16 Years Of Dhoom: A Film About Romanticising Action And Reinventing Careers

 

It's hard to recall which was Yash Raj Films' last action film before Dhoom. This has been a production house known for mounting pure and impassioned romantic tales that can only exist in fairy tales. The definition of true love found a new meaning with their brand of cinema. Dhoom, which came out in 2004, was, in a way, something refreshing for all of the people involved.

This was YRF's first foray into the action genre after years, it presented John Abraham like never before, it gave Uday Chopra a character that would become unforgettable, and it also gave Abhishek Bachchan his maiden blockbuster four years after his debut. But beyond all this, Dhoom was a film we could sit and enjoy, not bothering about the inanities and only enjoying the immense fun.

Dhoom romanticised action as much as the makers of this film celebrated romance before helming this. But it doesn't come as a surprise that it opens with a sensual song filmed on Bachchan and his wife, Rimi Sen. Even the music had a very different quality to it, not likely to be heard in a YRF album. It was pulsating, breakneck, and annoyingly contagious.

But it wasn't just an action film, it was also a love story, the love of Kabir (Abraham) for his bikes. Given the actor's fondness for the wheels, his casting in the film seemed appropriate. The impressionable youngsters could never get enough of the motorcycles that were showed in Dhoom, and Abraham suddenly became the hunk on the Hayabusa. It also gave us Chopra as Ali, a mumbling bike mechanic who fantasises every girl he puts his sight on and exists only for the laughs.

Dhoom was also an example of how production houses need to reinvent too, and not just the actors they work with. Jai, Ali, and YRF came back two years later with Dhoom 2, a bigger and grander sequel, with Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's collective gorgeousness acting as replacements for the stunning bikes. This was nearly a worthy follow up, and a perfect guilty pleasure. All one had to do was marvel at the makers' audacity to make heist look silly yet stylish. 

In Dhoom 3, melodrama and monologues made their way with two Aamir Khans robbing a bank to settle personal scores. The only thing that connects the three Dhooms apart from their gigantic box-office is the fact that in none of the films the thief has been nabbed, hope to see that change in Dhoom 4!