After all the hype created (the staff at a local multiplex was dressed up in the movie costume) and fueled by the Daler Mehndi controversy, Shaad Ali Sahgal’s (Saathiya, Bunty Aur Babli) latest film Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (Dance Baby Dance) turned out to be an all-gloss-no-substance film. Neither a romantic comedy nor a musical, basically there’s no story to be told here per se. Expectations from Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s music were heightened after their previous hit with Bunty Aur Babli (remember Kajra Re) but they fail to make hearts go Dhadak dhadak this time. And Amitabh, he’s been wasted. Wearing a colorful tapestry coat with a feather hat, strumming a strange guitar and prancing to the title song at a railway station, with dancers juggling around. Ultimately, by not uttering a single sentence in the movie, we are left wondering what role was Amitji enacting anyway?
Yashraj Films
Dhoom 2 (2006)
Bikes, babes and battering blows, machoism and hip music; that’s Dhoom (excitement) for you. But unlike Dhoom, the prelude, which had John and his team modifying their mobikes and going for the loot, the sequel lacks substantially in a convincing plot (the script had inspired a gang of real thieves in Mumbai which were apprehended by the police some time ago). The mantra of the sequel seems to be gadgets and disguise and the story banks on both to move forward (ala The Saint). Therefore we have a hunk called Aryan (Hrithik Roshan), an elusive high profile con man, skydiving on a speeding train in the middle of the Namib Desert which is carrying the Queen’s crown. A few implausible acrobats later, the mission is accomplished successfully. Incomparable with the train dacoity sequence from the movie Sholay, the best in the history of Hindi cinema. But that’s for later.