Dhoom 3 (), stylised as Dhoom: 3, is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film written and directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya and produced by Aditya Chopra, who co-wrote the story. The film, which is the third installment of Dhoom series, stars Aamir Khan as the anti-hero with Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra reprising their roles as protagonists while Jackie Shroff and Katrina Kaif play supporting roles. Dhoom 3 marks Uday's final film appearance to date.
Dhoom 3 was released on 20 December 2013. It was the first Hindi film to be released in IMAX; the film also used Dolby Atmos surround sound.
Dhoom 3 received mixed reviews from critics and grossed worldwide in just ten days, to become the highest-grossing Indian film of all time at that time, before becoming the first Indian film to cross . It eventually grossed worldwide gross of ₹556.74–558.42 crore. The film was screened during the 2014 International Film Festival of India in the Celebrating Dance in Indian Cinema section.
Plot In 1990, Iqbal Haroon Khan, who owns The Great Indian Circus in Illinois, is ordered by the Western Bank of Chicago to close down the circus as he cannot repay his loan. Dejected, Iqbal commits suicide in front of his young son Sahir Iqbal Khan and the officials, including Chairman Warren Anderson.
In 2013, Sahir robs various branches of the Western Bank of Chicago as revenge. Despite all efforts of law enforcement, the Chicago Police are unable to capture him. Detective Victoria calls A.C.P Jai Dixit and Sub Inspector Ali Akbar Fateh Khan for help. Sahir restarts The Great Indian Circus and hires Aaliya Hussain as an acrobat. Sahir poses as an informant for Jai and manages to gather information on the bank while providing Jai with a false lead to follow. Eventually, Sahir robs the bank, but Jai shoots him in the left shoulder before he disappears.
At The Great Indian Circus's grand premiere, Sahir performs a teleportation trick in which he disappears and reappears in a different place. The show becomes a success. After the show, Jai, Ali, and the police surround him. When Sahir is examined, there is no gunshot wound on his body. It is then revealed that Sahir has an autistic twin brother, Samar Iqbal Khan, who helps him pull off the tricks and robberies and is the one who sustained the gunshot wound. Jai is fired from the case but is encouraged by Ali to prove Sahir guilty by going rogue.
Jai finds out about Samar, who is kept in seclusion by Sahir and is allowed outdoors once a week. Jai manages to befriend him during this time, intending to use him to catch Sahir. Samar falls in love with Aaliya, while Sahir finds out about Jai using his brother. Sahir tricks Jai and almost kills him, but Ali saves him. Sahir and Samar successfully pull off their final bank heist, but are cornered at a dam on their way out of town. Samar hesitates to run when Aaliya appears, begging him to stop. Sahir pretends to surrender to Jai, asking him to spare Samar; when Jai agrees, Sahir attempts to jump off the dam- but Samar grabs Sahir's hand, and he begs Samar to let him go, saying Samar can live freely with Aaliya. Samar declares that they were born together and should die together, and lets go of his hand, and the twins fall to their deaths. In the aftermath, Western Bank of Chicago is shut down due to the heists, while Aaliya takes over The Great Indian Circus and performs in Samar's memory.
Cast
Production
Development Prior to principal photography, Dhoom 3 enjoyed widespread media coverage due to the tremendous box office successes of previous instalments Dhoom 2 and Dhoom as well as the confirmation of Aamir Khan as the film's lead antagonist, thereby creating anticipation amongst the audience and media. On 2 January 2011, producer Aditya Chopra confirmed that the third instalment of the Dhoom series would begin principal photography by the end of 2011. Initially, Chopra and Khan wanted to release the film on Christmas of 2012, but the plan was scrapped in favour of an early release date in 2013, mainly due to a forecast that a Christmas release would force a rushed post-production schedule, which was considered unfavorable given the high degree of technicality required for the film. Around was spent just on the production side of Dhoom 3.
Reportedly, Chopra wanted to make the film in 3D after observing the successes of previous Bollywood films released in this format. However, Khan opined that the 3D technology needed expertise and was unsure of the outcome of its utilisation by the director. , YRF Studios had not announced the production of the film in 3D.
Casting Aamir Khan joined the cast as the lead antagonist after he enjoyed hearing the script, while Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra were confirmed to reprise their roles as Jai Dixit and Ali Akbar respectively. Khan learned ballet aerobatics and the French technique of parkour, a method of movement focused on negotiating obstacles with speed and efficiency, while Katrina Kaif took paragliding training and singing lessons. Bachchan reportedly lost nine kilos of weight to prepare for his role in the film. Rimi Sen, who played Jai's wife Sweety in the previous instalments of the series, was not approached to reprise the part. However, she stated that she would not have agreed even if offered.
Unlike the first two Dhoom films directed by Sanjay Gadhvi, Vijay Krishna Acharya, the writer of all three instalments of Dhoom, was roped in to direct Dhoom 3; Gadhvi had, however, himself clarified that he wanted to get involved with films outside the franchise and thus chose not to direct the third film, instead helming Kidnap (2008) for Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Limited and Ajab Gazabb Love (2012) for Pooja Entertainment over the course of Dhoom 3'''s development. Acharya, in the meantime, had earlier made his directorial debut with the Yash Raj Films production Tashan (2008). Olliver Keller was signed to direct the stunt scenes.
