Dum Maaro Dum (2011)

Popularity:

Down 3% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.

Director:

Rohan Sippy

Writers:

Shridhar Raghavan (dialogue)
Shridhar Raghavan (written by)
(more)

Release Date:

22 April 2011 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Police | Airport | Drugs | Title Based On Song | Loss Of Loved One

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

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)
Ajai Rohilla	...	Tourism Minister (as Ajay Rohilla)
Sharon Melancia Mazarello	...	Tani's Mother
Wilmix Mazarello	...	Tani's Father
Annabelle Ferro	...	Lorry's Mother
Annette Pinto	...	Lorry's Grand Mom
Manvi Mohan Chandellcar	...	Lorry's Sister Patsy
Raj Simaria	...	Vishnu Kamath's son
Lucas Ogunro	...	Elamin
Dharmendar Singh	...	Surya
Alexis	...	Paul Munford
Umesh Prakash Jagtap	...	Shooter at Fleamarket
Pavitra Sarkar	...	Shooter at Fleamarket
Patrik Aso	...	Shooter at Fleamarket
Eddie	...	Shooter at Fleamarket
Sam	...	Biscuit's Goon Handler
Cowboy	...	Fake Barbossa
Rajesh Yadav	...	Remand home supervisor
Dinesh Joshi	...	Remand home watcher
Rajeev Bhardwaj	...	Reporter in News room
Jitendra Dixit	...	Reporter on Location
Avadhoot	...	Man beaten at the shack
Damodar Deullcar	...	Police Inspector in Jeep
Chandrakant	...	Driver in Jeep
Harry Key	...	DJ Thomas
Shantaram	...	Bartender
Hameed	...	Laundryman
Raj Gopal	...	CM's Secretary
Archie Williams	...	CM's Doctor
Laila	...	Interpreter
Majid Khan	...	Attendant in mourgue
Archana Dani	...	Nurse in hosptial
Kane Mazarello	...	Pedro Kid
Vasiliy	...	Grotsky - Man in Jeep
Shailesh Tivrekar	...	Biker 1
Sachin Chowgule	...	Biker 2
Kevin De'mello	...	Biker 3
Himanshu Mishro Mondal	...	Biker 4 (as Himanshu Mondal)
Angie	...	Woman at airport
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Vidya Balan	...	Mrs. Kamath
Deepika Padukone	...	Dancer / Singer

Directed by
Rohan Sippy

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Charudutt Acharya		dialogue
Purva Naresh		dialogue
Shridhar Raghavan		dialogue
Shridhar Raghavan		written by

Produced by
Joslyn Barnes	....	executive producer
Prasanna R. Coondapur	....	executive producer: studio
Roopa De Choudhury	....	associate producer
Danny Glover	....	executive producer
Garima Mehta	....	line producer
Arnold Rifkin	....	executive producer
Hussain Shaikh	....	executive producer
Yogiraj Shetty	....	post producer
Ramesh Sippy	....	producer

Original Music by
Pritam Chakraborty		(music) (as Pritam)
Midival Punditz		(background music)

Cinematography by
Amit Roy		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Aarif Sheikh

Casting by
Akarsh Khurana

Production Design by
Harsh Dave
Smit Shah

Art Direction by
Shazia Zahid Iqbal

Costume Design by
Falguni Thakore

Production Management
Shiva Chandra	....	post-production manager
Jayaraj Hejmady	....	post-production manager
Satram Ramani	....	post-production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gaurav Chawla	....	first assistant director
Khyati Gosar	....	second second assistant director
Varun Lalwani	....	first assistant director
Anupam Mishra	....	second unit director
Himanshu Mishro Mondal	....	continuity supervisor (as Himanshu Mishro)
Shrey Oberoi	....	second assistant director
Ashish Sunder Narayan Singh Tyagi	....	first assistant director
Bharat Vyas	....	assistant director

Art Department
Madhura Gokarn	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Debajit Changmai	....	film mix
Manas Choudhary	....	sound
Boloy Kumar Doloi	....	associate sound re-recording mixer
Rahul Karpe	....	associate sound re-recording mixer
Asif Ali Khan	....	boom operator
Bhabani Mallick	....	assistant sound recordist
Anant Pawar	....	sound recordist
Aravind Vijayakumar	....	adr engineer (as Aravind V. Kumar)
Varun Visoi	....	foley recording engineer

