Dabangg 2

Who am I to try and review Sir Salman - the hysteria in the theatre was review enough. Baddies flung in all directions, wicked one liners and catchy one liners, thumping songs - an out and out entertainer.

Incredulous? Yes. But one is just glued to the seat not for one minute questioning the possibility or credibility of the story. One is drawn into the movie and compelled to watch.

Director Arbaaz Khan pulled it off - he kept the flavor of Dabang 1 intact. Salman Khan can pull off those crazy dialogues without batting an eyelid, makes them sound like such sane conversation - the one about the 'gulab jamuns' and hernia, the monkey's behind.......

Sonakshi Sinha is as alluring as ever - she is one of two actresses who looks so seductive in a saree (the other being Vidya Balan).

The funny thing is, inspite of everything, all the characters appear so natural to the story - Vinod Khanna as the father, Arbaaz Khan as the less than intelligent brother, Prakash Raj as the politician goonda and a host of supporting characters who all held their own.

One issue - the movie could do with a couple of songs less. In fact, Kareena Kapoor's guest appearance was OK. (Sorry, folks !) . Or maybe the songs were all equally appealing . (That was an apology, yet again).

So just go and watch for one of three reason - to chortle at the snide dialogues, to tap your feet to the music or to hear the fans in the theatre - men and women alike - scream and hoot whenever Sir Salman walks onto the screen.

Dabanng 2 is like

No fizz in your Cola

No kalakhatta on your ice gola

A vada pav without the garlic chutney

A husband left home alone without his patni

There is fire but no heat

Punches, but the villians don't look so beat

A married romance is never that exciting

Even Mallika & Kareena don't look that enticing.

Salman, my hero is perfect (He can do no wrong)

The movie thankfully isn't even that long

The songs though take up too much time

Perhaps to fill the absence of a real storyline?

If you are a Salman fan nothing will stop you

And to be fair you will laugh with my darling Sallu

The movie has a few sprinkled moments of fun

But it is definitely far from Dabanng One

'Dabangg 2' is the movie that 'Dabangg' probably would have been more comfortable being. Whatever little potential the original had waiting to burst from under it's heavy layer of masala is drowned by the overpowering spice of stupidity in this sequel.

Chulbul Pandey enters a garage and beats the crap out of a gang of criminals who have just committed a crime, then keeps the loot they stole. His antics soon come to the attention of a local goon with political aspirations. He beats/kills the goon's henchmen, insults him and then the goon looses it big time and hurts him back. Chulbul vows vengeance leading to the climatic fight. In the middle of all this he finds time to flirt with Rajjo (Sonakshi Sinha), berate his brother Makkhi (Arbaaz Khan), joke around with his step-father (Vinod Khanna) and shake a leg or two with some random beauties. Sound familiar? That's almost the exact thing that transpired in the first one, give or take a few things.

The action shifts to Kanpur but it doesn't matter, you could very well be in Patna or Bhubaneshwar, the city is so poorly utilised. Salman struts and owns the movie, but you have seen the character a million times by now and little or no effort it made to make a real person out of him. He's still very much a caricature. Other than some nifty little moments involving a refrigerator in a shootout, the action largely consists of various slow-motion shots of people getting punched and flying backwards.

The Fevicol song has some truly crass and sexist lyrics and boy does Kareena Kapoor overdo it, it's sickening. The reworked 'Hud Hud Dabangg' song ruins perhaps one of the few good things about the original and the other songs are utterly forgettable.

Fans of 'Dabangg' will find much to relish for the rest, as for the rest, I think they are smart enough to look elsewhere.

This is more of a note than a review. Few years back, a character called Chulbul Pandey enthralled us all with his mad shenanigans, one-liners, bad-ass dance moves & a heart at the center of it. This time, the same guy is back doing the same stuff in a different setting.

I am really not going to go over the story or plot as its genuinely (& sadly for few who are looking for big content) immaterial in a Salman Khan film. It is more of an experience. Go, see him beating guys in ultra slo-mo, dance some more, strut his stuff, fight guys shirtless, mouth some hilarious one-liners & then there's Fevicol.

Fevicol by itself is worth the ticket money at a single-screen theater. The audience comes alive, the cinema hall erupts & the madness is unparalleled. Shall shortly share a video of what happens at the screening.

To me, this is a phenomenon that shall die out very soon & thats what makes it exciting. Agreed, that though the redundant storylines of kidnapping, eve-teasing & gunda gardi (which are still unfortuantely a daily act in this country), are done to death a million times over, it is the fun of watching this man on screen that gives you the ticket value.

Salman is all that this film is. Forget Sonakshi, Prakash Raj & Arbaaz. His sidekicks have the best lines & he tears through Chulbul, yet again. I dont see the need to rate this film at all because it doesnt need to be. Agreed that even mindless cinema can have structure, but for a single-screen viewing, this just HAS to be watched.

As for the movie, its a breezy 2 hour time-pass watch that one would enjoy regardless.

I suggest just go watch at any local shoddy theater & then tell me whether or not you got bang for your buck!

“In this case, all cases are same” says a character as Dabangg 2 draws to a close. This is a perfect analogy for this commercial juggernaut, it's all really the same thing. A family gets together to make pot loads of money and we all whistle and hoot at it.

Salman Khan played by Chulbul Pandey is the quintessential Bollywood character. (See what I did there?) There is Rajjo, the coy wife, Munni, the item girl who has no reason to exist in the film or otherwise except to shake that thang and now there is the Fevicol Lady. I don't remember if Kareena got a name here, did she? Oh it doesn't matter. None of it matters. Salman Khan is doing his funny jig, imperfect dancing and more than perfect butt kicking. What more do you want? Story? Nah. That's not even the point.

I laughed at the Kung Fu Pandey joke and the belt doing the Hud Hud Dabangg dance by itself. But there wasn't a single quirk or quote that was worth remembering. Not a single action set piece to care about. I'm a patient audience for mainstream cinema, but even I couldn't find anything to take back. The first hour is good entertainment but the second hour is tiresome. I checked my watch a few times, almost losing interest.

They say a film is only as good as its villain. This was a major anomaly of this film. Prakash Raj who was a terrific villain in Wanted (2008) seems almost repetitively lackluster here. I was beginning to think some thought has been put into the screenplay as Pandey Ji and his father had some moments and I could see sub-plot taking birth but alas, nothing here either. It really could have been made into a good father-son story. Okay wait. Dabangg 2, a father-son story? No, not really. The one good thing that the makers do is quickly wrap up the movie and keep the runtime short. If you have nothing novel to show us, keep it short. For that I wouldn't say I was underwhelmed, definitely not overwhelmed. I was just whelmed, to be precise.

As a commercial product, Dabangg 2 offers exactly what you think of. Sadly, that is not enough. Yes, I don't have much to complain about either. For that, something has to be there on screen worth talking about. All I gathered was that there is no reason for me to look forward to the third explosion in this moneymaking cannon. How long are we going to keep saying “If you're a Salman Khan fan, go watch it”? I'm waiting for a day when I say “If you're a fan of cinema, go watch it” for a Salman film. Not holding my breath though.