Dhoom 2

Dhoom 2 () is a 2006 Hindi-language action thriller movie. The movie was directed by Sanjay Gadhvi. It was produced by Aditya Chopra. The movie stars Hrithik Roshan, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Uday Chopra and Bipasha Basu in the lead roles. It is the second installment in the Dhoom series. It was released on November 24, 2006 and was generally well received by critics and audiences. In addition, it was a blockbuster at the box office. It became the highest-grossing Indian movie of 2006. and the highest-grossing Bollywood movie of all time as well at the time of its release. It is the seventh-highest grossing Bollywood movie in overseas markets.

Plot
The movie opens in the Namib Desert. Mr. A skydives onto a train that is carrying the Queen. He steals her crown by disguising himself as the Queen, beats her guards easily, and escapes. ACP Jai Dixit and the newly-promoted Sub-Inspector Ali Akbar Khan are introduced to Shonali Bose, a special officer assigned to investigate Mr. A's case, who also happens to be a former classmate of Jai. After the initial investigation, Dixit analyses the underlying trend in Mr. A's heists. He concludes that the theft will follow in one of 2 famous Mumbai city museums.

When Dixit realizes that the artifact in the museum, he is guarding happens to be imperfect, he rushes to the other museum, where a disguised Mr. A steals a rare diamond and escapes. While he is about to catch a flight, Mr. A sees on the TV that someone else claiming to be himself, challenges the police, saying that he will steal an ancient warrior sword. In response, Dixit, Bose, and Khan enforce a strict guard at the location of the sword. At night, Mr. A meets the real thief, the one who made the claim on TV, in the room that holds the sword. The police are alerted, but they manage to steal the sword, Shonali is injured in the confrontation, and they manage to escape. The impersonator turns out to be Sunehri, a woman who idolises Mr. A; Sunehri convinces Mr. A to form an alliance, but he turns her down. Later, after a game of basketball between the two, he finally agrees to work together.

In Rio de Janeiro, Mr. A and Sunehri plan their next heist. As Dixit's analysis has named Rio the location of Mr. A's next heist, Jai and Ali travel to the city. There they meet Monali, Shonali's twin sister, who only speaks English, and Ali immediately falls for her. Later, Sunehri meets with Jai to discuss how things are going between her and Mr. A, revealing that they are working together, and Jai is using her by ensuring her freedom from prison. To get close to Mr. A and find out what his next plan is, they can catch and arrest him, but Sunehri begins to have her doubts.

The relationship between Mr. A and Sunehri evolves into romance, and he unveils his real identity, Aryan, to her. However, during the Rio Carnival, disguised as one of the entertainers, he sees Sunehri and Jai together and realizes that Sunehri has been working undercover for Jai. The next day, Aryan forces Sunehri to play a game of Russian roulette. Sunehri cries and refuses to shoot him, but Aryan forces her to play. After six attempted shots, neither is killed, because Aryan never loaded the gun. Sunehri admits she betrayed Aryan and confesses her love for him. In their final heist, Aryan and Sunehri successfully steal some early Lydian coins while disguised as performing dwarfs. With the heist successfully pulled off, Jai realises that he has been betrayed, and she called him on the phone to confirm that she wants to stay with Aryan and does not wish to remain allied with Jai, forcing Jai and Ali to go after them. After the chase, all of them end up on the top of a waterfall, where Ali catches Sunehri. Sunehri, despite conveying her feelings for Aryan, shoots him. Aryan falls from the waterfall, after which Jai allows Sunehri to go free.

Six months later, it is revealed that Aryan survived and has opened a restaurant in the Fiji islands with Sunehri. Jai meets Aryan and Sunehri at the restaurant and states that despite their crimes, he does not wish to imprison the couple. Aryan tells him where all the stolen artifacts can be found via a digital watch. Jai is aware of the couple's feelings towards each other but warns them against returning to their life of crime.

After leaving, Jai receives a phone call, and informs Ali that they should be heading back to India for their next case.

Cast
Hrithik Roshan as "Mr. A" / Aryan
Abhishek Bachchan as ACP Jai Dixit
Aishwarya Rai as Sunehri
Uday Chopra as Ali Khan
Bipasha Basu as Shonali Bose & Monali Bose (Double Role)
 Rimi Sen as Sweety J. Dixit (Jai's wife; special appearance)

Production

Development
The Dhoom series began with the release of Dhoom in 2004. The movie became a success and received positive reviews from audiences, but mixed reviews from critics. As a result, producer Yash Chopra announced plans for a sequel, titled Dhoom 2: Back in Action. John Abraham, actor of Kabir Sharma, the villain of the previous movie, was removed from the sequel because Chopra did not want Dhoom 2 to repeat the stories featured in its previous movie. Instead, Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai were introduced into the franchise as the sequel's main villains. Aishwarya Rai's character was summarised as Catwoman, a female fictional comic book that is 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 2004's Bride & Prejudice. Yash Chopra stated, "But yes, the role does require Aishwarya 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 thrive. She agreed, and look at what Dhoom did to her career!" Roshan also lost 5 kgs for his role at Aditya Chopra's request. With the exception of Abraham and Esha Deol, all of the other main actors in Dhoom were hired again 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 make sure that the sequel would be different from the original, which became famous for its bold 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 use of visual effects, which were filmed at Yash Raj Studios. While shooting at the studio, the film had flooded 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 drawn, 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 went 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 Hrithik's gadgets and the mechanical arm were also computer-generated. The scene involving Abhishek Bachchan coming out of a lake using a jet ski was created using a green screen. The stunt came out at 90 degrees, but Sanjay Gadhvi wanted a 60 degrees jump. So, it was shot with a Super 35, and the angle could be changed. Gadhvi discussed the use of technology in an interview:

References

Other websites
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Dhoom 2 at Yahoo!
 Dhoom 2 at Bollywood Hungama
 Dhoom 2 at Rediff.com

Hindi-language movies
2000s action thriller movies