In the year 1990, "The Great Indian Circus" owned by Iqbal Haroon Khan (Jackie Shroff) in Chicago gets closed when he is unable to repay his loan. Young Sahir (Siddharth Nigam), his little son, pleads that the two would soon turn the corner. But Iqbal's rejected and commits suicide in front of the heartless bank leader Anderson. Twenty-three years later, Sahir (Aamir Khan) robs various branches of Western Bank of Chicago. Despite all efforts of law enforcement, the robbery isn't foiled and he successfully gets away. Officer Victoria (Tabrett Bethell) calls ACP Jay Dixit (Abhishek Bachchan) and his partner, Ali (Uday Chopra), for help in solving the case. Jay baits Sahir into robbing again by making it known he's on the case and that the thief's an amateur. Sahir poses as an informant for Jay, and manages to gather information on the bank while giving Jay a lead to follow. Eventually, Sahir robs the bank and escapes, but Jay and Ali follow him. Jay, while hanging on a helicopter ladder, manages to shoot Sahir on the left shoulder before he disappears.

Sahir has a big premiere of a revamped version of The Great Indian Circus, with his female lead acrobat, Aaliya (Katrina Kaif), involving a trick with him disappearing in one place and showing up in another. The show is a success, but afterwards, Jay, Ali, and the police surround him, knowing he's the thief. Jai says the proof will be the gunshot wound, but when Sahir is examined, there is no evidence anywhere on his body. It is then revealed that Sahir has an autistic twin brother, Samar (also Aamir Khan), who helps him pull off his trick, helps him in planning and pulling of the robberies and he also shows it was Samar who sustained the wound.

Jay is fired from the case, but is encouraged by Ali to prove Sahir's guilt by going rogue. Jay eventually finds out about Samar, and sets about finding a way to corner Sahir. Samar, being mentally challenged, is kept in seclusion by Sahir. However, he allows Samar outdoors once a week, and Jay manages to befriend him during this time in order to perform his plan. Samar has fallen in love with Aaliya after performing with her in the circus, but cannot express it. This leads to a rift between the brothers. Jay tries to take advantage of this, but Sahir finds out and thwarts Jay's plan to stop them. When Sahir comes in the disguise of Samar, Jay reveals his true identity and assuming him to be Samar, tells him to surrender since he can give them justice. When Sahir reveals himself, he ties Jay to the track of a roller coaster and tells him that he used Samar for his own benefit. He switches the roller coaster on but Ali arrives in time to save him from being crushed. He decides the only way to catch the brothers is in the act of robbing. Sahir and Samar pull off their final bank heist, and escape. However, the following day, Jay manages to corner them as they're making their way out of town. They rob on 22 May. Samar is hesitant to run when Aaliya shows up, begging him to stop. Sahir surrenders to Jay, asking him to spare Samar. Jai agrees, but right after, Sahir attempts to jump off the dam. Samar grabs Sahir's hand, refusing to let him go. Sahir begs Samar otherwise, saying he can live freely with Aaliya. But Samar says that both of them are born together and should die together. Eventually, the two of them jump off the dam together. Western Bank of Chicago is shut down as a result of the heists, while Aaliya is shown having taken over The Great Indian Circus and still performing for it.

• Aamir Khan as Sahir Khan and Samar Khan
• Abhishek Bachchan as ACP Jai Dixit
• Katrina Kaif as Aaliya
• Uday Chopra as Ali Khan
• Jackie Shroff as Iqbal Haroon Khan
• Tabrett Bethell as Victoria Williams
• Andrew Bicknell as Mr. Warren Anderson
• Siddharth Nigam as Young Sahir Khan / Young Samar Khan (dual role; extended cameo)

Development

Prior to principal photography, the film enjoyed widespread media coverage due to the tremendous box office successes of previous instalments Dhoom 2 and Dhoom, thereby creating anticipation amongst audience and media. On 2 January 2011, the producer of the previous Dhoom films Aditya Chopra, confirmed that the third instalment of the Dhoom series would begin principal photography by the end of 2011. Initially, the producers and the lead actor Aamir wanted to release the film on Christmas of 2012, but the plan was scrapped in favour of an early release date in 2013, mainly due to a forecast that a Christmas release would force a rushed post-production schedule, which was considered unfavorable given the high degree of technicality required for the film. Around ?1.25 billion (US$19 million) was spent just on the production side of Dhoom 3.

