Dhoom (Rock) is a successful series of Bollywood action-comedy films, released in 2004, 2006 and 2013 respectively. All three follow Mumbai supercop Jai Dixit (played by Abhishek Bachchan) 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 (Hrithik Roshan), an international art thief and master of disguise. Dhoom 3 has Sahir (Aamir Khan), 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 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.