Dhoom 3

First let me cover what is it that I liked about the movie. The special effects. The scenes, for a change, look seamless despite heavy digital intervention. And for the first time in Hindi movies, 'Double Role' shots and stunts do not look giveaway and funny. Of course, you cant really not like Aamir Khan with his sincerity and hard work. Sets, specifically those of their house and the brothers' backstage work area are good and tend to set the right mood for the film.

Now for general observations, the story seems to be inspired by 'The Prestige' and 'Now you see me' (or so does it seem with my limited movies exposure). And softer aspects from these movies, aspects which fit in well for an Indian audience, have been lifted straight off. Father - son interdependence and bonding. Female protagonist (no matter how superficial her character sketch may, otherwise, be) does recognize differences in her relationship with apparently different personalities. Given that the brothers' expertise was magic, the number of tricks covered in the movie are unexpectedly low.

The story, however, is not as well woven as it could be. And that is surprising given that Aamir Khan was a part of the crew. There were a lot of elements which could have been used to make the story robust and grasping.

All three Dhooms so far have got into the trap of over glorification of their negative heroes. And if you are making a movie in India, you cant really let evil win over the good. So the only two exits out of such a situation is that you either kill the hero (Dhoom 1 & 3) and change him into good (Dhoom 2). If they decide to come out with the fourth edition (and which they very well can and should), may be this formula can be tweaked a bit to bring in some freshness.

The only place were Katrina's character finally got my attention was when she decided to carry forward 'The Great Indian Circus' singlehandedly. Did the director forget that, to start off with, the charm of their show was in having a body double or was their another Katrina in the hiding throughout the past 3 hours?