Dum Maaro Dum

This stylized Bollywood thriller begins in India's smallest (and richest) coastline state of Goa, which 17-year-old Lorry (Prateik Babbar)—clearly ignorant about the resort mecca's hellish underworld—describes as “paradise on Earth.” In need of cash so he can fly to the United States with his girlfriend, Lorry ends up working as a courier for a Russian gang that sets him up with a stash of cocaine intended for stateside distribution. Meanwhile, Kamath (Abhishek Bachchan), a corrupt narcotics officer with a tragic past, aims to rid Goa of the drug trade; he finds an ally in his put-upon partner, Mercy (Muzammil S. Qureshi), and enemies in a seemingly legit business tycoon known as “the Biscuit” (Aditya Pancholi) and mysterious supplier Michael Barbossa. Musician and record store manager Joki (Rana Daggubati) becomes involved when the Biscuit offers Joki's beautiful girlfriend, Zoe (Bipasha Basu), a job as a flight attendant if she'll run drugs during her travels, but she ends up paying a steep price when one of her assignments goes wrong. Kamath eventually joins up with Joki to go after Lorry, but Barbossa proves more elusive. Director Rohan Sippy uses a zigzag structure to establish the connections between these various characters, and while the trademark Bollywood mix of ballads and brutality can be jarring at times, Dum Maaro Dum rarely fails to entertain. A strong optional purchase. (K. Fennessy)