Dabangg 2 Review
Cast: Salman Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Arbaaz Khan, Prakash Raj
Directed by Arbaaz Khan
Rating: 1/2*
Anything you say or write about a Salman Khan film can be used against you in the court of Sallu fans – the only known outfit that embraces capital punishment and ‘dhinka chika’ as the national anthem. But more recently, Salman Khan films have been little more than a collection of retrofitted sequences carelessly strung together to amuse pocket-fiddlers, belt-adjusters and pelvic-thrusters, who unanimously find the very sight of Khan on the big screen to be life-assuring. For everyone else, these films have been the second-most publically accepted venue, after a funeral, to cry uncontrollably. Not because they were epic tragedies but because cremating one’s senses and wallet simultaneously can hurt. Dabangg 2 just hits the spot there. Still keen? Read on.
Chulbul Pandey (Salman Khan), the cop with a heart of gold and a paunch with many folds is back to do what he does best: Maaro lines that suck the fun out of funny, only to be encouraged and applauded by his fellow khakhi-men (all above 60 to make Khan look a little less weathered). Following his Robinhood ways (from part 1), Chulbul continues to loot the rich and perform item numbers for the poor. So much for ‘being human’!
The wafer thin plot of the story is that Chulbul and clan move to Kanpur, since he wants to play in the big league. Once in the big city, two things happen rapidly: Chulbul and his bovine beau Rajjo (Sonakshi Sinha) become the chubbiest couple in Kanpur and he finds his chief nemesis in veteran gunda with political aspirations, Bachcha Thakur (Prakash Raj) and his two inglorious brothers who fail even as sidekicks. The movie chugs along with silly jabs at Chulbul’s much-loved ways of doling out justice between shaking a leg in item songs and romantic numbers alike. While what the movie leads up to is as forgettable as the rest, if you’re a Sallu fan, does it really matter?
Also not cleverly woven into the script are the shameless in-film promos. “Main aapke liye yeh <insert brand here> ka phone laya hoon. Isme gaane hain aur ringtone bhi hain!” When you hope to make a zillion crores at the box office, can’t we have a little less spot-selling and a little more action?
Salman Khan is at that Lal Baadshah stage of his career when he isn’t sexy and he doesn’t know it. The VFX may lend the ability to do back flips while sitting on a chair or press down water hydrants into the ground with a single palm push. But when you’re 46, no amount of colour correction can tuck your tummy in or smoothen your fine lines beyond a point. While accepting ‘elder brother’, ‘cool uncle’ or ‘inspiring coach’ roles would be in order, Sallu will surely push the envelope by playing the lead for another couple of years at best. Sonakshi Sinha should sign up for the next Sunny Deol movie as very few male actors can match the breadth of her shoulders, let alone beat her. Her part in the film is as important as the role of a fork in consuming soup but then that is the case for anyone cast opposite Salman.
The most prophetic mistake was surely putting Arbaaz Khan on the director’s chair. Most of the scenes flow into the other aimlessly and the screenplay is more like a screen pause with no build up. And while Hindi films are infamous for springing up songs like jack out of the box, here most seem to be recorded on-location to compliment a scene and won’t be in the track list. Only until, Salman joins in with the enthusiasm of a drunken monkey who has been bitten by a scorpion and then you know.
Being a sequel of a movie that made more money than the total GDP of certain deprived countries, it would be treated like a star’s kid making a debut. Too much like the first part and people will be quick to say, ‘it’s eating off the franchise’. Too unlike it and it would be rubbished as ‘nothing like the first one’. But what we have here is a unique specimen, a Chinese equivalent or a Sneha Ullal version of the first part. A hollow approach to recreate what has worked, minus the substance that could’ve atleast made this cinematic zit a little less insufferable.
My first thoughts on exiting the movie hall were: “Tumhare plot mein itne ched karunga ki confuse ho jaoge… ki yeh plot hain ya polka dot!”
