Dhoom 2 (), also known as Dhoom 2: Back in Action, is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language caper action film directed by Sanjay Gadhvi with script and dialogues written by Vijay Krishna Acharya from a story by Aditya Chopra, who produced the film under Yash Raj Films. The film, a sequel to Dhoom and the second installment of the Dhoom series, stars Hrithik Roshan, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Uday Chopra, and Bipasha Basu.
Dhoom 2 was shot primarily in India, Durban and Rio de Janeiro, becoming the first major Hindi film to be shot in Brazil. Dhoom 2 was released on 24 November 2006 to positive reviews from critics, with praise for its action sequences, soundtrack, cinematography and cast performances (particularly Roshan), but criticism for its script and pacing. The film grossed over and became the highest grossing Hindi film of 2006. It became the highest-grossing Hindi film of all time at the time of its release, before being surpassed by Om Shanti Om (2007), and the second highest-grossing Hindi film in overseas markets behind Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006), also co-starring Bachchan.
At the 52nd Filmfare Awards, Dhoom 2 received 8 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director (Gadhvi) and Best Actress (Rai), and won Best Actor (Roshan). The film also marks the second collaboration between Bachchan and Roshan after Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon (2003), and the fourth between Bachchan and Rai after Dhai Akshar Prem Ke (2000), Kuch Naa Kaho (2003) and Umrao Jaan (2006); the latter two fell in love during the production of Dhoom 2 and got married the following year.
Dhoom 2 proved to be controversial post release, due to an appeal by the Mumbai city police commissioner to censor the fast-paced action scenes, owing to fears that it would inspire Indian youths to ride their motorcycles rashly, resulting in an increase in the number of road accidents.
A sequel titled Dhoom 3 was released on 20 December 2013. Abhishek Bachchan has since named Dhoom 2 as his favorite film in the series.
Plot In the Namib Desert. Mr. A skydives onto a train that is carrying Queen Elizabeth II, where he steals her crown by disguising himself as the Queen, beats her guards and escapes. ACP Jai Dixit and newly promoted SI Ali Akbar Khan are introduced to Shonali Bose, Jai's best friend and a special officer assigned to investigate Mr. A's case. During the initial investigation, Jai analyses the underlying trend in Mr. A's heists and calls him a "perfect thief" getting impressed by the patterns of his heists and concludes that the theft will follow in one of two famous Mumbai city museums. Jai realizes that the artifact in the museum, which he is guarding, happens to be imperfect and rushes to the other museum, where a Mr. A disguised as a statue then an old security staff steals a rare diamond and escapes from the museum.
Mr. A is about to catch a flight, but he sees on the TV that someone else is claiming to be himself and learns that the imposter challenges the cops by saying that they will steal an ancient warrior sword. In response, Jai, Shonali and Khan enforce a strict guard at the location of the sword. Mr. A meets the thief who made the claim on TV in the room that holds the sword. The police are alerted, but Mr. A swiftly manages to steal the sword and escape with the imposter injuring Shonali in the confrontation. The impersonator turns out to be Sunehri Kaur, who idolises Mr. A. Sunehri wants to form an alliance with Mr. A, but he turns her down. After a game of basketball, Mr. A finally agrees to work with Sunehri.
In Rio de Janeiro, Mr. A and Sunehri plan their next heist. As Jai's analysis has named Rio as the location of Mr. A's next heist, Jai and Ali travel there and meet Monali, Shonali's twin sister who falls in a consensual love with Ali. Later, Sunehri meets with Jai to discuss her partnership with Mr. A, revealing that they are working together and Jai has promised Sunehri freedom from prison in exchange. The plan is for Sunehri to get close to Mr. A and find out his next plan so that the police can arrest him, but she begins to have her doubts. Mr. A and Sunehri fall in love with each other, where he unveils his real identity as Aryan Singhania and starts preparing Sunehri with his methods for next heist. During the Rio Carnival, Aryan, disguised as one of the entertainers, sees Sunehri and Jai together and realizes that Sunehri has been working undercover for Jai. Later Aryan spends the night amongst Jai's team and with Sunehri along with revealing himself to Jai and engaging in a cop-thief relationship conversation with him.
The next day, Aryan forces Sunehri to play a game of Russian roulette, though she doesn't want to shoot him. After six attempted shots, neither is killed, because Aryan never loaded the gun. Sunehri admits that she betrayed Aryan and confesses her love for him and they shares a passionate kiss. In their final heist, Aryan and Sunehri steals some early Lydian coins while disguised as performing dwarfs and later as school going kids. With the heist successfully pulled off, Jai realises that he has been betrayed, as Sunehri called him on the phone to reveal that she wants to stay with Aryan and breaks off their deal, forcing Jai and Ali to chase them. After the chase, all of them end up on the top of a waterfall, where Ali catches Sunehri while Aryan and Jai exchange blows at each other. Sunehri, despite conveying her feelings for Aryan, shoots him after he indirectly asks her to kill him by pointing towards Jai that if he had ever loved someone to the extent he would die by his lover's hands for the sake of their love. Aryan falls from the waterfall, after which Jai allows Sunehri to go free as her punishment to stay alone as she can't betray not even herself by staying alone same as once Aryan stated to her.
