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In a key scene of Dhoom, John Abraham’s Kabir announces, “ Jo bhi karenge , style se karenge (whatever we do, we will do it in style) , “ and this line captures the sentiment of this film that was released 20 years ago. Dhoom, for most millennials, was the cool, new, shiny thing back in the early noughts when on one end Emraan Hashmi and Mallika Sherawat had just become popular with Murder and Bollywood was still holding on to its age-old idea of romance with Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta-starrer Veer Zaara. Sanjay Gadhvi’s Dhoom had style, and even though it didn’t have a lot of substance, that never was the promise. Abhishek Bachchan got his first big hit, John Abraham found himself in the A-league, Esha Deol had a makeover and Uday Chopra, who was still trying to be a star, continued his journey. The idea of describing films as “ masala ” is quintessentially Indian and it probably got its name because Indians like a little bit of everything in one bite. Let us have some romance, action, comedy, song, and dance, and we will happily suspend disbelief for those three hours. The audience does not ask many questions but expects to be entertained , and Dhoom gave them just that. It captured young minds with the new version of Bollywood masala and there was an exact recipe to it. In 2024, we know that most content we watch online or even in theatres is dictated by algorithms and focus groups. Films are put together using a checklist, which dictates what event needs to happen at which minute. And Dhoom did the same thing 20 years ago. ALSO READ | Why Abhishek Bachchan’s road to success has been so bumpy: Burden of legacy or bad choices? In a 2008 interview with Rediff, Sanjay Gadhvi, the director of the first two films of the Dhoom franchise, said that he got this idea from the popular filmmaker Manmohan Desai who believed that the audience must get a ‘wow’ moment every nine minutes. Desai, who directed films like Amar Akbar Anthony and Coolie, was known for presenting bizarre but thoroughly entertaining ideas on screen. Desai described these ‘wow’ moments as an “item” and Sanjay decided that his film should have these every six minutes. “John’s introduction is a highlight, Esha Deol’s entry in the movie is a highlight, her re-entry on the water scooter is a highlight, each robbery, each chase, and each song is a highlight. So we had something coming every six minutes,” he said. Sanjay probably changed it from nine to six minutes because by this time, Desai’s formula was almost 30 years old. Upon rewatching Dhoom, one realises that the six-minute formula was adhered to for most of the film. You might not say ‘wow’ at most of them today but you can distinctly spot the calculated approach. Sanjay did everything to make Dhoom ‘cool’ by the early 2000s standards and for the most part, he got the job done. Of course, when you revisit Dhoom now, you can’t get past the insufferable comic bits and the completely illogical detective work done by the cop characters but that’s not what Dhoom’s essence was. In another interview shared by Wild Films India, Sanjay explained that the target audience for the film was 16-25 years old, which is why they tried to up the style quotient. The visual aesthetic was of the utmost importance, which was applied to the styling of the actors, the bikes they rode, the way they spoke, and even the background music. Everything had to be ‘non-filmy’ so the young kids could have something for themselves at the movies. With the theme music by Pritam, which now defines the desi pop culture of that era, YRF was sitting on a goldmine with Dhoom. Two years later, they made Dhoom 2 and it looked like this was possibly going to be one of the biggest Bollywood franchises. But, director Sanjay Gadhvai was confident that he was done with the Dhoom series. During the promotions of Dhoom 2, Gadhvi said that he wouldn’t return for Dhoom 3 as it needed a “fresh viewpoint”. Sanjay never made a film again with YRF after this. He passed away in 2023 at 57. Of course, YRF tried to bring back the Dhoom days with the forgettable Dhoom 3 in 2013 and even though it made truckloads of money, it didn’t have the same appeal. Honestly, if they integrated the spy-verse with the Dhoom-verse in Pathaan (with John reprising his role as Kabir), Hindi movie audience would have had a gala time but YRF is yet to confirm the next iteration. Every few years, there’s some chatter about Dhoom 4 but it never really ends up being anything official. Things with lesser nostalgic value have tried to hype themselves up and gotten a new lease of life and if the Dhoom franchise were to start again, they would certainly be miles ahead in the hype department. Dhoom is for those who grew up with Sunidhi Chauhan’s music and are now buying tickets to her concerts. It is also for those who had the Dhoom ringtone on those Sony Ericsson Walkman phones. A new film might not be able to keep up with the times now, but the franchise is a twist of nostalgia from the days when we thought that Pritam came up with the banger all by himself. Click for more updates and latest Bollywood news along with Entertainment updates . Also get latest news and top headlines from India and around the world at The Indian Express . Sampada Sharma has been the Copy Editor in the entertainment section at Indian Express Online since 2017. ... Read More None
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