolves around Abhishek Bachhan and his quest to finish the drug mafia in Goa. Other characters include Prateik Babbar as a 17 year old kid who gets pushed into the trade and Rana Daggubatti as a do-gooder who wants to bail Prateik out. I couldnt understand why Prateik is mentioned as in a special appearance: he's there for as much time as Rana or Bips, and forms the crux of the story in some ways. South Indian fans might be disappointed as Rana doesnt get to flex his muscles much: instead he gets beaten up by goons. Hardly the kind of behavior you would expect from a hero down south, doing sentimental roles.

Bipasha and Aditya Pancholi are watchable, while Muzammil must be mentioned for a decent performance as Aby's junior police officer. Coming to Aby himself, he gets racy dialogues to mouth which he does well. While I couldn't find any fault with Prateik's acting, I got a tad irritated by his eccentric accent.

Coming to the songs, I liked Thayn Thayn and Te Amo while the visuals were no doubt great for the title track :P.

Suspense, fights, dialogue-baazi and loads of pizzazz. Gets 3 stars, plus 1 for the item number. On second thoughts, deducting half for the lyrics :P ! less

As an actor spends too much time in Bollywood, getting comfortable in a template is inevitable.

SRK moved from the maverick bad guy to the classic romantic guy.

Amitabh Bachchan moved from the angry young man to the brooding old man template.

Now his son, it seems, is carving his own: the mildly sarcastic, smartass cop on a mission.

That can only be a good thing, especially after he's spent a good part of this year telling people to 'Get Idea'. He could only go up from there.

Lorry(Prateik Babbar) is your typical middle class guy whose dreams are cut short, because he's, well, middle class. Add to it the lure of being close to his girl-Tani(Anahita Nair), and that of the drug mafia in Goa. It is in this setting of hope, love, dreams and threats that he gets embroiled in a mess , created by bigger players like Lorsa Biscutta(Aditya Pancholi) and Michal Baarbosa, who's an enigma throughout. As he's restricted to a part-player, part-observer, Vishnu Kamath(Abhishek Bachchan) takes the game head on, aided by Joki(Rana Daggubati), Zoe(Bipasha Basu) and that one odd accomplice every Bollywood cop is entitled to.

While the mafia-police peek-a-boo forms the story's backbone, its heart lies in the motivations of every character. There's more to Vishnu's no-drugs obsession than just being a cop on duty. Likewise, Joki going all out to help Lorry has a story behind it too. Which is where the screenplay deserves due credit- it manages to tease, tickle and manipulate enough to pique your curiosity until every subplot unravels and uncovers the plot. Its a crisp, fast moving screenplay that strategically raises questions and answers them.

And all a smart screenplay needs is actors who understand it. Dum Maro Dum is one lucky film there, as the actors do way more than that. Prateik Babbar is incredible, while Abhishek Bachchan stays true to his smooth cop avatar. This one scene where Abhishek narrates his suicidal tendencies, in particular, is the kinds people go back to watch. Having said that, his characteristic stiffness is probably still his undoing as an actor. Spare a thought for Anahita Nair though- she lights up the screen every time she's on it. Its a pity we don't see her more often, which some would say, only adds to her appeal. Visually too, its a fine film that sits easily on the eye. The music, however, is mediocre.

Watch it for all those reasons, even as its mildly amusing to imagine there are people who actually want a drug-free Goa...;) less

I've often heard irate moviegoers grumble that superior stories are in short supply, but I don't subscribe to this viewpoint. I genuinely feel that we have great stories to narrate, but we mess up on screenplay writing, mutilating a brilliant story in the process. That's an issue with DUM MAARO DUM as well. A fascinating concept may not translate into an enthralling and enticing film, right?

Come to think of it, Rohan Sippy has evolved into a stylish storyteller with the passage of time. And DUM MAARO DUM bears testimony to this fact. Right from the shot compositions to the edit pattern, the distinct stamp of Sippy Jr. just cannot be overlooked. But a collage of brilliantly executed sequences cannot compensate for a riveting screenplay. That's precisely why DUM MAARO DUM lacks dum.

