Movie Reviews

Dum

Starring – Vivek Oberoi, Diya Mirza, Sushant Singh, Mukesh Rishi, Govind Namdeo, Vivek Shauq, Neena Kulkarni and Atul Kulkarni

Release Date – January 24, 2003

SYNOPSIS - Dum is the story of a young man with strong principles.

Uday Shinde (Vivek Oberoi) is driven by fierce determination to become a police officer and cleanse the corrupt system that clogs the wheels of a civil society.

In his endeavor, Uday walks the less trodden path that is strewn with hurdles galore. His senior officers try to buckle him and subjugate him to the status of a mere minion, but to no use. Particularly, there is the psychotic cop Shankar (Atul Kulkarni) who keeps rubbing the young guy in a wrong way. But Uday gives him back in spades.

However, there are some cops who share Uday’s morality and determination to uphold the law.

For one, there is Mohan (Sushant Singh) who admires Uday’s mettle and befriends him.

Then there is Raj Dutt Sharma (Mukesh Rishi), a quiet cop who believes more in ‘action’ rather than words.

Besides these cops there is also another beautiful admirer of Uday. She is Kaveri (Diya Mirza), a TV host. Deep inside Kaveri loves Uday but he keeps rebuffing her advances in the beginning. However, he grows a soft corner for her with time.

Uday’s unflagging honesty soon wins him many enemies. Besides Shankar, there is a corrupt politician Deshmukh (Govind Namdeo) who uses his power and influence to tame Uday. But Uday is invincible.

The battle between Uday and his enemies hots up until it becomes a matter of life and death for both the parties. Who will prevail – Uday or his oppressors?

Vivek is on a roll with his films releasing back to back.  He already had Company, Road, and Saathiya in 2003 and he starts off with 2003 with Dum.  For a debutant, Vivek has already proven that he has talent.  The promos to Dum didn't impress me much but I watched the film for Vivek because I know he's a great actor.  I never thought of him as a good looking actor until Road but in Saathiya, he is just too adorable.

Dum is Vivek's film all the way.  The movie kind of reminds me of an 80s film with all the action and the heroine having nothing much to do.  Personally, I enjoyed the film much more than I expected.  The songs are great and choreographed nicely.  

Diya does little in the film but does a good job at what she's doing.  At times, you will see her resembling Aishwarya Rai.  Diya is not a bad actress or anything.  She just needs a good role to show her talent.  She already has the looks, figure, and dancing down...all she needs is a good role.  It took Aishwarya and Sushmita a while to get where they're at, so maybe it will take time for Diya to get there too.  Vivek looks great with Diya; however, I still prefer his pairing with Rani Mukherjee.

Atul Kulkarni is awesome.  He was already proved his great talent in Chandni Bar.  He comes back with with another negative role but this time, you just hate him in the film.  He and Vivek work well together.

Overall, the film is not that bad.  Only the ending dragged a little only because of Vivek and Atul getting back at each other.  The movie is definitely worth a watch for the Vivek Oberoi fans because it's his film.  This is not a "DumB" film.

7 out of 10

NiCKi

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