Dhoom 2

Director: Sanjay Gadhvi

Starring: Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, Uday Chopra

The sequel to 2004 smash hit, Dhoom II is a big budget action comedy from Bollywood, starring two of the top box office draws in Indian popular cinema today in hunky Hrithik Roshan and stunning Aishwarya Rai, familiar worldwide from appearances in films such as Bride and prejudice and as a former Miss World. These two share real chemistry as master thieves working as partners leaving a trail of mayhem behind and are ably supported by the cast of the original, including Uday Chopra and an intense and brooding performance from Abhishek Bachchan as a hard as nails detective.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Bollywood cinema this is an ideal place to begin as this film seems designed with that kind of crossover audience in mind. It has all of the typical Bollywood features and the musical set pieces are particularly satisfying examples but also has more familiar aspects that will remind novice audience of some of Hollywood's best recent action output. The production values are typically gorgeous; aside from the spectacularly designed musical numbers there are the requisite exotic locations, ranging from Namibia to Goa to Rio de Janeiro beautifully photographed by Vikas Sivaraman and the high-octane action set pieces, explosions and car chases.

The story sees Ali (Uday) return, now a policeman, working with ACP Jai Dixit (Abhishek) on the trail of an enigmatic master thief known only as Mr A. (Roshan). Mr A. is currently in the middle of the most audacious crime spree in the history of mankind with the aid of high-tech gadgetry and crazy disguises. Along the way the officers meet ACP Shonali Bose (Bibasha Basu) who has also been assigned to the case while Mr. A meets another thief and undoubtedly his biggest fan, Sunehri, and agrees to mentor her on his next heist in Rio where it may all just begin to unravel.

As with most Bollywood cinema, it has been heavily promoted on the basis of its musical content, which is catchy, poppy and makes the run-time sail by and features contributions from Pritam and Sunidi Chaushan among others. Its very easy to listen to and you may well come out whistling the theme tune.

Will McLeod