At heart, DUM MAARO DUM is a chor-police game, with the cop [Abhishek Bachchan] going all out to nail the drug lord [Aditya Pancholi], the messiah of narcotics trade, but the content fails to hold your attention after a point [towards the second hour specifically]. The writing gets muddled in the post-interval portions, after one has savored some tremendous moments in the first hour. There are portions that put you off [Abhishek injects drugs in the thugs in order to extract information], that remain unexplained [what is it that Prateik knows and reveals in the letter?], that come as a complete shocker [why is Rana hell bent on saving Prateik, so much so that he puts Bipasha's life at stake?]... Besides, the pre-climax as well as the penultimate moments are a major letdown. The drama in the concluding reels, in fact, is prolonged for no reason.

What goes against the film is the fact that the writer sidetracks the protagonist in the pre-climax itself, while the actor in the supporting role walks away as the savior. Frankly, sidetracking the protagonist leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Even the protagonist's loyal fans, I am sure, will find this difficult to absorb and will be shocked and sorely disappointed by this grave mistake. That's not all, even the elimination of the all-powerful drug kingpin by an inconsequential character seems ridiculous. Also, the suspense just doesn't work and nor does it create the desired impact [the twist in the end is quite an anti-climax].

Multiple lives collide at Goa Airport one day... [Lorry] Prateik is a student on the verge of following his girlfriend [Anaitha Nair] to a U.S. University. But when his scholarship gets rejected, his life threatens to spiral out of control, until he meets a smooth-talking hustler who promises to get it back on track.

In the meanwhile, top cop Kamath [Abhishek Bachchan] is entrusted the responsibility of destroying the brutal local and international drug mafia in Goa. He forms a core team [Govind Namdev, Muzammil] and starts 'cleansing' the land. All fingers point towards Biscuta [Aditya Pancholi], a ruthless local businessman, who has his finger in every pie, legal or illegal. Suddenly, Biscuta finds himself pushed to the extreme limit with Kamath's arrival.

On the other hand, Joki [Rana Daggubati] drifts aimlessly through life after an encounter with the drug mafia costs him the love of his life, Zoe [Bipasha Basu]. Joki takes upon himself to save Lorry, who has been a pawn in a vicious game.

DUM MAARO DUM moves at a feverish pace initially, with the director and writer Shridhar Raghavan not indulging in spoon-feeding, unlike most film-makers here are known for. In fact, they expect the viewer to grasp and figure out certain situations that arise in the film, instead of explaining it themselves. That makes the goings-on a tad difficult to comprehend at times and which, in turn, may not be liked by those who don't feel like taxing their brains while watching a film.

What also puts you off after a point are the brutal killings in the name of violence. One doesn't mind action films [I am all for it], but why make it so real that it puts you off? Stabbing syringes into the neck and even twisting necks is a strict no-no, in my opinion.

Rohan Sippy has given the film his all. He has a unique style of telling a story, which is evident all through the film. But he's letdown by the screenplay writing in the second hour. The highpoints of the film include crisp dialogue and a popular soundtrack [music: Pritam]. The title track has already caught on and will prove to be a major crowdpuller, though there's a sizable section of cineastes who loathe its lyrics. 'Thayn Thayn' is catchy, but the placement of this song should've been better. Amit Roy's cinematography is top notch. In fact, the film bears a stunning look all through. Background score [Midival Punditz] is electrifying. Editing could've been sharper. Clocking in at roughly 2 hour and 05 minutes, it's much longer than it should be.

Abhishek is super in the role of a tough cop whose life undergoes a U-turn when personal tragedy strikes. He projects the varied emotions such as rage, turmoil, helplessness, anxiety without going overboard. Much of the joy comes from watching Rana Daggubati infuse believability into his character. He's easy on the eyes and is a complete natural when it comes to acting. Bipasha shines in several moments of the film. Prateik [credited as special appearance in the titles] impresses a great deal. Aditya Pancholi is first-rate. Anaitha Nair does well in a brief role. Govind Namdeo is in terrific form. Muzammil [as Mercy] does a fair job. Gulshan Devaiya is tremendous. Hussain is okay. Vidya Balan [cameo] is alright. Deepika scorches the screen in the title track.

On the whole, DUM MAARO DUM is like fast food that's high on calories, but falls short in the nutrition department. Yes, it's slick, stylish and well-crafted, but the fact remains that it lacks the power [in its second hour specifically] to create a dum-daar impression. Business-wise, DUM MAARO DUM caters more to the youth in metros than the hardcore masses in general. Its business in plexes of Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Bengaluru in particular will be the best. The Nizam-Andhra circuits in particular will also contribute a good chunk thanks to Rana Daggubati's presence. But the traditional circuits may not react as strongly. In a nutshell, the business is likely to be divided between metros and non-metros, between weekend and weekdays. less