It is also a story of a corrupt, bribe-sucking police officer, Vishnu Kamath (Abhishek Bachchan), who vows to clean up Goa after the tragic death of his wife (Vidya Balan as the film’s second guest artist) and child in a road accident.
The new film is the story of a young boy, Lorry Gomes (Prateik Babbar), who is so dejected about being denied a scholarship to an American university and a chance to join his girlfriend there that he agrees to smuggle cocaine in exchange for his fee money. The film was then seen as a strong indictment of Western values, including drugs and divorce. Her song, Dum Maro Dum, is a remix of a number from the 1970s Dev Anand directed Hare Rama Hare Krishna where a stoned Zeenat Aman’s Jasbir mouths the lyrics as she sways along with Hippies when Goa was a haven for narcotics. Rohan Sippy’s Dum Maro Dum opened to a disappointing 35% weekend theatre occupancy in India, despite a promotional run-up that was as sizzling as the much-touted dance by Deepika Padukone in a guest appearance. In a slickly edited, fast paced narrative, Sippy’s stylish work falls back on the usual cop-chase-crook plot.
Yet, the film does not turn out to be quite that controversial, despite the fact that a few offensive lines were scissored before it was certified for public viewing.
Set against a backdrop of Goa that has in recent times seen a rise in sexual and drug-related crimes, Dum Maro Dum is about narcotics and the gangs who deal in drugs, with the movie angering local people who thought it defamed their State.