Review of Dabangg (2010) by Kaustubh H — 23 Sep 2010
The movie of the year. The movie that broke all Bollywood opening records. Munni badnaam ho gayi Chulbul ke liye but then, her badnaami goes in vain.
Dabangg, a film by debutant director Abhinav Kashyap (brother of Anurag Kashyap) and produced by Arbaaz Khan is a journey back to the days of the 80s-90s masala Hindi films. With a virtually straightforward and simple story, interlaced with catchy songs, larger than life action and some rollicking dialogues, Dabangg is a sureshot winner and entertainer, atleast for the common Indian man.
The story is of a hard hitting, eccentric cop Chulbul Pandey who is a sensation in the badlands of Uttar Pradesh. He is a self proclaimed Robin Hood, though basically corrupt, he manages to be a charming person inspite of his carelessly outspoken character. Living with his mother, played by Dimple Kapadia and step father, Vinod Khanna and a dimwitted brother Makkhi aka Arbaaz Khan he is fighting the local bad netaa Chhedi Singh alias Sonu Sood and at the same time walking away with the charming potter girl Rajo played by newcomer Sonakshi Sinha. And here is a swift Bollywood entertainer on your plate.
It may have broken the records and reinvented the masala genre but personally Dabangg failed to impress me. There has to be atleast something novel to the story even if it is a regular tried and tested one. I would like to compare Dabangg with Salman's last blockbuster Wanted. Where Wanted had all the trademarks of a hit, slick action, solid dialogues, good music and even a twist in the end, Dabangg has only bits of it. The dialogues aren't that great, the action is below par to Wanted and there is no element of surprise.
What really carries the film forward is just one thing, Salman Khan. He ignites the screen with his mere presence. Dabangg has set those records because of him and him alone and not to mention the magnaninmous publicity.
As far as the performances are concerned, Sonakshi Sinha has little to do, Arbaaz fits in perfectly in his loser of a character. Sonu Sood is okay, what really surprised me was the fact that Sonu had a better physique than Salman when I finally got to saw it as Salman's shirt rips open at the end!!
The critics might give it 4 stars and all, for me it is nothing more than a 3. Purely Salman.
This review of Dabangg (2010) was written by Kaustubh H on 23 Sep 2010.
Dabangg has generally received mixed reviews.
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