As Dhoom clocks 21 years, Subhash K Jha spotlights the action! that started a hit franchise and starred Abhishek Bachcan, Uday Chopra and John Abraham in this new This Day That Year feature.
Dhoom machale dhoom machale dhoom… you hear it so often in the course of this 2 –hr-15-min excursion on skidding wheels that by the end of it all, you are hopelessly addicted to Pritam’s contagious tune. Aptly titled Dhoom creates a zigzagging zoom across the chic frames. It doesn’t let you stop to catch your breath. Damn! It doesn’t even let you think about the excruciating improbabilities that litter the shrieking skyline.
This has got to be one of the noisiest soundtracks heard in recent times. If it’s not hell on wheels then its Salim-Suleiman’s brake-the-winds banshee background score creating sounds of guys having fun. And then throw in a couple chicks with clothes that look like nappies turned into bikinis… kar voila to ho voila! You have a real guys’ flick crammed with gadgets and nozzles that stare down at us with enticing defiance.
This flick-off-a-wrist dares you not to have fun. ‘How can you not surrender to our all-systems-go brand of in-your-face filmmaking?’ the tone of narration seems to suggest.
Not brain-dead and certainly not a dull moment in sight Dhoom flicks the essence of the Hollywood thriller—speed, style and shrieking sounds—and turns it to its own homespun advantage. While the wry cop Jai (played with twirling sang-froid by Abhishek Bachchan) and the marauder on the bike Kabir (John Abraham, so deapan he makes you thankful for the momentum in the narrative) are single- mindedly urbane in their design and purpose, the Lovable Crook Ali played with lovable crookedness by Uday Chopra (he played a very similar role in his Charas), is a straightforward desi stereotype.
You can trace him down to Ashok Kumar in the old Kismet, and then you can carry forward his lineage down to Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor in Manmohan Desai’s Amar Akbar Anthony.
Remember how Amitabh Bachchan sauntered up to Rishi Kapoor on stage to garland him with currency notes while the latter sang the qawwalli ‘Parda hai parda’ in Amar Akbar Anthony?
There’s no Qawwalli in Dhoom and certainly no purdah as Esha Deol gyrates on strage in an unabashed display of female allure. But there IS an Ali instead of Akbar who joins Deol on stage to create a kaleidoscopic motion of commotion.
While Uday Chopra’s rapport with Abhishek’s Bengali wife (Rimii Sen) has echoes of Lethal Weapon, John Abraham’s fiendish transformation from a pizza boy to bank robber is a subversion of the Superman legend. Unlike Superman, Abraham doesn’t wear his underwear on top. It’s the ladies who move around in glorified lingerie. In fact Esha Deol’s transformation into a new- millennium Bo Derek is quite startling.
The power of moving images is employed in Dhoom to create a stimulating heady almost aphrodisiac world of amorality. The cop on the prowl and the villain on the bike are almost interchangeable in their world-view. “We could’ve been friends,” the biker keeps reminding the cop, voicing the moral muddle that Dhoom whips up in a foamy wet and stormy display of in –your-face machismo.
In the first-half the narrative borrows heavily from Hollywood films like Gone In 60 Seconds , The Fast & The Furious and the biker movies of the 1960s like Easy Rider. Post-intermission we are taken into a casino in a hotel for a climax that echoes Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s 11.
To director Sanjay Gadhvi’s credit the stormy mélange that takes the plot from Kismet in the 1940s to Ocean’s 11 in 2002 never gets unwieldy or even remotely vulgar. Though fast paced macho and amoral, the world of Dhoom is essentially harmless and fun-filled. The violence is contained and often comic-bookish. The chases and stunts marvellously orchestrated by stunt director Allan Amin, hide the enormous absurdities in the narrative .
In a strange and comic way Dhoom attempts to redefine the laws of formula filmmaking. Its chic and anchorless narrative mode throws you offguard. The focus on monstrous machines and undraped female torso stops short of being overdone, thanks to the director’s control over his material.
The villain topples over the precipice at the end. Fortunately the plot doesn’t.
Esha Deol recalls the Dhoom experience with pleasure. “What an experience that was! Dhoom has that forever- effect on audiences even today. The new generations relate to it . They all love the film . Social media still buzzes with reels trending of ‘Dhoom machale’ and also it’s so sweet to see so many boys playing the guitar and singing my song ‘Dilbara’. My daughters love dancing to ‘Doom machale’ and ‘Dilbara’. I’m so touched to receive so much love for my character in Dhoom . Always thankful to Adi Chopra and Yash Uncle (Yash Chopra) for giving me this masterpiece. Our director Sanjay Gadhvi is missed today. He was wonderful to work with. My co-stars Abhishek Bachchan , Uday Chopra , John Abraham and Rimi Sen were absolutely fantastic and fun to work with. What energy we all had throughout the making! Everyone was on an adrenaline rush. The reaction I received from the audience for Dhoom was unmatchable . Even today so many say , ‘You were my first crush.’ And yes, I’m still being called the Dhoom girl and ‘Dilbara’ by fans , which is so cute. Thankful for all the love this film has given. It has made me reach the hearts of many people. I love it!”
