Dhoom, the first action film produced by Yash Raj Films in 2004 after a gap of 16 years, came to be the first film in a super-successful masala-film franchise that followed

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Revisiting Dhoom: A nostalgic look back at the making of India's very own Fast & Furious franchise

Team CE

Published:27th Aug, 2019 at 7:09 PM

Dhoom was the first action film produced by Yash Raj Films in 16 years.

Yash Chopra last directed the action-oriented movie, Vijay in 1988.

Uday Chopra, who plays sidekick Ali, borrowed his mannerisms from a guy he frequently saw hanging around a cinema hall in Mumbai.

Uday's character, Ali's full name, Ali Akbar Fateh Khan, is a nod to legendary qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

While its common knowledge that Pritam is the composer for Dhoom, its notable that he only worked on the songs. Salim-Sulaiman composed the background score.

Abhishek had developed a liking for sports bikes while being in John's company on the film's sets, and would zoom off in between takes. He wanted to buy one, but was dissuaded by his dad Amitabh.

John Abraham executed the scene where his bike rides into a moving trailer in Dhoom. Riding at a speed of 100 kmph, John's only instruction to the others around him was to swerve in case he fell.

Characters in Dhoom were assigned bikes according to their on-screen personalities. Therefore, a yellow bike to represent Ali's loveable, goofy character and red/purple/gray ones for the gang members.

Aditya Chopra was inspired to make Dhoom after watching the 1979 movie, Kaala Patthar. Incidentally, while Kaala Patthar stars Amitabh Bachan, the Dhoom series stars his son, Abhishek.

The film's title, Dhoom, was also inspired by a song in Kaala Patthar — 'Dhoom Mache Dhoom'

In Dhoom, Sanjay Dutt was first signed on to play the role of Kabir, whio was later replaced by John Abraham.

The song 'Shikdum' from Dhoom was adapted from Tarkan's 'Sikidim' ('Hepsi Senin Mi?') from his 1994 album A-Acayipsin. Shikdum is Turkish and translates to 'dirty dancing'.

John Abraham, who is a huge fan of professional motorcyclist Valentino Rossi, met the racer and gifted a Dhoom CD to him. Valentino reportedly liked the film.

Dhoom was first going to be made with sports cars. But then Sanjay Gadhvi felt that youngsters enjoy bike chases more than car sequences. Also, he wanted the actors' faces to be seen clearly.

Sports bikes Suzuki Hayabusa, Suzuki GSX and Suzuki Bandit were used for Dhoom

The parents of three of the actors have worked together in a successful film. Abhishek Bachchan's father, Amitabh Bachchan and Esha Deol's mother, Hema Malini starred in Yash Chopra's Trishul (1978).

All the sports bikes used in Dhoom were sourced from Pune.

Salman Khan was the first choice for John Abraham's role.

Most of the movie was shot at Marine drive, Mumbai

The song 'Aise Na Mujhe Tum Dekho 'from Darling Darling (1978) was sampled in the Dhoom title track. The part is 'Tumko Main Chura Lunga Tumse, Dil Mein Chhupa Lunga' in instrumental form at 0.24 sec.

John Abraham's long hair look became quite popular among the youth including Indian cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

The date of the robbery written on the slip of paper Kabir hands Jai in the mall is December 17th. December 17th is John Abraham's birthday.

Extensive cabling was used for the fight on the truck. Since the director felt it was necessary to maintain continuity, both Abhishek and John, in between takes, had to stay in position in the truck.

The train stunt sequence in Dhoom 2 was originally planned to be shot in Rajasthan. However, unhappy with how the locales look, the shoot moved to Namibia in Africa.

The train sequence was shot over a period of 2 weeks, during which the train was taken for rent.

That train-stunt, which seems to happen in hot, sweltering climate, was actually shot at a time when the temperature was 2 degrees.

Dhoom 2 was one of the earliest Indian productions to be shot majorly in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Abhishek, Hrithik, Uday and Aishwarya Rai were ecstatic while shooting in Rio De Janeiro Brazil, in Dhoom 2, as literally no one knew Indiani movie stars there and therefore, no one mobbed them.

The song 'Dhoom Again' from Dhoom 2 was shot over 3 days, with shoot on the last day stretching for more than nineteen hours (9 AM to 5 PM the next day).

Bipasha Basu ate only oranges for three days prior to filming the bikini scene in Dhoom 2.

'Dhoom Dhoom' by Tata Young topped the chart for many months in a row in various countries such as India, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and many other Southeast Asian countries.

Aishwarya later said in an interview that she was not comfortable doing the kissing scene with Hrithik. She also stated that she received legal notices over the controversial scene.

Hritik was chosen over the three Khans for the role of Aryan in Dhoom 2 because he was younger.and could perform stunts better.

Tata Young could only pronounce 'Dhoom' as 'Doom' and not 'Dhoom' during the making of the song 'Dhoom Dhoom' , which gave composer Pritam a hard time.

Dhoom 2 was dubbed and released simultaneously in Tamil as well as in Telugu. Singer Vijay Prakash dubbed for Abhishek's character ACP Jai Dixit in Tamil.