Khan stated in an interview that his role in Dhoom 3 is the toughest role so far in his life. The action scenes were directed by Conrad Palmisano and Sham Kaushal. In an interview with IANS, Bachchan expressed how every character of Dhoom 3 is significant: "...Dhoom is my film and I am the hero. Nobody can take that away from me. You can be the biggest or the smallest star but Dhoom is about Jai and Ali. It is as simple as that. If the characters of Jai and Ali are not there in Dhoom, the film won't be there."
On 23 September 2013, three months before the actual release of the film, DNA and other media news publications revealed that Khan could play a double role in Dhoom 3, but they did not confirm it. The dual role was only confirmed at the release of the film. This made Dhoom 3 the first and currently the only film in the series in which the antagonist has a double role. However, this was not the first time the series featured a double role, since Bipasha Basu had a double role in Dhoom 2 as Shonali and Monali, but they did not share the same screen space, unlike Khan's characters. Neil Nitin Mukesh and Kamal Haasan were also speculated to appear, but this was proven to be false.
Filming
Filming was scheduled to commence from November 2011, with scenes involving Bachchan and Uday being shot first, but the former was off on a paternity leave, causing the shoot to be postponed to January 2012. The schedule was then pushed to June because of Khan's prior commitments to his TV show Satyamev Jayate; in June, the filming schedule was further postponed for a month because Khan wanted to prepare himself for his role of a gymnast. Khan also wanted to concentrate on the marketing and promotion of his then-upcoming film Talaash, a co-production he also headlined. Without any further delays, filming commenced with Jackie Shroff and Siddharth Nigam, the child actor playing child Sahir, on 8 June 2012 at the YRF Studios in Mumbai.
Khan joined the crew in July 2012, filming for five days at Yash Raj Studios and further continued to shoot in Chicago and other parts of the United States. He, Bachchan and Uday flew to the US on 4 August 2012 to complete a three-month schedule. On arrival in India in December 2012, Bachchan stated that fifty percent of filming was complete and would again resume in Mumbai.
In the second week of March 2013, it was reported that the crew had departed for Zurich and Ticino, Switzerland to film the climax. Filming finally wrapped up on 14 September 2013 at a suburban studio in Mumbai.
The climactic scene in Dhoom 3 was shot at the famous arch dam, Contra Dam (commonly known as the Verzasca Dam) in Ticino, Switzerland. It became a popular bungee jumping venue after a James Bond stuntman jumped off it in the opening scene of the 1995 film GoldenEye."Jumping off the dam (Dhoom3)" , Filmapia
Music
It was announced that the composer of Dhoom and Dhoom 2; Pritam, would return once again to compose the music of the third instalment. Earlier reports suggested that Shefali Alvares had been roped to sing the Dhoom title track, but this turned out to be a rumour. Aamir said in a statement that the title track "Dhoom Machale Dhoom" is dedicated to Sachin Tendulkar who was then playing his 200th and final test match at the Wankhede Stadium.
Release In November 2013, Aditya Chopra sent out a message to movie exhibitors all over the country to "Go digital or miss Dhoom 3." In detailed statements, he claimed, "Release of movies through digital and UFO digital cinema prevents piracy as the prints are water-marked and finger-printed and can be traced back. It is believed that films are usually copied for piracy when the reels are being transported to theatres in the country and abroad. Digital cinema curbs piracy as the 'en route' content leakage is eliminated. It also makes sense economically as a producer saves a lot of printing costs. Apart from that, encrypting the content protects the copyrights of the producers and distributors. Digital prints prevent duplication of prints and help by diverting funds back to the cinemas."
IMAX Corporation and Yash Raj Films announced that Dhoom:3 would be the first Indian local language production to be released in the IMAX format. The film was digitally remastered in the IMAX format with proprietary IMAX DMR (Digital Re-mastering) technology and was released in IMAX theatres across India and selective global locations. Dhoom 3 was released with cinema sound technology Dolby Atmos. The film received a native Atmos mix at YRF Studios. Dhoom 3 was given a 12A certificate by the British Board of Film Certification for Moderate Violence 12 December 2013, for Moderate violence. The film was released across 4500 screens in India (inclusive of Tamil and Telugu versions) along with 750 screens overseas. Dhoom 3 had a release on 250 screens in West Bengal. The maximum ticket price of the IMAX version of Dhoom 3 was 900 (15) in India. Cinépolis Pune set a unique record by hosting 54 shows of Dhoom 3 on 20 December 2013. Dhoom 3 was also released in non-traditional overseas markets like Egypt, Peru, Germany and Malaysia. Dhoom 3 was slated to release in China on 25 July 2014."Bollywood enters China to slay trade deficit; Dhoom-3's mega release part of plan" . The Economic Times. This was to be the widest release ever for an Indian film in China, with 2000 screens across 400 cities.
Marketing
Pre-release