Sunday, September 1, 2024

Dhamaal (2007)

IMDb plot summary: Four lazy slacker conmen buddies who are jobless, homeless and broke learn about the secret of a hidden treasure from a dying thief and later embark on a race against time to find the mobster's buried treasure and claim it while being pursued by a determined police inspector who is hellbent to get the treasure all by himself.
Directed by Indra Kumar. Starring Sanjay Dutt, Riteish Deshmukh, and Arshad Warsi.

Dhamaal is a Bollywood remake of the Hollywood classic It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, in which a zany cast of characters all race to find hidden treasure revealed to them by a dying man. The chaos of this story is well served by the broad style of comedy often found in Bollywood films -- I didn't remember the Mad World plot and didn't recognize it as a remake until nearly the end of the movie, that's how well the story fit in this world. It is a big, bold, silly movie, and while many of the jokes don't land for me, there are enough that I had an okay time with it. It does a good job of hopping around quickly enough with each group that it keeps the energy going, and any time I got bored with one plotline, it was okay because it was only a small portion of the story. Mostly it makes me want to revisit the American version, though, and as such I don't know that it serves much purpose as a remake. So... okay, but just okay.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Dhamaal < Pete's Dragon (1977)
Dhamaal > K-19: The Widowmaker
Dhamaal > Anchors Aweigh
Dhamaal > The Good Dinosaur
Dhamaal < Wreck-It Ralph
Dhamaal < Dunkirk
Dhamaal < Vanya on 42nd Street
Dhamaal < The Devil Wears Prada
Dhamaal > You'll Never Get Rich
Dhamaal > Nobody
Dhamaal > Must Love Dogs
Dhamaal < The Lion in Winter (2003)
Final spot: #2209 out of 3952, or 44%.

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