Dum Maaro Dum (2011)

A corrupt police officer is entrusted the task of apprehending drug-dealers.

Director:

Rohan Sippy

Writers:

Charudutt Acharya (dialogue), Purva Naresh (dialogue),

Stars:

Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, Rana Daggubati

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Abhishek Bachchan	...	ACP Vishnu Kamath
Bipasha Basu	...	Zoe
Rana Daggubati	...	Joki
Prateik	...	Lorry
Aditya Pancholi	...	Lorsa 'Biscuit' Biscuita
Anaitha Nair	...	Tani
Govind Namdeo	...	Inspector Rane
Bugs Bhargava	...	CM Ponda (as Bugs Bhargava Krishna)
Muzammil S. Qureshi	...	Mercy (as Muzammil)
Mariah Pucu Gantois Gomes	...	Rozana
Hussain Sheikh	...	Silest
Gulshan Devaiah	...	Ricky
J. Brandon Hill	...	Viktor
Emma Brown Garett	...	Natalya (as Emma Brown)
Megh Pant	...	Pedro (as Megh Varn Pant)

Storyline

On his way to Griffin University in the U.S., Goa-based Lawrence Eduardo Gomes is arrested and held at the airport by a corrupt ACP Vishnu Kamath as his baggage concealed drugs. While attempts by Lorry and others are made to clear Lawrence's name, Vishnu continues his investigation aided by Inspectors Mercy D'Costa and Rane, which end up not only pitting him against politically-connected drug-dealers but also international gangsters who operate in Goa with impunity. His inquires lead him to question business tycoon, Lorsa Biscuita, while informers indicate that Lorsa is going to meet with a male named Michael Barbarosso, who may well be the head of this trade. Vishnu attempts to attend this meeting, but is not aware that the venue is being moved to Karnataka - well outside Goa Police's jurisdiction - and he may never be able to find out, leave alone apprehend this individual.

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Plot Keywords:

police | airport | drugs | shot in the head | cemetery | 

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, drug content and some language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi English Russian

Release Date:

22 April 2011 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Goa, India

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$92,332 (USA) (29 April 2011)

Gross:

$563,699 (USA) (3 June 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cheyenne Enterprises, Fox STAR Studios, Louverture Films

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital (Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound)

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

References Haré Raama Haré Krishna (1971)

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Soundtracks

"Thayn Thayn"
Written by Pritam Jaideep Sahni
Performed by Abhishek Bachchan, Earl D'Souza, Ayush Phukan

User Reviews

Cinema is the art to make believe

This movie is an informal lesson for the aspirants to become a film director in future. Cinema is said to be the art of storytelling. But I assert that it is 'the art to make believe', i.e., the art of making the viewers believe whatever is shown on the screen and letting it go down their throats even when it is not real. Dumb Maaro Dumb may be quoted as a classic example of it in the times to come.

During the seventies, Salim-Jaaved used to write the scripts of crime-thrillers which were actually the stories of cat and mouse game between the police and the criminals. They were skilled in drafting such spellbinding screenplays (according to the standards of that period) full of blows and retaliations between the two rival sides, thrillng action, witty dialogues and some doz of emotions and romance just equal to the quantum of salt in the recipe of the pulse being cooked and they were paced so fast that the viewer hardly got any time to think anything about the characters or the story, who was made to watch the movie without a blink and holding his breath. Salim-Jaaved wrote the stories of the movies of Ramesh Sippy too during that period whose son, Rohan Sippy has come up with this movie and this movie falls under the same genre of movies, a mesmerizing thriller with an element of suspense too. And it is the screenplay of this movie which makes it a winner all the way through the duration of around 130 minutes. Such type of movies made Amitabh Bachchan a superstar during the seventies and perhaps, it's the turn of his son, Abhishek.

Dumb Maaro Dumb, as the name suggests, deals with the illegal business of narcotic drugs with the backdrop of Goa. In between the investigating adventures of the supercop, Abhishek Bachchan; a name is tossed as the main criminal behind all this illegal trade but who is this person, remains a suspense till the climax and myself (being proud of my success in guessing the real culprit most of the times whenever I watch or read a mystery) could not identify him till the storyteller himself revealed the suspense. And that's a great achievement of the narrator, I must admit.

The screenplay itself is the hero which rules over all the characters including the investigating cop, Abishek Bachchan. The pace of the narrative is fast enough to keep the viewers glued to the screen and not missing a single moment of the movie. For thriller-fans it's a very big treat indeed.

Technically the movie is good and the cinematographer has done a praiseworthy job in not only capturing the beauty of Goa but also moving his camera quite skillfully amidst light, semi-dark and dark sequences. The action scenes are well-picturized and the dialogues are also quite impressive. The production value aspect is also up to the mark. Length of the movie could be trimmed by a few minutes in the second half but still the overall length of the movie is quite OK. The first half is more engrossing than the second one though the suspense factor deepens in the second half only.

Music is quite in line with the mood of the movie and according to the scenes running on the screen alongwith the background score. However had Rohan Sippy managed a fresh song instead of the remix of the old hit - Dumb Maaro Dumb from the movie Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971), it would have been better on his part because neither the remix version nor Deepika Padukone is any match for the original track in Asha's voice or Zeenat Aman for the on-screen performance. Despite being the title track, it is the most unimpressive one (both the song as well as the scene) in the movie.

Rohan Sippy has extracted highly satisfactory performances from most of the performers. I count Abhishek Bachchan's performance as one among his five best performances till date. All others also fit the bill and almost every principle characters is able to maintain his / her identity in the movie for which the writers and the director deserve a pat. Rana Duggupati and Prateek Babbar stand out among others. The movie stars two of my most favourite actresses - Bipasha Basu and Vidya Balan (she impresses in a cameo too), however the movie mainly belongs to the male cast.

I am writing this review after returning from the theatre with my wife who watches a movie with me in theatre once in a blue moon only. Despite not very fond of thrillers or mysteries, she liked the movie very well. The movie proved so engrossing for her that she did not talk much to me during the watch which is unusual for her.

It's not a classic movie but a very very entertaining thriller. I don't know whether such type of activities and such type of scenario prevail in Goa or not (where I visited on the Christmas of 2009) but Rohan Sippy has been able to make me believe whatever he has portrayed in Dumb Maaro Dumb.