Dabangg Review From Times of India

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DABANGG REVIEW FROM TIMES OF INDIA

Nikhat Kazmi, TNN, Sep 10, 2010, 08.16pm

Cr itic's Rating: ****

Cast: Salman Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Arbaaz Khan, Sonu Sood

Dir ection: A bhinav Singh Kashyap

Genr e: ActionDur ation: 2 hour s 5 minutes

Reader s Rating: ****

Story: Corrupt cop Chulbul Pandey ( Salman Khan ) needs to bridge the distance with

his step brother, Makkhi (Arbaaz Khan) and stepdad, Vinod Khanna, on the behest of

his mother (Dimple Kapadia) even as he needs to set his own house in order by

marrying the potter girl (Sonakshi Sinha) who refuses to succumb to his charms. And if

that's not enough, there's the local goon, Sonu Sood and the crumbling administration

of the small town that is craving his attention too. Can Chulbul Pandey deliver?

Movie Review: For anybod y who wants to kno w what is the on-screen definition of Bollyw ood (read popular mainstream Hindi cinema), Dabangg is truly text book fare. It's

loud, crazy, zany, exaggerated, larger-than-life, almost nonsensical, totally make-believe,

comic book like, complete kitsch, generously peppered with the mandator y desi tadka

(garnishing) of songs and dances that keep popping out of no where and is literally

oozing with star charisma. Most importantly, it's not meant to make sense. It's only

meant to entertain. And entertain, it does in o verdoses. No, this isn't meant f or people

who are looking f or different cinema. Nor is it meant f or the viewer who likes mo vies to

appeal to his head. Yet, f or those who celebrate and serenade the `silliness' of

mainstream masala mo vie lore and swear by its popcorn quotient, Dabangg is the

greatest getaway of the season.

Debutant director Abhinav Kashyap chooses to walk the road that makes a complete U-

turn f rom brother Anurag Kashyap's edgy, hard-hitting, realistic cinema and opts f or a

signature tune that re-invents the age-old f ormula in aaj ka idiom. Plot -wise, the film

might make y ou cringe with it's hackneyed tale of tw o squabbling step brothers who have

the arduous task of keeping the great Indian family together. And guess who's making

life even more difficult f or the parivaar? Who else but the local goon (Sonu Sood) who

tries to play one brother (A r baaz Khan) against the other (Salman Khan).

But all this brouhaha about a non-stor y is truly irrelevant, because there never was

supposed to be a stor y in Dabangg. The only factor that was supposed to be there was

Salman Khan, Salman Khan, Salman Khan...f ollo wed by some more Salman Khan. So just sit back and sav our the star po wer of an actor who chooses to enunciate the role of a

thoroughbred entertainer. Salman's corrupt cop act as Chulbul Pandey, playing R o bin

Hood in a semi-rustic environment is so engaging, y ou are willing to f orgive and f orget

ever ything else. As soon as y ou begin to realise the film hasn't mo ved at all in terms of

stor y, bingo! There comes Salman swinging his bare fists around, ducking bullets,

spewing mischiev ous threats and abuses, making eyes at his girlf riend (Sonakshi Sinha),

creating chaos in his d ysfunctional family and breezily breaking the rules with his



brattish ways. And in case y ou still tend to get a bit restless, there is the Pelvic! Watch

him gy rate in sync with all those uproarious tunes and y ou'll be do wn to y our last coin,

having flung all the loose change y ou have on chartbusters like Munni Badnam

Hui....And finally, if y ou still want more, there's the shirt -ripping sequence, where our

desi hulk gets to sho wcase his sculpted torso without having to unbutton it. It simply

tears on its o wn! No w didn't we tell y ou Bollyw ood films have their o wn undefinable

logic....

Dabangg is designed as a vehicle to sho wcase the star charisma of Salman Khan and the

actor literally hits bull's eye. He has a ball on screen and makes sure y ou join the party

too. Aiding him are tw o special factors: the excellent action choreography by S Vijayan

(watch out f or all of Salman's slo w motion antics and the Matrix bends and leaps that are

sure-fire taali-seeti fare) and the f oot-tapping music score by Sajid-Wajid and newcomer

Lalit Pandit. The locales of the film too are exotic and re-create the hinterland ambience

that is becoming so popular in Hindi cinema today. Set in a small, sleepy, one-horse

to wn in Uttar Pradesh, Dabangg creates an alluring canvas of decay and dissolution,

even as it celebrates the

ordina

riness

of the aam aa

dmi's life.

In terms of perf ormances, the sho w is definitely anchored by Salman Khan , but

debutant Sonakshi Sinha too stands tall. As Salman's silent, shy, yet gritty girlf riend, she

has great screen presence and a spontaneous charm. Bad guy, Sonu Sood too ends up as

an interesting ad versar y to our local R o bin Hoodwhile A r baaz Khan articulates the angst

of the underdog brother. But hey, in the end, Dabangg is not about theor y and analysis;

it's only about the Zandu Balm effect of cinema: completely home gro wn, hybrid, purely

desi stress-busting therapy. Period.

