Movie starts with a mini trailer of RSE (Rohan Sippy Entertainment), that reminds you of the offbeat movies like “Bluffmaster”, “Sholay”, “Taxi 9-2-11”. Dum Maro Dum fails to beat those movies, atleast does not match up to the creativity of the previous RSE block-buster movies.

Apt title, inspiring back-ground score, clear-cut characterization and the fact that the plot deals with pest-control of a social-evil are the sole strengths of the movie. Director Rohan Sippy has taken a cue from his father’s Sholay, where the characterization made the actors larger-than-life. People still remember Gabbar and not the original name of the legendary hindi villain. So will ACP Vishnu Kamath (Abhishek Bachchan) be remembered for long? One needs to wait and watch. However Deepika Padukone’s item number fails to evoke the same response from the crowd as did Helen’s Mehbooba number.

Right from the word go, AB punches the thugs in their faces, the background-score helps elevate the character. Thankfully, the ACP does not have a family through the course of the movie, avoiding the “emotional atyachar” from the villian’s side. In most of the cop movies (even as recent as Dabaang), families become a major weak point for the protagonist and boring for the audiences. Early loss of family turns ACP Vishnu Kamath revengeful against Drug-Mafia, setting the foundation for an action-packed script. Sadly for ACP Vishnu, there are no memorable punch dialogues that the crowd can take back with them.

The first half of the movie exposes the drug-trafficking methodology in the GOAN union territory, introduces the characters, their strengths, their flaws and how they are interconnected. A simple connect-the-dots exercise for the movie viewers.

The second half of the movie is a la “Who is John Galt” pursuit. John Galt is a fictional character in Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged”. Right from page one in this book, there is a mysterious question “Who is John Galt”. Few think of him to be a pirate, a mafia, a shadow, a representative of destruction. Uttering his name would mean death. In Dum Maro Dum, we have the “Who is Michael Barbosa” pursuit. And the discovery of Michael Barbosa thrills you in the same as the discovery of John Galt, though the process of discovery is slow, elongated and at times torturous!

Pratiek Babbar’s expressions remind you of Actor Siddharth’s. So is there a proven theory of Plagiarism in movies/ acting? If yes, then Siddharth could sue Pratiek ! Rana Daggubanti does a neat role. However he needs to spend more time in-front of the mirror, for he may think he is emoting but his thought needs to transcend down to the audiences as well. Other than AB, it is Uber-hot Bipasha Basu and equally hot Mariah Pucu and a witty twist in the end offer you some redemption for your ticket charge. And you get Goan sight-seeing too! Wait for a month and you could catch this movie on Set-Max, as they are raking in good profits from the IPL 4!

— Varun Mannava.