Review : Dus

Anubhav Sinha directs Dus, quite a departure from his earlier romantic flick “Tum Bin”. Dus is an action film; visual presentation is sublime, the action slick, the rest slippery. Lots of action sequences, some surprising twists, and catchy numbers make this film an entertainer. What brings this movie down a couple of notches is the inept handling of the non-action part of the film, and the non-development of the characters themselves. The shaky and cliched story-line isn’t new; only a repeat of yesterday’s hashes.

Siddhant (Dutt) heads the Anti Terrorist Cell (ATC). His close aides are Shashank (Bachhan), Aditya (Khan), Aditi (Shetty), Roy (Kamath). Hot on the trail of criminal Jamwal, Siddhant comes to know of a plot to cause the deaths of thousands of people. This act apparently will take place on the 10th of May, but exactly when or where the ATC does not know. Racing to prevent the catastrophe, Siddhant encounters stiff resistance from the Government because of corrupt ministers in Jamwal’s pay, and the Home Ministry decides to shut down the ATC in a week’s time. So Siddhant and his team must find Jamwal and prevent disaster in 7 days.

Hearing of Jamwal’s being in Canada, Siddhant dispatches 2 aides Shashank and Aditya to Canada. They, and resident ATC agent Neha (Deol), must capture Jamwal’s aide Himmat Mehndi, and pump him for information. Meanwhile in an encounter, the ATC gets hold of notorious criminal Altaf, who is in Jamwal’s gang. To free him, Altaf’s organization kidnaps Shashank’s sister (Mirza) and her husband. Siddhant tries to get Shashank’s sister and brother-in-law free, while trying to unearth a spy in his organization. Meanwhile Shashank and Aditya, aided by Canadian policeman Danish (Sunil), are in hot pursuit of the criminals in that country. Time is quickly ticking away. Are they able to prevent disaster ?

The story is fast-paced, and the acting is pretty decent, considering that emoting opportunities in this film are scarce. Logic is defied, i.e.; the script has holes in its reasoning, but the next car chase zaps all reason out of your mind. Shilpa gets to do a few action sequences, but the 4 men get to do it all. And they do it passably well. Action sequences are packed with lots of gun, cars, explosions, and sound effects are rife with the sound of squealing cars and screeching brakes. Everyone wears smart holsters and dresses like the men/women in black. Snappy repartees fly around like bullets.

Diya Mirza appears for one song sequence, and Raima Sen has a walk-on part as Danish’s wife. Pankaj Kapoor is excellent as psychotic Jamwal. Esha is as good a non-actor as ever, and her awkward wig helps. Besides Esha’s the only other female character allowed a few dialogues and a few lethal kicks is Ms. Shetty. I’d say her kicking is better than her acting. The 4 men bring in different flavors, Abhishek the smart-talking Shashank, Zayed the young and brazen yuppie Aditya, Sunil S. the not-so-intelligent Dan, and Dutt big brotherly Siddhant. Not all good flavors you understand, just different.

If you like action films, this one is for you. Added to the mix is a little family drama, i.e.; Siddhant and his little family of Crime-fighters who are like brothers etc. There is emotion to go with it of course, but that’s pretty much limited to Siddhant crying his eyes out and calling everyone (except Aditi) Beta. Surprisingly, there is almost no romance in the film. What little there is occurs in awkward places. Siddhant and Aditi love each other, but apart from Aditi acting coy in a dance sequence, we have no hint of that at all. Aditya apparently had feeings for Shashank’s sister, but she marries someone else. Shashank is in love with Neha, but never has the courage to express it. And Danish is trying to get back with his estranged wife.

Sinha misses out in developing the emotional quotient of the film. What you see is what you get. No more to it than meets the eye. What does strike one head-on is the stylish look of the film. Visual technique is polished and very Hollywood-ian. Clicking teletype letters on-screen name characters, actors move in slow-motion, and flash-backs are artistically sepia-tinted.

All said, this film didn’t keep me glued to my seat, but neither did it drive me out of the theater. A snazzy ride with stylish, and very desi cops. Jump on !