Six months later, it is revealed that Aryan survived and has opened a restaurant in the Fiji islands with Sunehri and they have happily settled with each other. Jai meets Aryan and Sunehri at the restaurant and states that he does not wish to imprison the couple despite their crimes as the thieves inside them are already dead now and they have started a new life afresh despite them agreeing to surrender themselves. Aryan reveals that all of his robberies artifacts can be found via a digital watch. Jai is aware of the couple's feelings towards each other and releases them with a warning against returning to their life of crime. After leaving, Jai receives a phone call, and informs Ali, who seems to have settled with Monali, that they should be heading back to India for their next case while Aryan and Sunehri are shown to have a happy life through the title track.
Cast Hrithik Roshan in a dual role as Aryan Singhania alias Mr. A: A skilled thief and Sunehri's love-interest Queen Elizabeth II (Cameo) Abhishek Bachchan as A.C.P Jai Dixit Aishwarya Rai as Sunheri Kaur: A thief and Aryan's love-interest Uday Chopra as Sub Inspector Ali Akbar Fateh Khan: Jai's right-hand man; Monali's love-interest Bipasha Basu in a dual role as A.C.P Shonali Bose: Jai's colleague; Monali's twin sister Monali Bose: Ali's love-interest; Shonali's twin sister Rimi Sen as Sweety J. Dixit: Jai's wife (special appearance) Yusuf Hussain as Mumbai Police Commissioner Mohit Chauhan as Chief Security Guard Sushant Singh Rajput as an uncredited background dancer behind Hrithik Roshan in the song "Dhoom Again"
Production
Development The Dhoom franchise began with the release of Dhoom in 2004. The film emerged as a commercial success at the box-office and received positive reviews from audiences, but mixed-to-negative reviews from critics. As a result, producer Yash Chopra announced plans for a sequel, titled Dhoom 2 – Back in Action. John Abraham, portrayer of Kabir Sharma, the villain of the predecessor, was eliminated from the sequel because Chopra did not want Dhoom 2 to repeat the stories featured in its predecessor. Instead, Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai were introduced into the franchise as the sequel's main villains. Rai's character was summarized as Catwoman, a female fictional comic book femme fatale or anti-hero. Rai stated, "All I can tell you is it would be nothing like anything you've seen me do before." Producer Aditya Chopra told Rai to lose weight after she gained it for her role in Bride & Prejudice (2004). Yash Chopra stated, "But yes, the role does require Rai to convey oodles of sensuality. She has asked for a couple of months to get into shape. We (at Yash Raj Films) are very clear about every character in every script and what's required of the actors. Before Dhoom, Esha Deol was specifically briefed about the look and the attitude she needed to cultivate. She readily agreed, and look at what Dhoom did to her career!" Roshan also lost 5 kg for his role at Aditya Chopra's request. With the exception of Abraham and Deol, all of the other main actors in Dhoom reprised their roles for Dhoom 2.
Filming Dhoom 2 was filmed in Mumbai (India), Namibia, Durban (South Africa), and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), making it the first Bollywood movie to be shot in Brazil. In total, production lasted 18 months and cost of . To ensure the sequel would be different from the original, which became famous for its brash motorcycle stunts, director Sanjay Gadhvi included very few motorcycles in Dhoom 2. Nonetheless, Roshan's role required him to perform several dangerous stunts involving activities such as roller-blading, sand boarding and snow-boarding.
Dhoom 2 made extensive use of visual effects, which were filmed at Yash Raj Studios. While shooting at Yash Raj Studios, the film suffered from a flood that destroyed the studio sets and delayed production. Fight and action sequences were storyboarded before being shown to Gadhvi and Allan Amin, who would make changes. The scenes were then sketched, given "proper shot-list[s]", and shared with Tata Elxsi, who oversaw the pre-visualization of the sequences. Several scenes were filmed with the use of green screen and computer-generated imagery. For example, the stunts Roshan performed on a train in the Namib Desert used green screen; after Roshan recorded the stunts on a set, Gadhvi traveled to the desert to film the background. Other stunts were performed by stuntmen whose faces were later digitally exchanged with the actors'.
The bullet effects and Roshan's gadgets and the mechanical arm were also computer-generated. The scene involving Bachchan coming out of a lake using a jet ski was created using a green screen. The stunt came out at 90 degrees, but Gadhvi wanted a 60 degrees jump. So, it was shot with a Super 35, and hence the angle could be changed. Gadhvi discussed the use of technology in an interview:
Music
The soundtrack of Dhoom 2 was composed by Pritam Chakraborty with lyrics penned by Sameer except "Dhoom Again" by Asif Ali Beg. Although most of the song's lyrics are primarily written in Hindi with some English, "Dhoom Again" is almost entirely in English. The soundtrack received mixed reviews from critics but high praise from the audience. It became the best-selling Bollywood soundtrack of the year.
Release Dhoom 2 was released on 24 November 2006 in India, where it received the widest release in Indian cinema at the time with over 1800 prints, including 250 digital copies. Some locations raised ticket prices for the film.
Legal issues