Dhamaka Movie Review: Kartik Aaryan delivers a dhamakedaar performance in Netflix film

Netflix's new film, Dhamaka, starring Kartik Aaryan, Mrunal Thakur and Amruta Subhash, starts off with a blast but ends in a dud, says our Dhamaka Movie Review.

Every now and then, we come across a film where an unassuming actor is entrusted with the task of pulling off a role that's seemingly larger than their cinematic persona. More often than not, director Ram Madhvani is known to throw such googlies at us. Cue: Sonam Kapoor in Neerja. In Kartik Aaryan's Dhamaka, Ram does it again. He picks a man infamous for his monologues, known for his unruly mane and a toothy smile endearing to many, and places him as his prime-time news anchor - Arjun Pathak - with terrifying bombs exploding on the Bandra Worli Sea Link in Mumbai in the backdrop - both figuratively and literally. And he manages to squeeze a dhamakedaar performance out of this Kartik Aaryan.

Kartik's Arjun, at the start of this Netflix offering, is a radio anchor, demoted from his prime-time television anchor role despite a five-year successful run. He's also sitting at his corner radio studio, in a whirl of smoke from his cigarette, going through a divorce draft, reminiscing the life that was. Eventually, we learn about the conflict and how his personal and professional life came to what it is today. He goes on air, starts off with some traffic update - the Sea Link will be shut between 9-10 am due to some construction work, so avoid it - and then he gets his first caller. A man, who identifies himself as Raghubeer Mhate, declares, "Main Sea Link udane wala hoon."