‘Dabangg 2’ review: Make way for Chulbul Pandey - reloaded!

Resham Sengar

It’s December 21, 2012 and finally the wait is over. No, I am not talking about the Doomsday but Salman Khan’s eagerly awaited sequel to his 2010 blockbuster hit ‘Dabangg’. Directed by debutant director Arbaaz Khan, ‘Dabangg 2’ is a complete package and a wholesome entertainment that is not-to-be-missed even if you are not a Salman Khan fan. Though the sequel begins, progresses and ends in the way reminiscing of the first part, yet the makers have not left any stone unturned in presenting ‘Dabangg 2’ as an out and out entertainer. In the sequel, cop Chulbul aka Robinhood Pandey has taken a transfer to Kanpur from Lalganj in a bid to perform more heroic deeds. In the opening scene, the larger-than-life Chulbul Pandey aka ‘Kungfu Pandey’ now, ditches the door to make an entry to beat up goons; instead he barges inside by breaking through the walls in his jeep. The whole story focuses on Chulbul Pandey’s task to eradicate the terror been spread by a powerful super goon cum aspiring politician Bachcha bhaiya (Prakash Raj) and his gang in the town much like the way Chulbul went on to thwart Chedi Singh’s plans in the first installment of the film. As the events unfold, Pandeyji is seen killing Bachcha bhai’s younger brother named Genda to save an innocent girl’s honour and thereby putting himself and his family at the receiving end of the super goon’s fury. So the whole point is that the film lacks a substantial storyline yet again but it has what is needed to qualify for the list of entertaining flicks. When it comes to assessing Salman’s performance, all could be said is that he is the show stealer here and deserves applause for his mind blowing and effortless action scenes. He plays the bad-ass-cop-with-a-golden heart attitude with élan. And of course, even this time Salman has been given a chance to show off his bare, well-sculpted body. Salman has proved with the ‘Dabangg’ series that he was and will always be an undisputed iron man of Hindi cinema. Period. Sonakshi Sinha as Rajjo looks better on screen this time. Her acting seems to have improved, perhaps because her experience in the craft has widened ever since she made her debut in 2010. But honestly, in a film where highlighting Salman’s machismo is the sole focus, Sonakshi doesn’t have much to do. Yes, Salman and Sonakshi complement each other on the big screen and together they have infused life into their marital romance quite well in the film. Producer-director Arbaaz Khan also reprises his role of Makhan Chand Pandey but keeps his role quite limited and subdued even this time. But the major glitch is Mahie Gill’s character Nirmala. Despite being taken forward in the sequel, Mahie is not given enough scope to perform considering the fact that she is a powerful performer on screen. The other star of the film is Prakash Raj who the makers have cleverly roped in to play Bachcha bhaiya. The National Award winning actor delivers well, as usual. And just like his role in ‘Singham’ this one is going to go down the memory lane as well as one of the best villains we have had in the recent times. Music composers Sajid-Wajid fell short of creativity this time to compose good tracks for ‘Dabangg 2’. The songs such as ‘Pandey ji seeti’, ‘Dagahbaaz’ (which seems like an extension of ‘Tere mast mast do nain’) are boring and can lull the listener to sleep. It is ‘Sanson ne’ which can be rated well for its soft romantic notes. The most popular track on the charts right now – ‘Fevicol se’ is good too but only because of Kareena Kapoor and not at all for the vulgar lyrics. The dialogues stick to their eastern Uttar Pradesh lingo and are extremely amusing. Also, the death defying action scenes are well performed. In fact it was quite a sight to watch Salman Khan partially lifting an SUV single handedly! Call it mindless yet it is enjoyable. ‘Dabangg’ was directed by a well-honed Abhinav Kashyap which did superbly at the box office. So there were bound to be expectations from Arbaaz too. But the actor cum director has kept the standards of the film intact like a pro. So much so that it was hard to believe that a newbie in film making has directed the film. I would like to throw a word of caution here. Since'Dabangg 2' is a mass entertainer, those looking for intelligent cinema can refrain from watching this film. But the good part is that those who liked the first part of the series, would like the second part too. So, go on and book your ticket to enjoy this paisa vasool film with your friends and family.