DHOOM (12A) 2 hours 9 mins Directed by: Sanjay Gadhvi Starring: Abhishek Bachchan, Uday Chopra, John Abraham, Esha Deol, Rimi Sen UK Release 27 August 2004

The tale begins in Bombay where a sophisticated gang of robbers is giving nightmares to the Police department. Their modus operandi is modeled on a twister. They come like the wind, sweep the place clean and disappear even before the word ‘Chor / Thief’ escapes the location. The high point of these robberies is always the getaway of the robbers on their zouped up bikes – the slickest, swiftest, meanest, riding machines on the roads. When CID officer Jai Dixit (Abhishek Bachchan) is drafted in to solve the mysterious robberies he doesn’t really know who or what he’s up against.

Soon Jai is on the trail of the robbers – a gang headed by Kabir (John Abraham) – an evil perfectionist with an attitude. By the shroud of night Kabir and his gang are robbers but by day they transform into inconspicuous pizza delivery boys who work at Pizza Hut. Jai in his hunt for the robbers bumps into Ali (Uday Chopra), and at first suspects him to be the “thief”. Instead it turns out that Ali is only a ‘tapori’ garage mechanic who has one agenda in life: to become a ‘familywala’ ASAP in life (which calls for the miracle of at least one girl falling in love with him). Besotted by Jai’s wife, Ali has found his way to the cop’s home. Jai hates him at first but soon realizes that the clown can ride bikes like the wind and decides to team up with him to chase the robbers.

Ali the reluctant recruit and Jai stakeout the thieves and set up an ambush. But, Kabir soon catches on to Jai-Ali’s teaming up and his arrogance pushes him to take the bull by the horn. He challenges Jai to catch him or leave the job. Jai, the proud officer that he is, takes on the challenge starting a maddening game between the good, the bad and the naughty.

With an ingeniously devised scheme, Kabir not only manages to split Jai and Ali but also takes away the biggest loot of all time from the city. He lures Ali into his gang and they shift their base from the mean streets of Bombay to the sun kissed beaches of Goa. Jai consequentially resigns from his job. Left alone, without a job and purpose in life, Jai lands up in Goa with his wife for a much-needed vacation.

Is Jai’s arrival in Goa just a coincidence or is it a part of a larger plan? How will Jai manage to catch Kabir and his gang without the help of either the police or Ali who is now working for them? What happens to Ali’s dream of finding a girl of his dreams and settle down in life? A stylish modern take on the ever-promising theme of Cops and Robbers, Dhoom! has fun, frolic, adventure, thrill and madness all thrown in- like your favorite ride in an amusement park… the only thing you want to do is to go back and take that ride all over again!