Special Effects by
Vishal Tyagi	....	guns and effects

Visual Effects by
Sultan Bal	....	visual effects
Vinay Singh Chuphal	....	visual effects supervisor
Neha Hooda	....	line producer: vfx
Sudhakar Kankanampati	....	compositor
Kotamraju Karthik	....	visual effects coordinator
Aziz Merchant	....	compositor
Vishal Parmar	....	senior compositor
Harshal Shelkar	....	roto and paint artist
Kishore Shetty	....	3d lighting and shader artist
Hemang Somaiya	....	3D Artist
Mahesh Sundriyal	....	smoke/flame artist
Manoj Sundriyal	....	flame artist
Parikshit Tyagi	....	digital compositor
Anuj Upadhyay	....	digital compositor

Editorial Department
Pratul Gaikwad	....	assistant editor
Zubair Khan	....	assistant editor
Unnikrishnan Payoor Parameswaran	....	chief assistant editor
Amol Pawar	....	assistant editor
Rahul Purav	....	colorist
Prins Shadwal	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Abhishek Bachchan	....	playback singer
Mohit Chauhan	....	playback singer
Sunidhi Chauhan	....	playback singer
Earl D'Souza	....	playback singer
Zubin Garg	....	playback singer
Karsh Kale	....	background music
Karsh Kale	....	composer: theme music
Ash King	....	playback singer
Sunny M.R.	....	backing vocals
Sunny M.R.	....	music producer/programmer
Sunny M.R.	....	recording supervisor
Sunny M.R.	....	songs mixer
Anushka Manchandani	....	playback singer
Papon	....	playback singer
Ayush Phukan	....	playback singer
Jaideep Sahni	....	lyricist

Other crew
Shaila Anand	....	production coordinator
Caesar Gonsalves	....	choreographer
Khyati Gosar	....	wardrobe hair & makeup continuity
Bosco Martis	....	choreographer
Surendra Pratap Singh	....	production executive: Fox Star Studios
Vishal Tyagi	....	armorer
Ranju Varghese	....	choreographer: assistant

Thanks
Zeenat Aman	....	special thanks (as Smt. Zeenat Aman)
Dev Anand	....	special thanks (as Shri Dev Anand)
Anand Bakshi	....	special thanks (as Late Shri Anand Bakshi)
Vidya Balan	....	special thanks
Mukesh Bhatt	....	acknowledgment
Asha Bhosle	....	special thanks (as Smt. Asha Bhosle)
Rahul Dev Burman	....	special thanks (as Late Shri R.D. Burman)
Deepika Padukone	....	special thanks
Anjum Rajabali	....	acknowledgment

Production Companies

• Cheyenne Enterprises
• Fox STAR Studios
• Louverture Films
• Ramesh Sippy Entertainment

Distributors

• 20th Century Fox Australia (2011) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Fox Searchlight Pictures (2011) (USA) (theatrical)
• Jalan Distributors (2011) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Fox World Cinema (2011) (USA) (DVD)
• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Special Effects

• Futureworks (DI, VFX and Sound Post)

Other Companies

• Crop  opening title sequence
• Seek Red  publicity creatives
• Spice  media consultants

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, drug content and some language

Runtime:

128 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi | English | Russian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital (Dolby 7.1 Surround Sound)

Certification:

Australia:MA15+ | Ireland:15A | Singapore:NC-16 | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #46770)

Filming Locations:

Goa, India

Company:

Cheyenne Enterprises

Trivia:

Zeenat Aman songs Laila O Laila from Qurbani 1980 and Dum Maro Dum Hare Rama Hare Krishna 1971 were remixed around the same time in Chalo Delhi 2011 and Dum Maro Dum 2011 where she had said that she liked the remixed version of Laila O Laila more than Dum Maro Dum.

Movie Connections:

Remake of Traffic (2000)

Soundtrack:

Thayn Thayn

A Nutshell Review: Dumb Maaro Dumb

Item girls are back with a vengeance given the much talked about Sheila Ki Jawani with the midriff baring Katrina Kaif in Farah Khan's Tees Maar Khan, that fast forward till today the buzz baton was ringing very loudly for Deepika Padukone in her item for Dumb Maaro Dumb. But personally I still preferred Sheila for the music, the narrative flow in which it was picturized on, and of course the dance performance. In Mit Jaaye Gum (Dumb Maaro Dumb), Padukone got decked with a shorter dress number sporting a mean looking cobra tattoo, but I don't have a thing for the drugged out look, given this was solely a song and dance number performed at a rave party before Abhishek Bachchan's ACP Vishnu Kamath came gatecrashing with the cops in tow.

