A wedding night gone wrong. Armed intruders crashing a luxurious honeymoon suite. A frantic chase across the city in full wedding finery, and a mysterious man named Charlie at the heart of it all. Sounds like the perfect recipe for a high-octane, laugh-a-minute caper, right? Unfortunately, Dhoom Dhaam, streaming on Netflix, is only about sound and fury.
Directed by Rishab Seth and co-written/produced by Aditya Dhar, Dhoom Dhaam thrives on chaos. The plot kicks off with Koyal Chadda (Yami Gautam Dhar), a feisty Punjabi bride from Mumbai, and Veer Poddar (Pratik Gandhi), a veterinarian from Ahmedabad, settling into their honeymoon suite. Just as the newlyweds get ready to get intimate, armed goons barge in, demanding answers about the whereabouts of Charlie. Veer is frightened and clueless, but the intruders aren’t in the mood to take no for an answer.
What follows is a rollercoaster ride through the night, with the newlyweds taking to their heels, dodging criminals, cops and unexpected encounters — all the while questioning their compatibility as a couple. Koyal is a drag racer with a knack for breaking rules. Veer is a mild-mannered, going-by-the-book “doggie doctor” who refuses to even jump a red light. Together, they are an oddball pair thrown into an absurd adventure.
At first, it all seems promising. There’s something inherently funny about a couple still in their wedding outfits tearing through Mumbai’s streets, hopping from shady nightclubs to dingy hideouts while trying to figure out what the hell is going on.
Koyal is the kind of woman who doesn’t wait for a hero. She is the hero. Yami steps into the role full throttle, swearing with abandon, and speeding and landing punches as if her character has been doing this her whole life. Pratik plays the gentle, risk-averse, phobia-ridden Veer to perfection; he and Yami play each other off rather well.
But then the film begins to run in circles, quite literally. The couple stumbles from one near-escape to another and after a point, the madness feels like it’s on autopilot. The mystery around ‘Charlie’ never becomes as compelling as the film seems to think it is. And the big reveals? You see them coming from a mile away.
A few other things fall just a little short. Like Koyal’s mid-chase monologue on how women have to lie in order to survive in a patriarchal world. It is a powerful, well-delivered speech but placed strangely, like someone had hit pause on the action to insert a social commentary moment before jumping right back into the frenzy.
The supporting cast floats in and out. Eijaz Khan, as a confused but menacing antagonist, is entertaining enough. Prateik Babbar pops up for a blink-and-you-miss cameo. Mukul Chadda plays a cop who seems to have a lot more going on than he lets on, but even that doesn’t lead anywhere unexpected. And then there’s the climax that unfolds in where else but a warehouse. Bollywood villains really need to get more creative with their hideouts. The one that truly makes some dhoom in the final act is a dog.