Reportedly, Chopra wanted to make the film in 3D after observing the successes of previous Bollywood films released in this format. However, actor Aamir Khan opined that the 3D technology needed expertise and was unsure of the outcome of its utilisation by the director. As of September 2012, YRF Studios had not announced the production of the film in 3D.

Casting

Aamir Khan was signed on to play the lead antagonist, while Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra were confirmed to reprise their roles as Jai Dixit and Ali Akbar respectively. Katrina Kaif was signed as the lead heroine, starring opposite Khan. He learned ballet, aerobatics and the French technique of parkour, a method of movement focused on negotiating obstacles with speed and efficiency, while Kaif took paragliding training and singing lessons. Bachchan reportedly lost nine kilos of weight to prepare for his role in the film. Rimi Sen, who played the role of ACP Jai Dixit's (character played by Abhishek Bachchan) wife in the previous two instalments of the series, was not approached to play her character Sweety. However, she stated that she would not have reprised the role even if she were offered.

Unlike the first two Dhoom films directed by Sanjay Gadhvi, Vijay Krishna Acharya, the writer of all three instalments of Dhoom, was roped in to direct Dhoom 3. Olliver Keller was signed to direct the stunt scenes.

Aamir Khan stated in an interview that his role in Dhoom 3 is the toughest role so far in his life. The action scenes were directed by Conrad Palmisano and Sham Kaushal. In an interview with IANS, Abhishek Bachchan expressed how every character of Dhoom 3 is significant: "...Dhoom is my film and I am the hero. Nobody can take that away from me. You can be the biggest or the smallest star but Dhoom is about Jai and Ali. It is as simple as that. If the characters of Jai and Ali are not there in Dhoom, the film won't be there."

On 23 September 2013, three months before the actual release of the film, DNA and other media news publications revealed that there could be a double role of Aamir Khan in Dhoom 3, but they did not confirm it. The double role was only confirmed at the release of the film This made Dhoom 3 the first and currently the only film in the series in which the antagonist has a double role. However, this was not the first time the series featured a double role, since Bipasha Basu had a double role in Dhoom 2 as Shonali and Monali, but they did not share the same screen space, unlike Khan.

Filming

Filming was scheduled to commence from November 2011, with scenes involving Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra being shot first, but the former was off on a paternity leave, so shooting was postponed to January 2012. The schedule was then pushed to June because of lead actor Aamir's prior commitments with his TV show Satyamev Jayate; in June, the filming schedule was further postponed for a month because Khan wanted to prepare himself for his role of a gymnast. Khan also wanted to concentrate on the marketing and promotion of his 2012 film Talaash. Without any further delays, filming commenced with Jackie Shroff and Siddharth Nigam, the child actor playing the role of childhood Aamir Khan, on 8 June 2012 at Yash Raj Studios, Mumbai.

Aamir Khan joined the crew in July 2012, filming for five days at Yash Raj Studios and further continued to shoot in Chicago and other parts of the United States. Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Uday Chopra flew to the US on 4 August 2012 to complete a three-month schedule. On arrival in India in December 2012, Bachchan stated that fifty percent of filming was complete and would again resume in Mumbai.

In the second week of March 2013, it was reported that the crew had departed to Zurich and Ticino, Switzerland to film the climax. The shooting of the film finally wrapped up on 14 September 2013 at a suburban studio in Mumbai.

The climatic scene in Dhoom 3 was shot at the famous arch dam, Contra Dam (commonly known as the Verzasca Dam) in Ticino, Switzerland. It is the same dam that became a popular bungee jumping venue after a James Bond stuntman jumped off it in the opening scene of the 1995 film GoldenEye.

In November 2013, Aditya Chopra sent out a message to movie exhibitors all over the country to "Go digital or miss Dhoom 3." In detailed statements he claimed, "Release of movies through di