The Dhoom 3 song 'Dhoom Machale' is a fusion of 2 songs. The first 3 lines have been adapted from Jesse Cook's 'Mario Takes A Walk' and the hook has been adapted from Amr Diab's 'Enta Ma Oltesh Leih'.

There was an appeal by the Mumbai city police commissioner after Dhoom 2's release to censor the fast-paced rash driving scenes due to fears that it would incite the youth to drive rashly.

Aishwarya Rai's character, Sunehri, was modelled after DC's Catwoman, a female fictional comic book femme fatale.

Aishwarya Rai lost 8 Kgs for playing her Dhoom 2 role, as she had gained weight for her role in 2004's Bride & Prejudice

Dhoom 2 inspired the robbery of a man by his nephew, who wore clothing similar to Hrithik's in the film, while committing the crime.

Dhoom 2 received the then-widest release in Indian cinema history with over 1800 prints distributed all over the country

To ensure the sequel would be different from the original, which became famous for its brash motorcycle stunts, director Sanjay Gadhvi included very few motorcycles in Dhoom 2.

Hrithik's role in Dhoom 2 required him to take classes in roller-blading, sand boarding and snow boarding.

Dhoom 2 made extensive use of visual effects, which were filmed at Yash Raj Studios. While shooting at the studios, the film suffered from a flood that destroyed the sets and delayed production.

The scene involving Abhishek coming out of a lake using a jet ski came out at 90 degrees, but the team wanted a 60 degrees jump. So, it was shot with a Super 35, so that the angle could be changed.

All the stunts in Dhoom 2 Fight and action sequences were extensively storyboarded before being shown, one of the first Indian films that utilised this technique.

Aamir Khan trained for 3 days with tap dancers in Australia for the tap dance sequence in Dhoom 3.

Aamir Khan and Katrina Kaif did not use any stunt doubles safety precautions while filming the acrobatic stunts in Dhoom 3 for the song 'Malang'.

A renowned gymnast was in the sets helping Aamir and Katrina when the song was shot in Chicago and Mumbai.

The Dhoom 3 climax was shot at the famous arch dam, Contra Dam, in Switzerland. It is the same dam that Ajith Kumar and James Bond bungee jumped from.

Chopra wanted to make Dhoom 3 in 3D. However, Aamir Khan opined that the 3D technology needed expertise and and was unsure of the outcome of its utilisation by the director, Vijay Krishna Acharya.

Aamir had said in a statement that the title track 'Dhoom Machale Dhoom' of Dhoom 3 was dedicated to Sachin Tendulkar who was then playing his 200th and final test match at the Wankhede Stadium.

Dhoom 3 was accused of lifting many elements off Christopher Nolan's The Prestige and The Dark Knight.

Dhoom 3 was the first Indian local language production to be released in Imax format.

Dhoom 3 was the first Bollywood movie to be released in Dolby Atmos surround sound.

Aamir Khan hired a British trainer and worked on his body for 6 months in preparation for his role in Dhoom 3. He also learnt ballet, diving, aerobatics and parkour.

Katrina Kaif worked out 5 hours daily in preparation for his Dhoom 3 role. She also attended acrobatics, singer and paragliding classes.

The budget for Dhoom (2004), Dhoom 2 (2006), and Dhoom 3 (2013), were 11 crore, 25 crore, and 175 crore, respectively.

Dhoom 3 was the first Bollywood film to enter the 250 crore club

With 556 crore worldwide gross, Dhoom 3 is the ninth highest grossing Bollywood film as of now.

Initially, Shah Rukh was supposed to play the villian in Dhoom 3 and Aamir Khan was chosen to play the cop role, but Shah Rukh opted out of the film because of his predilection for injuries.

Several iconic Chicago buildings are re-purposed locations for the film. The headquarters for the Chicago Police is the Tribune Tower and The Great Indian Circus is the Shedd Aquarium.

Frieda Pinto was approached for the lead role that was essayed by Katrina, but negotiations failed.

Jackie Shroff and Aamir Khan acted in a film after 18 years with the last being Rangeela(1995). However, they did not share any scenes in this film.

The song 'Malang' was sampled from the song 'Ali Da Malang' from the album Magic Touch by Bally Sagoo and Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Rimi Sen who played Jai's wife, Sweety in the earlier versions did not return for Dhoom 3. She was not approached for the film but even if she had been, she said she would have turned down the role.

Aamir Khan apparently signed an agreement that the hero won't bash him in the film though he is the villain which irked Gulshan Grover who felt villians should be bold enough to take beating.

Katrina Kaif worked with the three Khans consecutively in 2012-13 (Ek Tha Tiger, Jab Tak Hai Jaan and Dhoom 3). She would again in 2017-18 (Tiger Zinda Hai, Thugs Of Hindostan and Zero).

Dhoom 3 was Aamir Khan's first on-screen death since Rang De Basanti, and his first double role in a film.

Aamir Khan's character was first named Jordan in the film.

A teaser poster for a fourth Dhoom movie, titled Dhoom Reloaded, was released by YRF in 2015, which was rumored to have cast Shah Rukh Khan. We got no updates afterwards.