Dhoom (Rock) is a successful series of Bollywood action-comedy films, released in 2004, 2006 and 2013 respectively. Both follow Mumbai supercop Jai Dixit and his partner Ali in their pursuit of supposedly unstoppable thieves. Dhoom 1 features Kabir, leader of a local gang of motorcycle-riding bank robbers. Dhoom 2 has Aryan, an international art thief and master of disguise. Dhoom 3 has Sahir, the son of a circus owner seeking revenge against a bank for destroying his father's circus. Plot Holes abound, but they possibly get away with it by taking Refuge in Audacity.
Do not confuse this with Doom, or even a Bollywood knockoff of Doom.
These films contain the following tropes:
- Artistic License – Physics: Everywhere, but perhaps best exemplified by Jai's entrance in the second film. He emerges on a jet ski from underwater at high velocity, soars through the air, and lands safely on a boat.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Sure, Sahir dies at the end of 3, but it is by suicide, on his own terms, and the Western Bank of Chicago shuts down.
- Beta Couple: Ali and Monali in the second film, who have an uncomplicated romance in the background of the main crime and romance plots with Jai, Aryan, and Sunehri.
- Buddy Cop Show: Jai and Ali, although the latter isn't actually cop until the second film.
- Chase Scene: Several in each film, including Lost in a Crowd, Hot Pursuit, Suicidal "Gotcha!", and lots of Slo-Mo Big Air.
- Car Fu: The third installment treats us to a Motorcycle Jousting scene. Way to go, Victor.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Ali, who's mostly bluster, shows occasional moments of action hero competence.
- Dance Party Ending: Par for the course in Bollywood films, of course.
- Dating Catwoman: Sunehri and Aryan. (Sunehri is openly stated by the writers to be based on Catwoman.)
- Disney Death: Kabir in 1, Sahir and Samar in 3. Subverted with Aryan in 2; he falls, but somehow doesn't die.
- Driven to Suicide: After the Western Bank of Chicago forecloses on Iqbal Khan's circus, he pulls out a gun and shoots himself in grief, right in front of the bank officials and his son.
- Exploding Barrels: Near the end of the first movie, a few shots with a handgun suffice to cause a stack of conveniently placed fuel barrels to explode.
- Expy: Sunehri to Catwoman. Less so Sahir to The Joker (he is at one point called this and the film has been favorably compared to The Dark Knight).
- Fake Defector: Ali in the first film
- Faking the Dead: Aryan and Sunehri fake his death in order to be together.
- Faux Action Girl: Shonali in 2, Victoria in 3. Despite investigating Aryan's and Sahir's cases respectively for two years, bothe still haven't noticed their thieving pattern. Jai figures it out within seconds.
- Femme Fatale: Sunehri in 2, although she was originally just a small-time criminal before coming under Aryan's mentorship, which she only does at the insistence of the police.
- "Get Out of Jail Free" Card: Jai lets Sunehri go after Aryan's death, apparently considering her deal with law enforcement sufficiently satisfied. Subverted in that Aryan's death was faked. Then double-subverted when it turns out that Jai figured that out, but chooses not to arrest them after being convinced that they've reformed.
- Gory Discretion Shot: When Iqbal Khan commits suicide; we see only young Sahir screaming, and then an older Sahir having a Catapult Nightmare as he pulls the trigger.
- High-Heel–Face Turn: Sunehri. Subverted in that she ends up with Aryan, who is technically the bad guy, but they both ultimately give up on crime to be together in peace.
- Impossible Thief: Aryan and Sahir in different ways. Sahir especially and in fact the impossibility of his getaways are a clue to the mid-film twist.
- Incendiary Exponent: Waterfronts in the Dhoom universe seem to be littered with barrels of explodium (see: the final sequence of the first film, and the opening sequence of the second).
- Leitmotif: One of Bollywood's best known background score themes.
- Master of Disguise: Aryan, whose disguises run the gamut from Latex Perfection to Paper-Thin Disguise
- Meet Cute: Subverted. Ali does this with Sweety, Sheena, and Shonali, but none of them return his affections. He meets his one mutual love interest via completely ordinary means.
- Motorcycle Jousting: Dhoom 3 has Jai and Sahir (Or is it Samar?) motorcycle jousting in the end chase
- Named After Somebody Famous: Subtle, but the owner of the Western Bank of Chicago has the same name as Warren Anderson
(probably not a coincidence given the connection to India). - No Name Given: Kabir, Sheena, and Sunehri don't even have last names in the credits. Aryan does, but it's never given during the film, and his first name isn't revealed until after Intermission.
- Averted with Sahir Khan, he introduces himself with his full name to Jai.
- Police Are Useless: Jai seems to be the only competent person on the Mumbai (or Chicago) police force.
- Product Placement: BMW Motorrad sponsors the third film with their K 1300 R roadster and S 1000 RR superbike. There are also a lot of Apple products in the film.
- Put on a Bus: Shonali abruptly quits the police force after failing to catch Mr. A in Mumbai, after which she (and her teased romantic tension with Jai) are never mentioned again. Her actress continues to be in the movie, though,
Playing Their Own Twin. - Russian Roulette: Aryan forces Sunehri to play this. Turns out to be Fake Roulette.
- Samus Is a Girl: Sunehri and Victoria's introductions: face covered (by a balaclava and motorcycle helmet respectively), although it's not hard to guess in either case, even before the reveal.
- Sidekick: Ali to Jai, although he might insist they're equal partners.
- Stuff Blowing Up: "Dhoom" is an onomatopoeia for an explosion. Yeah. These movies are so action packed that even the title is exploding.
- The Ditz: Monali comes off this way, although it's mostly just that she's the one totally carefree, cheerful person in an otherwise relatively stoic cast.
- The Glasses Come Off: Jai in the first film. Referenced with his sunglasses in the second, by which point he's apparently gotten contacts. He also does this in 3 when revealing himself to "Samar".
- The Mole: Jai's preferred method of catching difficult criminals seems to be flipping a small-time crook to get in with them: Ali in 1, Sunehri in 2.
- Theme Song Reveal: Upon rewatching, Aryan's lines in "Dil Laga Na" make the next scene's Love Makes You Crazy less abrupt.
- Third-Person Person: Sunehri refers to herself this way about half the time.
- Traintop Battle: Between Aryan and the Queen's bodyguards.
- Villain Opening Scene: Aryan's train robbery opens the second film.
- What a Senseless Waste of Human Life: Uttered almost word for word after Kabir's suicide.
- Worthy Opponent: Jai feels this way about the master criminals he chases. They mostly return the compliment.