A word about:

Performances: It's a Salman sho w all the way. The actor is completely in command asthe larger-than-life entertainer who kno ws all the rules of the Bollyw oodhero act.

Newcomer Sonakshi Sinha too impresses with her spontaneity and spunk.

Story: No w that's the weak link. Toohackneyed, this tale of sibling rivalr y.

Dialogues: They spring straight f rom the Hindi heartland and are street-smart,

colloquial and sometimes silly.

Cinematography: The small to wn has been created well with all its colourful disarray

by cinematographer Mahesh Limaye.

Action: No w that's the highpoint! S Vijayan's absolutely unbelievable stunts truly add to

Salman's larger-than-life image.

Music: Dabangg boasts of a great soundtrack by Sajid-Wajid, with a special number by

newcomer Lalit Pandit: Munni Badnam Hui which is fast topping the charts as item

number one!



Mayank Shekhar's review: G olmaal 3 Mayank Shekhar, Hindustan Times

New Delhi, November 04, 2010

Dir ector : Rohit Shetty

Actor s: Ajay Devgn, Kar eena Kapoor , Mithun Chak r o bor ty

Rating: *1/2

You see Mithun. You make way. As does this movie. It flashes back to mid µ70s. Mithun da

(Ayeeessh!) is the disco dancer . ³I am a disco dancer´ is the song on his lips, and his

pr ofession to the gir lf r iend¶s dad: "Zindagi mer a gaana. Mein kisika deewana (Life¶s singing

for me. I¶m also cr azy a bout someone).´

That father is Pr em, Pr em Chopr a. The baldie isn¶t too impr essed. He hands over an empty

suitcase, asks the poor boy to make Rs 5 lakh befor e he can claim his daughter ¶s hand.

Mithunda says he sold halwa over weekends (Dance Dance). He sold coconuts dur ing day

(Agneepath). But he couldn¶t make those lakhs and win his gir l. Another Disco Dancer ditty,

Yaad aa r aha hai plays in the backgr ound, and as a full-on tr ack. The spoof alludes to a minor

phase in Bollywood, when Hindi movies had momentar ily lost their mind. Mithun da

willingly plays fine spor t, pokes fun at himself.

This sequence could be a skit of its own, on MTV , Channel V , Laughter Challenge; if it hasn¶t

appear ed alr eady. So could the r est of Golmaal 3.

The film picks up all its humour f r om Bollywood alone. Pr actically ever y dialogue, almost

ever y scene, r efer s to another film, or a cele b -- some of them who¶r e in the movie, and some

who ar e not. ³Kar eena is on the Saif side´, Ar shad is waris (inher itor ), not a War si (his actual

sur name), Shahid Kapur is the kamina (f r om the movie Kaminey)« The cutesy villain

(Johnny Lever ) is called Pr itam (after the popular music composer ).

He envia bly suffer s f r om a shor t-ter m memor y loss. By the end of this flick, you wish, so

could you. Or may be you do. But do imagine a film industr y scr eening of this comedy and all

cele bs in the house, r otfl (r olling on the floor laughing), as it wer e. It¶s tr uly that filmi. And

for most par ts har dly as funny for all. The cast and cr ew cer tainly had a laugh filming it. They

even held an extended discussion on the pictur eGhajini for us. Gr eat for them.

How a bout telling a stor y of your own? Well that again, I guess, can be outsour ced to µ70s

Bollywood: Basu Chatter jee¶s Khatta Meetha (1979), I suppose. Mithunda and his sweethear t

once (Ratna Pathak Shah) ar e single still. Kar eena Kapoor plays cupid, and gets them and

their families together .

Old man father s thr ee adopted monster s: Ajay Devgn (can¶t r esist cr acking people¶s finger s),

Shr eyas Talpade (stammer s for our pleasur e). Old lady likewise mother s another set of aged

or phans: Ar shad War si, Kunal Khemu (in top for m), Tusshar Kapoor (mor e mor onic than



mute). The two gr oups, supr emely high on ener gy, hate each other . Another set of comic

villains back the two gangs. Those buffoons have separ ate stor ies of their own. The missing

link is the movie itself. No one anchor s it.

Golmaal was a sleeper hit of 2006. Since then, sever al ensem ble comedies ( Dhamaal etc),

some of them put together by this film¶s team as well (Sunday, All The Best ) have tr ied to

r epeat the r un. Golmaal 2(second-r ate stuff) appar ently r aked in big bucks. Such success can boost anyone¶s over -confidence. Which explains this tur d par t.

Close to thr ee hour s is long time in anyone¶s life. It¶s longer still to pack into a scr eenplay.

The filmmaker s have six main actor s to juggle with, and as many side comedians to lend

par ts to. Ther e¶s a deadline (Diwali) to meet. Never mind the narr ative, they¶d be happy with

as any cor ny antics and dialogues with whoever ¶s availa ble. You can cheat shots for actor s

not pr esent. Shoddiness shows.

They attempt ever y possi ble stunt. For an enter tainment-star ved audience, may be, even this

will do. After all, Jab Harsha hai toh Bhogle hai. Jab Asha hai toh Bhosle hai«What?

Whatever !

Dabangg Review From Times of India

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