Movie review 'Dhoom 3': Aamir Khan doesn't have the sexy-badness
Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif, Abhishek Bachchan, Uday Chopra, Jackie Shroff
Director: Vijay Krishna Acharya
The Indian Express Rating: **
Somewhere in the build-up to the film, a character tells another: just make sure my eyes do not move from you for five whole minutes. Dhoom 3 is nearly three hours long, and I am here to tell you that my eyes strayed from the screen many, many times.
My attention shouldn't have wavered. Because the third installment of 'Dhoom' has the kind of tech specs the slickest Hollywood flicks do: superb cinematography, great-looking sets, expansive foreign locations. And the promise that leading man Aamir Khan is meant to bring to his act. But very soon into the film, you are overcome with the feeling that engulfs you when you encounter stuff you've seen too many times before. Dhoom 3 is a victim of both a crying lack of imagination, and franchise fatigue.
In snowy Chicago, young Sahir (Khan) is witness to his deep-in-debt-father's (Shroff) humiliation at the hands of a stony-faced banker, and the subsequent loss of his circus. Years later, in the same place, the Great Indian Circus opens to a glittering evening. Sahir, now grown up, has perfected his double-bill: that of the smart thief, and a skilled showman. When he is not leading imported-from-India cop-duo Jai (Bachchan) and Ali (Chopra) a merry
dance all over Chicago, he is charming awed audiences with his beautiful partner-on-a-trapeze Aliya (Kaif).
By rights, this should have been a blast. That's what the 'Dhoom' flicks are meant for: ultra-toned bikini-ready bods (remember the homely Esha Deol, yes the very one, transformed into a bronzed babe in the first one, and oh that Aishwarya in her teeny-weeny blue outfit that created such a storm in the second?), the funny ha-ha chatter between the tapori Ali and the dour Jai, and the sizzling hot bad guys. I would pay good money for John Abraham and his bikes, and Hrithik and his golden-streaked hair, even on a second run.