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Dus
Four hot dudes, two hot chicks, a mission to complete and some stylish action sequences: that’s Dus in a nutshell.
Siddhant Dheer (Sanjay Dutt), head of ATC (Anti-terrorist cell), has uncovered a huge secret about the terrorist world. An Osama bin Laden kind of character, Jambwal, has vowed to spread terror throughout the world. According to an intelligence report, on a certain date there will be an explosion somewhere in the world and the ATC only has seven days to find a criminal whom no one has ever seen and to shut down the operation.
Siddhant’s group consists of Shashank Dheer (Abhishek Bachchan), Aditi (Shilpa Shetty), Aaditya (Zayed Khan) and Neha (Esha Deol). Helping them in this mission is a Canadian cop, Danish (Sunil Shetty).
Time is short and so is the proof as the ATC is trapped in a web of terror and deceit. The question is: will the ATC stop the act and if they do, how? Dia Mirza and Raima Sen in small cameos are quite effective and make themselves noticeable. Sanjay Dutt is his natural suave self and has done a commendable job. Abhishek seems to be riding on an all time high with a series of hits, Dus being no exception. Zayed Khan, though he is improving, still needs to put in more effort, but stands out nonetheless in this impressive star cast. Sunil Shetty is his usual self and goes over the top at times. Shilpa Shetty is impressive and is definitely India’s reply to Angelina Jolie. Esha Deol is strictly okay.
Vishal Shekar delivers another well-composed album with Dus Bahane and Deedar Ve already climbing the music charts. The cinematography is good and the action sequences are breathtaking. All in all a total time pass film to watch.—Zoha Tapia
Steven Spielberg has created another ground-shaking masterpiece analogous of those early fifties horror/sci-fi hybrids. He utilizes his practised visual communication skills to command our awareness towards what is happening on-screen with his pull-you-in-by-the-collar clutch, rather than let us brood over why it is happening in the first place. And this is where War of the Worlds, the highly-frightening, yet unassailable flick starring Tom Cruise, crashes down like a seventy-foot death-ray spraying tripod, whose leg has been cut off.Adapted from the novel by H. G. Wells, the acuteness of Spielberg’s vision is a splendour, as he reminds us that cinema is a visual medium. Having watched the film in Russian before its release in local theatres, the language barrier was all-too evident for the first 15 minutes only. After that, what transpires is a genius of pure creativeness gone haywire with drastic results.
I mean, what would you do if a Godzilla-like tripod runs after your behind? Well, for one thing a director would just follow the commandment and take various long-shots absorbing action from distant high angles. Spielberg does the exact opposite by going for the point of view look, as his camera mostly looks away from the horror, as any normal man would do in fear of instant incineration.
Cruise plays Ray Ferrier, a flawed divorcee who’s getting custody of his children (Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin) for the weekend from his wife (Miranda Otto). Ray is a stark representation of underplaying from Tom Cruise, because at the end we are not here to witness a lone man saving the earth in a bizarre mainstream climax. What we do see in the end is liable to alienate some viewers or just plain drive them, what is the proper critical term I am looking for … nutty? As an adolescent sitting behind me in the theatre speculated in utter loudness: “Hahahaha! The alien died from dehydration.” God bless America.—Mohammad Kamran Jawaid
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