Re: Dus Releases Today
It was love from Canada in music video director-turned-filmmaker Anubhav Sinha's last two flicks -- 'Tum Bin' and 'Aapko Pehle Bhi Kahin Dekha Hai'. Now, Anubhav brings terror in his bag. It was noticed in Anubhav's earlier films that he has a good control over technical skill for cinema. After all, he is a technical engineer and has brought some effect with him. Besides, the applause for this particular department made him go to make a thriller this time.
'Dus' was actually started years back by its producer Nitin Man Mohan with another technical wizard Mukul Anand. The film then had Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt as its leading men. Later, due to the sad demise of Mukul Anand, the film got shelved. However, the title of the film never get off from the mind of Nitin Man Mohan. So, when Anubhav Sinha was eyeing for a big break out of his mentor company T-Series, Nitin gave him this title and money, and decided to make a film that was poles apart (as claimed by Anubhav himself) from the original 'Dus'.
After a series of flops, filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt has accepted that he had lost the pulse of common viewer too. But, in Anubhav's case he is yet to accept this fact. His first film 'Tum Bin' was a moderate success and the second one a clear flop. 'Dus' is a turning point not only for Anubhav Sinha, but for all new film directors who win the trust of a filmmaker like Nitin Man Mohan. If Anubhav fails again, it will be loss for many new film directors too.
click for larger view 'Dus' is a film that deals with neo-terrorism. The title has nothing to do with the film; it's just a date that a terrorist outfit marks for the final attack. And, the code name for the attack is Jeet. The film has Pankaj Kapoor playing an outlaw after the great success in 'Maqbool'. But, many may not remember his first role as a Muslim terrorist in Manirathnam's 'Roja', a film that started a new trend where Pakistan was put as a villain on screen for the first time with its name.
Back to 'Dus', a team of special officers assembles to crack the code of Jeet. The team has Sanjay Dutt as DIG Siddhant of Anti-Terrorist Cell and is assisted by Shashank (Abhishek Bachchan), Aditi (Shilpa Shetty) and Aditya (Zayed Khan). With the help of Canadian police officer Dan (Suniel Shetty) and Neha (Esha Deol), they need to unearth the barbaric plans of deadliest terrorist Jamwal. 'Dus' has many angles to look at. At first, it has psychological pressures of the team that unites to finish Jamwal. The time set for the action is just one week.
The characters are very diverse; Siddhant cannot compromise with his duties and every other thing comes later for him. Shashank is a cool guy who never loses his temper. He reads the problem, and seconds before the bang happens, makes it safe for himself and others. Aditya is a fun-loving boy who loves action even if he is to play with bombs. The story line also has emotional strings. If Dan is suffering from his past love life and his son's death, Anu (Dia Mirza) is fantasizing about her dream man.
'Dus' is heavy in action thanks to some death defying sequences choreographed by stunt director Allan Amin. He has used latest techniques and effects to bring 'Dus' near to any Hollywood action movie. But if Indian people wanted to see just action on screen, won't they watch 'War of The Worlds' by Steven Spielberg? No one will doubt that Allan and Anubhav both cannot beat Spielberg in this respect.
So, after watching 'War of The Worlds', why would people come to see 'Dus', one wonders? The first plus point that favors good opening for the film is its multistarrer cast and its promotion. The title song has done enough to generate curiosity for the film.
It does create "Dus Bahane' (ten pretexts) for the people to watch it. This title track written by Panchchi Jalonvi has very good composition by Vishal Shekhar. But, that's it. There is just only one more song, an item number by Mayte Garcia, that has the entertainer value in the film.
Anubhav Sinha gets the biggest opportunity in his career to make it big in Bollywood, but he chooses a story (written by Yash Vinay) that has hardly anything new to tell. Though, as a dialogue writer Anubhav has improved a lot, the story progression is not in rhythm. The film's pace tries to confuse viewers, as it doesn't move with the pace of the film.
Among the actors, it's a Sanjay Dutt film and all other actors have just been used as props to fill the space. Abhishek Bachchan gets a role where he doesn't have to emote much; an area where he has been weak so far. Suniel Shetty overacts once again, and all the girls other than Shilpa, do not have much to do.
Background music of Ranjeet Barot succeeds a bit to create a right kind of ambience. But the overall impact of the film is that it has shine and a grand show, but lacks a soul. Not a very good going for Anubhav Sinha and his team.