…aka ‘Dhoom-3’.

Dhoom-3, the latest in the Dhoom franchise forces you to redefine words like ‘circus’, ‘magic’, ‘illusion’, and ‘reality’. If you succeed in doing so,  you might be able to sit through this ‘fast’ paced revenge caper that is a cross between a ‘James Bond’ and a ‘Pink Panther’.

Let me present a few cerebral challenges that you might face if you attempt to slot it in either of the above instead of the hybrid.

• Jackie Shroff is a visionary who saw that animals based circus feats would be passe and takes it on him to reinvent circus with the help of magic. Much later, his revenge seeking son, adds a few acrobatics to give it some semblance of circus.
• All it takes for international police to summon Indian super cops is notes left by criminals in Hindi. These Indian super cops come in between scenes, unlike the old films where they come in the climax secene and arrest the baddies. (By the way, Indian super cops do not even arrest the baddies in this film).
• A bank can go public and still have all its branches in a single city. Such banks extend loans based on full dress rehearsals.
• Dhoom-3 baddie (Aamir Khan) grows up into a handsome young(?)man in his 20s? in the span of 13 years and works hard on his tap dance, muscles and updating his father’s tricks. But he does not inherit his father’s vision and limits his revenge to one old banker who once scowled at his father and did not extend the bank loan beyond five days.
• Bikes vroom in and out real slow to make sure the riding star is established, even if such stunts are badly executed on set and off-set. (Is it the only way to ensure screen space for stars amidst too many stunt scenes featuring doubles?)
• When you adapt themes from Hollywood films, simple substitutions will work just fine. For example, take ‘The Prestige” and substitute a pigeon with a kid and voila, you have a second-half. Of course, no kids are harmed in this movie.

Now, for the saving grace in this record breaking movie.

The makers of the movie chose not to incorporate the ‘great indian rope trick’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_rope_trick) and let Aamir Khan get away with his crime. Or did he? I didn’t quite understand the ending and the theme song kicked in.

Spoiler alert for Telugus- ‘Police Brothers’