Movie Review - "Dum Maaro Dum" - 'Goa'ing HIGH ! !

An A-lister, A southern hottie (whom women are lusting after), a critically acclaimed supporting actor (who's become camera's darling), Hot-Bod in mini skirts, item song, sex, scandal and sea. All the ingredients perfectly picked to make a successful commercial MASALA flick. Can't possibly go wrong or CAN IT?

Dum Maaro Dum traces the lives of its three male leads, from three different strata, against the edgier side of the tourist hub otherwise portrayed famously for sunbathing and cocktail-sipping. DJ Joki (Rana Daggubati) hanging to the pasts of a failed relationship with girlfriend Zoe (Bipasha Basu), who bait the drug laden trap for greed of dollars and a high flying career. Joki doesn’t want history repeated and is determined to prove the innocence of Lori (Prateik) the scapegoat, caught in the rough of a failed drug-trade. Bad-cop turned-good ACP Vishnu Kamath (Abhishek) is on a mission to clean up ‘Drugs Ka Disneyland’ Goa. On suspicion is businessman-cum-philanthropist Lorsa Bisquita aka “Biscuit” (Aditya Pancholi) who is known to have Goa-vaasi’s in his pocket. Not enough as there’s a Godfather of drug traders (Micheal Barbossa) lurking in the shadows. The mystery – Who is Micheal Barbossa? The goal - Pin the drug-king!

In a multi-star cast movie, it’s always tricky to give each character suitably strong roles, and there’s always THE one lead that gets the bigger piece of the pie. For DMD, it’s clearly Abhishek. I’m even tempted to half-call this a show-reel for him, as the focus thru the film is consistently ACP Vishnu Kamath. He gets to do it all - scowl, brag, fight, have a fairytale-gone wrong domestic life, stage off cheesy punch lines, and even unnecessarily rap in the muddle of nowhere (confession : I like the track in isloation, not when plugged into the movie). His restrained, solemn expression works in major scenes, doesn’t in other, I was too jaded to care about it in some other. He surely swaggers with panache but not with enough grit as required of an officer about to bust an international drug-ring. Oh! and those sprinkled references of his father's dialogues, songs = Terrible IDEA sirjee! Still, it’s his cop act that works, and I’d take this over the other ‘Games’ and ‘Khels’ he’s been part of lately. 
 
While Abhishek gets the meaty part of the film, it’s Prateik who outshines him in his brief role. He makes you wince, feel sympathetic all at once, just because he is as endearing as a lost puppy, heart reaches out to him (Yeah! Maybe it’s a girl thing).

The weakling in the midst of this high-drama is DJ Joki. Not because of Rana. Those who’ve seen his previous (telugu: Leader) will vouch that he can pull of an act as dishy as his good-looks. Sadly, apart from having him pose with a guitar, or meander aimlessly, filmmakers didn’t give the character adequate depth thus doing mighty injustice to his talent. A flat dialogue-delivery by an unsuitable dubbing-artist, and possibly a case of weak editing, go on to ensure even his best scenes and the one-explosive line he has, seem clumsy and unrefined.

Not much to write about Bipasha, does well in the ‘light up the room’ romance and other three scenes of dolling up, looking lost, for which she’s quite the pro by now. Aditya is a mis-fit, but is easily ignorable. Some other intermittent characters AB’s teamboy Mercy, other teamboy Rane, Prateik’s friend Ricky are well sketched and sauce up the proceedings.

Rohan Sippy and Sridhar Raghavan present an impressive sluggish thriller wrapped in 70’s noir-blanc grandiose. Between Sippy’s art of lingering, capturing visual stunners (gorgeous shots of Vidya) and Raghavan’s knack of treading familiar whodunit’s (remember Khakhee), Dum Maaro Dum almost manages to kick a high, but doesn’t have enough slyness to be a taut thriller. While the first half manages a great build-up with ease & conviction, next half falters just as easily with not enough curiosity created for the audience. Post interval, there are a few reels where the film tries living up to its preceding hour, but keeps sinking into bouts of terminal dullness. Lots of loopholes, too many ignored essentials, unanswered in-your-face questions, doesn’t quite live up to the double ‘dums’ in the title. Add to that a brilliantly developed sequence followed by a cheeky wordplay, the movie slips from ‘AAHA!’ to ‘EHH!?’. Final 'nail in the coffin' is that the film sways from 'trying to be cool' to 'lets get to business' attitude, slick styling contradicting the subject's required innate grittiness sticking out majorly. Just to have things flowing Bollywood-symmetrical, there is yet another item-song thrown in. Maybe to not avoid jinx a formula that’s known to have once cracked box-office jackpot? Oh Munni re!!

That said; it’s a rather heady mix of more style, less fundamentals film that shouldn’t be missed. You never know when these kinds make their way at the box-office again. Go watch it Amit Roy’s expert lens capturing fresh sepia-toned landscapes of Goa that will tempt you to plan a trip pronto. So what does the film offer? No anti-drug education or revelation this one, Dum Maaro Dum gives you some snazzy action, semi-racy plot, some assorted interesting performances, bit dose of flamboyance, sensuality courtesy wide-angle sweeps of raves, glittering bustiers and a flimsy-clad Deepika. Bas, that’s about it. “Baaki sab ke liye google hai!”