STARRING
Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu and Deepika Padukone DIRECTED BY
Rohan Sippy SCREENPLAY
Anand Bakshi (Lyrics), Jaideep Sahni (Lyrics), Shridhar Raghavan (Dialogue), Purva Naresh (Dialogue), and Charudutt Acharya (Dialogue) MPAA RATING
Rated R RUNNING TIME
135 long minutes DISTRIBUTED BY
Fox World Cinema DVD EXTRAS
Movie in the Making; Theatrical Trailer
"Dum Maaro Dum" Review
Let's face it. Bollywood films don't exactly shy away from having music incorporated into their cinematic fabric. Music often plays a successful and integral part of a Bollywood film. Unfortunately, the highlight of Dum Maaro Dum comes well over 2/3 of the way through the film when Deepika Padukone's musical appearance picks up the film's energy and spirit and helps you stay away through the film's waning moments.
Lorry (Prateik Babbar) is a teen who turns to being a drug mule after his scholarship to an American university falls through and he's unable to join his girlfriend stateside. Kamath (Abhishek Bachchan) is a formerly corrupt cop trying to go straight after the death of his wife and child. Kamath busts Lorry, but is unable to get the young man to give up the whereabouts of a drug kingpin who goes by Michael Barbosa. A musician named Joki (Rana Daggubati) helps Kamath in exchange for leniency towards Lorry, while Joki's ex-girlfriend, Zoe (Bipasha Basu), is now involved with yet another drug dealer named Lorsa Biscuta (Aditya Pancholi).
Essentially a tale about the drug trade in Goa, Dum Maaro Dum is a film where the bad guys are really bad and the alleged good guy, Kamath, is actually much worse. Character development doesn't actually count for much here, however, as the vast majority of the film is simply an excuse for scene after scene of vicious violence, unappealing sexual encounters and scenes that would likely be mind numbing if they weren't so darn boring.
While the film's dialogue and story are often insipid, Dum Maaro Dum's incorporation of music is entertaining and surprisingly effect. Lyrically, the tunes fit the action perfectly and the scenarios in which the tunes are placed fit the theme (especially Padukone's). The film isn't a flat out musical, but it works best when the music is in the forefront.
Amit Roy's camera work is exception, though someone should have directed editor Aarif Sheikh to be a bit more free with the cutting as multiple scenes wear out their welcome and at over 135 minutes the film's a good half hour too long.
Part of the new effort by 20th Century Fox known as Fox World Cinema, Dum Maaro Dum will be released on home video on September 27th, 2011. The film is in Hindi with English subtitles.