Dumb Maaro Dumb provided what I would deem as a lift from the rather lacklustre lineup of Bollywood films released so far in this year, with the story keeping it fairly simple, yet intriguing with a mystery, with a great ensemble of actors fleshing out their carefully crafted characters. It's a basic cops and robbers tale on the war on drugs in Goa where the stakes are high on either side of the law with matters and issues hovering around the grey, never outright black or white. Cops are on the take, gangsters can turn informers, and you're never too sure just who you can trust, and who will switch allegiance.

Which makes the film thoroughly engaging to follow, paced fairly quickly and clocking just over two hours. The first half of the film before the interval allowed director Rohan Sippy to dabble with a non linear narrative structure to introduce the lead characters, starting with Lorry (Prateik, last seen in Mumbai Diaries), a student at the crossroads of his educational path, being stopped short at clinching a scholarship, and therefore unable to follow his girlfriend to the USA for further studies. Money woes meant subjecting himself to influences from a friend who had persuaded him fast cash from being a drug mule. Then there's the story of ACP Kamath, a once corrupt cop on the take who had now turned his life around given the death of his family, and going all out to take the war on drugs by the horns. The romantic story arc of DJ Joki (Rana Daggubati) and Zoe (Bipasha Basu) has the lovebirds being impacted through the drug trade, with the former being a easy-going, laid back bystander to his girlfriend's woes, with the latter being really hard up to be an air-stewardess, and got sucked into a road of no turning back when short term gains were traded for longer term loyalties.

In some ways this is like Brian De Palma's The Untouchables, where Elliot Ness gathers a few good, uncorrupted man to form a core team to challenge the biggest gangster in town, and here, ACP Kamath does just that when he goes up against Lorsa Biscuta (Aditya Pancholi), a well connected and well oiled businessman who dabbles in the drug trade and is one of the biggest in Goa, carved out into various territories as controlled by various foreign enclaves operating the drug business. With ACP Kamath turning the heat on their operations, Biscuita becomes the guarantor of every drug baron's illegitimate business with the involvement of an enigmatic Michael Babbossa, who becomes the primary mystery man that ACP Kamath and team are trying to unravel.

So begins a cat and mouse game after the interval, where all story arcs merge into a single thread but between the two halves, the first was more of Sippy's playground with tremendous use of seamless and slick editing techniques and transitions. And something that I've always enjoyed watching is the extended single take of an action scene, which Dumb Maaro Dumb now has bragging rights to, involving a very fluid camera following ACP Kamath and team as they go on a drug bust in a building, continuously weaving into and out of corridors and doors, windows and down a drain pipe even in one long extended take. I'm always in awe given the sheer amount of planning that goes behind the scene to have this achieved, and it is nothing short of fascinating always.

The violence is strong as well with ACP Kamath and the villains all dishing out punishment in no holds barred style, whether using a weapon or through their bare fists. And again there will be the usual police tricks and unorthodox techniques used by the no nonsense ACP that may raise some questions, even though he's given the mandate by the chief minister to eradicate the drug problem. It's been some time since Abhishek Bachchan had headlined a box office success, and I'm backing this film to be that shot in the arm for him as he reunites with director Rohan Sippy (since Bluffmaster). Rana Daggubati also shone especially in the second half of the film where his role got expanded and turned meatier, but unfortunately for Prateik he had opened the film, but because of the narrative had to disappear for the most parts in the second half.

Still, this is one of the more satisfying Hindi films that I've seen in recent weeks, with a strong story by Shridhar Raghavan (dialogues by Purva Naresh) coupled with strong performances from the ensemble cast that makes you feel for the characters and their predicaments. Music by Pritam stand out excellently, and if you're in need of a good old fashioned cops and robbers thriller with a mix of interesting cinematography techniques employed, then Dumb Maaro Dumb will be your film of choice this week. Highly recommended as it goes into my shortlist as some of the best of this year!