A decent entertainer inspired by a lot of films like Bad Boys, 21 Jump Street etc. with some atypical stunts, average comedy and punches is DISHOOM; out in theatres today. Directed by Rohit Dhawan,  it stars Varun Dhawan, John Abraham and Jacqueline Fernandez in the lead roles while Saquib Saleem and Akshaye Khanna are in special roles. There are three cameos out of which Akshay Kumar would impress you the most stealing the limelight! The film has been produced by Nadiadwala Grandsons Entertainment and has created substantial buzz despite its average promotions.

When you try to fuse comedy with thriller the result may not be always be appealing and this is what Rohit Dhawan has attempted which fails on screen. The action-adventure comedy revolves around two cops Kabir Shergill (John Abraham) and Junaid Ansari (Varun Dhawan) from either side of the Arabian Sea gear it up to find a cricketer(India’s top batsman Viraj) who has been abducted from the Middle East before the final Indo-Pak match by Rahul (Akshaye Khanna) a scheming bookie.T he criminal wants the celebrated batsman to throw the game and buy into his match-fixing dreams. It doesn’t take much to figure out his evil plans, but Kabir and Junaid (Dhawan) take a long time to track him down. Their investigation leads them to an underground Middle Eastern city, a harem and burly men There are some humourous scenes that engage the viewers in the first half with some corny twists. The second half is also entertaining with some fight and romance sequences.

 When you have actors like john and varun how can one miss the thought of action sequences? Muscular hunk John has performed some never-seen-before bike stunts whch is an abinitio in bollywood. The chase sequences are well executed but don’t know why it was so much overhyped as it fails to keep you on the edge of the seat. The film has very impressive visuals and the person responsible for this is none other than the film’s cinematographer Ayananka Bose. Full points to him for making the film look extremely glossy and high on glamour.

‘Sau Tarah Ke’

A catchy track that has made many to groove on its beats. The song takes off on a peppy note with Jonita Gandhi’s vocals and soon paces up with Amit Mishra’s male vocals. Unfortunately, there is a stark difference between the first and second part of the song. It comes off as two different songs clubbed into one. The Arabic chorus bits mildly spruce up the dance track.

‘Janemann  aah’

The much-talked about item song from the album, featuring Parineeti Chopra and Varun Dhawan is actually quite an ordinary one. The beats are quite common and with those cringe worthy lyrics, there is hardly anything in the song to look forward to. Just after a long while will you get to see parineeti’s sensuous moves that still don’t serve as a respite.

‘Toh Dishoom’

This  is a Punjabi track crooned by Raftaar and Shahid Mallya. Right from start, the song seems quite a ‘been there, heard that’ affair. It finds slight resemblance to the Desi Boyz title track.  Raftaar has rapped this the same style as ‘swag sadda  desi’.

‘Ishqa’

This  is quite an average composition. The song finds slight influence from a few English tracks. The song is peppy but does fail to reel in a listener. The lyrics hardly make a connection and the music is equally boring. The Middle Eastern elements are more prominent and better utilised, and that makes this a more engaging track, déjà vu notwithstanding.

‘Subah hone naa de’

The popular Desi Boyz song ‘Subha Hone Na De‘ has been remixed and used in Dishoom‘s album. It almost seems like a desperate attempt from Pritam’s side to give this album a big hit number. Singers of the original track, Mika Singh and Shefali Alvares croon it but the freshly added EDM beats are not exactly fun.

Pritam’s first full soundtrack this year is a rather lackluster one. Dishoom’s album lacks those punches and might not enjoy longevity. We expected much more from this album.

Varun Dhawan tried too hard to be funny but overacts most of the time. Even his expressions in normal sequences can seem a bit blank. John Abraham as a tough cop impresses. He carries off the action scenes pretty well but he needs to work on his dialogue delivery. Jacqueline Fernandez lives up to the expectations once again and proved that she has nothing to do with acting at all. However, she has a limited screen presence and sizzles in Sau Tarah Ke song. After a long time, Akshaye Khanna returns to the silver screen and it is a welcome change. He as the lead antagonist Rahul (Wagah) is wonderful in the role. There are cameos from Akshay Kumar, Nargis Fakhri and Parineeti Chopra. But it was Akshay who stole the limelight even in a short role as he has excellent screen presence.

Despite some fun elements and good action sequences, Dishoom lacks the damdaar impact and is too much messy. Akshay Khanna and Akshay Kumar are the only major attraction in this otherwise mediocre film. Dishoom has a routine story, but an interesting screenplay with all commercial ingredients keeps the film goers entertained. A treat to the sore eyes will be the bromance!

Tags: Bollywood MoviedishoomJacqueline FernandezJohn AbrahamMovie ReviewVARUN DHAWAN