Review of Dumm Dumm Dumm

Introduction

Its hard to bring a new concept into a exhausted plot, but Duum Dumm Dumm manages to do just that with affectionate performances, amazing cinematography and an engaging screenplay. The film was directed by N. Alagamperumal, who used to be assistant director to the excellent Indian film director Mani Ratnam. You can see traces of Mani Ratnam`s work visually in the film, with the subtle lighting and eye catching camera work.

But the director manages to bring some of his own energetic influences into the plot, which reflects the next generation of Indian film-makers. Youthfulness is a theme currently the rage in Indian films and it certainly shows within this film with the help of its main young star cast, and even young crew!

The film`s main plot becomes interesting the moment the film starts; an arranged marriage, which both participants aren`t happy with. Here we see the colourful stage of family values, and south Indian cultural values. But the film never preaches nor states what`s best. It looks at the situation from the characters point of view so we can understand why the plot progresses as it does.

What makes this film far more advanced then many Indian films is that there is never a moment you feel like cringing in your seat because of the way the characters are, or the way situations are handled. The film manages to oversee the older and younger generation characters with sensitivity and with some intellect.

The film even has a great soundtrack, which are all beautifully picturised and are well-choreographed. Karthik Raja, son of sublime film composer Ilaiyaraja, manages to use heavy influences of R`n`B/Hip-Hop music fused with classical Indian melodies. The results sounds outstanding and has begin the further evolution in south Indian film soundtracks.

With all of these fine features some of the film flaws, like the comedy track with actor Vivek, can be avoided. It is one of the best romantic family commercial film to be produced from Indian cinema in the year 2001, and is worth certainly checking out.

Video

The DVD quality is just as expected from Ayngaran International, really good. The film is presented in an anamorphic 2.20:1 widescreen transfer. The film is slightly cropped from its original ratio of 2.35:1, but it is never apparent on screen. There are no signs of any compression artefacts. Some light film grain are encountered upon during a couple of scenes, but I remembered them shots having the same problem during its cinema showing. I gathered it was how the film was originally shot.

Colour fidelity is bold and vivid, always looking visually stunning with no signs of any colour problems. Some film dirt is present on this disc, but it didn`t disrupt my viewing. Dark details are strong, while contrast details was well handled.

Audio

The soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital Tamil 5.1. It is a marvel to hear, and capsulated the whole atmosphere of the film. With much activity in all channels its one all listening audiences will be amazed with. So good is the sound that you can hear much environmental noises, like cars zooming by or extras chatting to each other, without even being confused from the main dialogues. The .1 LFE channel jolts with explosions during the song sequences, and never sounds too overbearing.

Features

The only major supplement we get are English Subtitles, which has a couple of problems like misspelt words and some poor translations. Yet it serves its purpose and is growing signs of some improvement to pervious Ayngaran DVD releases.
Menu designs are nice, but one wished this title got a special edition treatment.

Conclusion

I thought the film as great and I think the disc is great too. A must for your collection!