DHOOM

Starring: Abhishek Bachchan, Uday Chopra, John Abraham, Esha Deol, Rimii               Sen
Director: Sanjay Gadhvi
Music: Preetam
Producer: Aditya Chopra

Dhoom begins with a slick robbery in which an armoured truck is stripped of its money by four helmeted, leather-suited bikers. Despite the speed of the thrilling opening sequence, it is the super-bikes -- all from the Suzuki stable -- that grab your attention.

A gang of robbers led by Kabir (John Abraham, repeating his screen name from Jism) are carrying various impressive crimes in the city. They all zoom around on fantastic looking motorbikes, picking up loot in a series of pre-planned locations. The cops are obviously not too happy because they don't have a clue about the identity of the criminals and therefore cant try to end their crime spree.

Enter Jai (Abhishek Bachchan, repeating his father's screen name from Sholay), who is a dashing and talented cop assigned the job of catching the gang. Jay needs the help of a street-smart guy and seeks out Ali (Uday Chopra, not repeating any screen name!). Ali is a garage mechanic with hot biking skills. Although Jai and Ali don't really get along, they work together to solve the case.

DHOOM not only takes its inspiration from several Bollywood flicks, but also seems slightly similar to a few Hollywood thrillers [coincidental?], namely THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS and BIKER BOYZ.

The problem with DHOOM is that it relies too heavily on thrills to take it forward. That explains why the bike chase, at several points in the story, is far more interesting than the story itself. In fact, all you remember at the end of the show are some expertly executed chases [Allan Amin], not the drama.

Director Sanjay Gadhvi has concentrated too heavily in making each frame look beautiful. The film is a notch above the ordinary as far as the technique is concerned, but, perhaps, he isn't too well aware that what the viewer hopes to watch are not gadgets and gizmos or mean machines, but a well structured story.

Pritam's music sounds good to the ears. The title track [filmed on Esha, Uday] and 'Shikdum' [filmed on Abhishek, Rimi] can easily be singled out. The choreography of the title track in particular is spectacular. Cinematography is first-rate. As mentioned earlier, the thrills are the saving grace.

Abhishek Bachchan makes a sincere attempt to look the character. John Abraham looks cool as the evil guy. But it is Uday Chopra who stands out with an above ordinary performance, playing to the gallery completely. Rimi gets more scope than Esha; she is quite likeable.

On the whole, Dhoom does have a few loopholes but the film's fast-paced energy is more than enough to ensure your eyes don't stir from the screen for two-and-a-half hours. Go for it, make your day.

GURU

Starring: Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Mithun chakrawarty, Vidhya                    Balan, R.Madhavan
Director: Maniratnam
Music: A.R.Rehmaan
Producer:

The film opens in a small village in Gujarat where Gurukant Desai (Abhishek) lives with his family. He is not interested in earning big degrees and instead wants to earn big bucks. He moves to Istanbul to begin his career. His father, a headmaster, is hugely disappointed but allows him to go and thus begins the journey of Guru.

With dreams in his eyes, Guru lands in Istanbul and works his way to the top. But after working hard for seven years he takes a U-turn and returns home to start his own business because he doesn't want to waste his life serving other people.

The only hurdle between him and his dream is money and he finds the solution in his friend's sister Sujata (Aishwarya Rai). A restless young girl, jilted in love, finds no suitor but Guru decides to marry her because she will bring money for his business in the form of dowry.

After marriage Guru moves to Mumbai with his wife and brother-in-law. But things are not trouble-free here as Guru faces obstacles created by rich and powerful at each and every step.

Guru, however, is not discouraged - with time he learns to use loopholes in the system and pave a path for himself.

Abhishek is at his creative best in the film. He proves his mettle and makes you sit up and take note. He carries the entire film on his shoulders without faltering even once. Be it his body language or dialogue delivery - Abhishek excels in everything.

Performances by the supporting cast including Mithun Chakraborty, Sachin Khedekar and Manoj Joshi also keep up with him, making it an engrossing flick.

However, Vidya Balan's presence was not required in the film as she doesn't serve any purpose. R. Madhavan too is misfit but tolerable.

The sore point of the film is Aishwarya who fails to shed off her stiffness and once again Abhishek and Aishwarya fail to exude the right chemistry on screen.

Mallika Sherawat lives up to the expectations and sizzles the screen in a dance number picturised in Istanbul.

Like many of Ratnam's previous films, 'Guru' too was shot on actual locations. The major portion of the film takes place in Mumbai but the movie is never static, thanks to the superb camerawork of Rajiv Menon and Ratnam's full control over the narration. Anurag Kashyap's curt and crisp dialogues are sprinkled with humour.

So, to sum up, 'Guru' is worth a watch, at least once.