Dhoom Dhaam – My Flash Review!

It is always a good idea to watch any film without any expectations. You mostly watch it casually, and more often than not, the film ends up being good. That’s what happened with this film – Dhoom Dhaam, which is streaming on Netflix.

Boy meets Girl in a typical arranged marriage setting, and the marriage is fixed when the families like each other. The boy and the girl are not given much of an option or time to decide whether they are compatible. Before they could even make up their minds and before we could get a hang of the proceedings, the marriage is over and the couple is in a hotel suite preparing to celebrate their first night.

The marriage that happens very quickly is bereft of much Dhoom Dhaam (fanfare) but what follows in the next 1.5 hours is all fun fare. The girl played by Yami Gautam is a Dhoom Macha de type and the boy or rather the man played by Pratik Gandhi is clearly the opposite. This incompatibility unravels soon and becomes the source for some funny lines and sequences in the rest of the film.  In the beginning of that first night, two rank strangers knock at the room door and ask for some “Charlie”. The entire film, which is set in that one night, is then a game of mistaken identities, wild chases and some comedy of errors trying to find “Charlie”.

I remember Yami Gautam starting her career in TV serials playing the demure Bharatiya nari kind of roles. Of late, she has expanded her repertoire and in this she very competently plays the role of the girl who is tough, outspoken and fun-loving type while at the same time playacting as a compliant bhola bhala ladki at home. Gandhi, whose talent we saw in the web series Scam 1992, is very good as well. He gives a measured performance as demanded by the role.

The entire premise of the film endears itself to a lot of comedy sequences. The writers Arsh Vora, Aditya Dhar and the Director Rishab Seth himself take only partial advantage of the premise. There are funny moments arising out of funny incidents and funny lines, but these could have been much more in a film that threatens to be a quirky comedy now and then. The screenplay lags here and there, but thankfully picks up soon enough not to spoil the film.

From a direction perspective, the film has continuity issues dealing with different times in a night, for example. After the initial phase of suspense, the proceedings get a bit predictable and that’s where better writing could have lifted the film.

Dhoom Dhaam for most parts reminded me of Jab We Met (JWM) set in a different context. Yami Gautam’s character is modelled on Geet played by Kareena and Pratik’s character is similar to that of Shahid Kapur. In JWM, the girl plays a big role in the guy recovering from a setback and discovering himself, while in the 2^nd half, the guy helps the girl in finding her calling. The script of Dhoom Dhaam, if you look at it closely, is set in this template but with added humour.  It is what I call as a harmless comedy caper that is fully time pass.