Cast: Salman Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Arbaaz Khan, Prakash Raj
Directed by Arbaaz Khan
Rating: 1/2*
Anything you say or write about a Salman Khan film can be used against you in the court of Sallu fans – the only known outfit that embraces capital punishment and ‘dhinka chika’ as the national anthem. But more recently, Salman Khan films have been little more than a collection of retrofitted sequences carelessly strung together to amuse pocket-fiddlers, belt-adjusters and pelvic-thrusters, who unanimously find the very sight of Khan on the big screen to be life-assuring. For everyone else, these films have been the second-most publically accepted venue, after a funeral, to cry uncontrollably. Not because they were epic tragedies but because cremating one’s senses and wallet simultaneously can hurt. Dabangg 2 just hits the spot there. Still keen? Read on.
Chulbul Pandey (Salman Khan), the cop with a heart of gold and a paunch with many folds is back to do what he does best: Maaro lines that suck the fun out of funny, only to be encouraged and applauded by his fellow khakhi-men (all above 60 to make Khan look a little less weathered). Following his Robinhood ways (from part 1), Chulbul continues to loot the rich and perform item numbers for the poor. So much for ‘being human’!
The wafer thin plot of the story is that Chulbul and clan move to Kanpur, since he wants to play in the big league. Once in the big city, two things happen rapidly: Chulbul and his bovine beau Rajjo (Sonakshi Sinha) become the chubbiest couple in Kanpur and he finds his chief nemesis in veteran gunda with political aspirations, Bachcha Thakur (Prakash Raj) and his two inglorious brothers who fail even as sidekicks. The movie chugs along with silly jabs at Chulbul’s much-loved ways of doling out justice between shaking a leg in item songs and romantic numbers alike. While what the movie leads up to is as forgettable as the rest, if you’re a Sallu fan, does it really matter?
Also not cleverly woven into the script are the shameless in-film promos. “Main aapke liye yeh <insert brand here> ka phone laya hoon. Isme gaane hain aur ringtone bhi hain!” When you hope to make a zillion crores at the box office, can’t we have a little less spot-selling and a little more action?
Salman Khan is at that Lal Baadshah stage of his career when he isn’t sexy and he doesn’t know it. The VFX may lend the ability to do back flips while sitting on a chair or press down water hydrants into the ground with a single palm push. But when you’re 46, no amount of colour correction can tuck your tummy in or smoothen your fine lines beyond a point. While accepting ‘elder brother’, ‘cool uncle’ or ‘inspiring coach’ roles would be in order, Sallu will surely push the envelope by playing the lead for another couple of years at best. Sonakshi Sinha should sign up for the next Sunny Deol movie as very few male actors can match the breadth of her shoulders, let alone beat her. Her part in the film is as important as the role of a fork in consuming soup but then that is the case for anyone cast opposite Salman.
The most prophetic mistake was surely putting Arbaaz Khan on the director’s chair. Most of the scenes flow into the other aimlessly and the screenplay is more like a screen pause with no build up. And while Hindi films are infamous for springing up songs like jack out of the box, here most seem to be recorded on-location to compliment a scene and won’t be in the track list. Only until, Salman joins in with the enthusiasm of a drunken monkey who has been bitten by a scorpion and then you know.
Being a sequel of a movie that made more money than the total GDP of certain deprived countries, it would be treated like a star’s kid making a debut. Too much like the first part and people will be quick to say, ‘it’s eating off the franchise’. Too unlike it and it would be rubbished as ‘nothing like the first one’. But what we have here is a unique specimen, a Chinese equivalent or a Sneha Ullal version of the first part. A hollow approach to recreate what has worked, minus the substance that could’ve atleast made this cinematic zit a little less insufferable.
My first thoughts on exiting the movie hall were: “Tumhare plot mein itne ched karunga ki confuse ho jaoge… ki yeh plot hain ya polka dot!”
Power pack action film... Salman keeps you glued to the seat… To book the tickets download Dabangg2 Mobile app from Google store and Apple store...
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