Dus (2005)
Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Abhishek, Sunil & Shilpa Shetty, Esha Deol, Zayed Khan
Director: Anubhav Sinha
Music Director: Vishal-Shekhar
Synopsis: The Kick ass bombastic summer action movie genre arrives in Bollywood
Reviewed by: Faiz Khan

 

Dus bursts onto the screen with the title song "Dus Bahane", introducing us to two of our heroes, Abhishek Bachchan and Zayed Khan, in a James Bond-style routine, followed by a convoy of sleek black cars bringing in the remaining members of the Anti-Terrorist Cell—Siddhant Dheer (Sanjay Dutt), Shashank Dheer (Abhishek Bachchan), Aditi (Shilpa Shetty) and Aditya (Zayed Khan). The film then proceeds at breakneck speed with the team in action. Slowly but surely, you begin to understand the dynamics between them and, up until this point, the film is a complete blast (pun not intended).

The plot centres around the Anti-Terrorist Cell trying to track down a terrorist whom no one has ever actually seen, although intelligence reports have led them to believe that some catastrophic terrorist activity is due to take place on the 10th of May. We have a name—Jamwaal—and certainly no prizes for coming away with the feeling that we have a Keyser Söze clone on our hands. Two members of the team, Bachchan and Zayed, are dispatched to Canada to track down the dreaded Jamwaal, where they encounter a desi Canadian cop, Dan (Suniel Shetty), who joins forces with them along with another agent, Neha (Esha Deol). After kidnapping Himmat Mehndi (Pankaj Kapur), the foursome attempt to uncover Jamwaal's identity and whereabouts, while Siddhant Dheer back home is dealing with the kidnapping of his sister, which in turn leads to the discovery that there is a nigger in the woodpile as far as the Anti-Terrorist Cell itself is concerned.

Sadly, at this stage we become burdened with subplots—one involving Shashank and Neha and another concerning Dan's long-suffering wife. We simply don't need them, nor do we need lengthy explanations about Dan's personal anguish and the death of his unborn child, for which he blames himself. All of this merely slows the film down and diverts attention from what should have been a straightforward thriller. This is a plot that demands simplicity of narrative, not the convoluted mess it eventually becomes.

Dus certainly has a slick appeal and clearly aspires to be a Hollywood-style action thriller, but Bollywood still struggles to carry off this sort of large-scale action convincingly. The car chase involving our two heroes trapped inside a vehicle carrying a bomb generates surprisingly little suspense, while Zayed Khan's comic antics constantly remind you that this is little more than another comic interlude. Sure enough, the car explodes spectacularly on a bridge amidst the picturesque Canadian countryside... but the thrill simply isn't there. The climax suffers from much the same problem. It is complicated without ever becoming genuinely exciting.

Having said that, Dus has more than enough juice in its first half to keep the engine running.

The second half, however, begins to drag. Between the unnecessary subplots and at least one completely redundant song, the film threatens to run out of petrol and stall long before it reaches the finish line. The central plot, which could have been genuinely intriguing, becomes buried beneath an ever-expanding collection of characters until you begin to lose track altogether. Who exactly is Asif? Who was Ashraf? The sequence of events becomes increasingly muddled as screen time is distributed amongst the entire star cast, often at the expense of the story itself. Style gradually overtakes content and the film makes no attempt to disguise the fact that it is aiming to be a mindless blockbuster where realism is happily discarded in favour of slow motion, machine-gun fire and Lara Croft-style kicks and stunts.

Anubhav Sinha shows himself to be a very capable director, executing the film with considerable style and confidence. Unfortunately, the build-up proves far more satisfying than the climax, which is something of a disappointment. The twists continue to arrive and several are quite cleverly conceived, but they are never fully capitalised upon. The screenplay itself contains some fairly sizeable craters masquerading as plot holes, although this is hardly the sort of film one watches for logic or justification. You simply accept the action for what it is. Trimming a good thirty minutes from the running time would have improved the film enormously. One also comes away with the feeling that something much more interesting could have emerged from this material. The scent of The Usual Suspects lingers throughout.

Sanjay Dutt plays Siddhant Dheer, the patriarchal figure who provides the backbone of the team. He carries himself with authority and remains the film's principal strength. Abhishek Bachchan has none of the gormlessness that characterised some of his earlier performances. Here is an actor steadily growing into the big league and demanding your attention. Unfortunately, the script lets him down somewhat but he still makes a strong impression. Suniel Shetty could quite easily have been edited out of the film altogether and, if anything, the film might have benefited. Shilpa Shetty, once again buried beneath layers of make-up, nevertheless gives a perfectly decent performance. Zayed Khan is simply irritating with his geeky grin and excessive dependence on style over substance. Esha Deol seems to have undone much of the goodwill she earned in Dhoom and is frankly rather alarming. Pankaj Kapur, as always, carries off his role with customary ease.

The background score is excellent and Vishal-Shekhar's songs were already chartbusters before the film's release. All this contributes to the film's slick, glossy appearance. Dus could have been something really special but ultimately settles for being enjoyable, if not particularly memorable. It occupies much the same territory as Kaante...

...but Kaante was the more interesting film.