Movie Review: Dabangg

Dabangg is not one of the regular lovey-dovey romantic type movies that are churned out every now and then by the Indian film industry in Bollywood. High on style quotient and in every manner of word, Dabangg: fearless, this is definitely one of those movies that you must add on top of your must-watch list.

To start with, I was tempted to draw parallels of the movie with The Matrix (dodging stuff!) and Sherlock Holmes (look at the final fighting scene in the trailer: ditto Sherlock Holmes), but after getting warmed up to the movie, one realizes that this movie is much above all that. This movie is going to have a cult following in its own right.

Some of the dialogues in the movie for instance are hilarious (हम तुममे इतने छेद कर देंगे कि पता नहीं चलेगा कि साँस कहाँ से ले और पादे कहाँ से) and really gives you the feel of a देसी "Made in India" (not one of those imported ones that you can find if you walk into any cinema hall these days) movie. Salman Khan embraces the character of Chulbul Pandey aka "Robin Hood" Pandey with ease what with the narrow moustache and the sunglasses which he puts behind his neck जिससे आगे भी और पीछे भी नज़र रहे. 

The accelerated/decelerated camera frames, the panning of the camera and the the background music playing whenever Salman Khan is in a scene that demands some amount of studappa really adds to the zing in the movie. And how can one forget the dance scenes with some amazing lighting (Diwali style? notice the expanding hearts on Salman Khan’s glasses!) and refreshingly unorthodox dance moves (How they move their belts?!) that are unlike any other Bollywood movie in recent memory.

One is so enraptured by the antiques of Chulbul that one really doesn’t seem to notice much of the plot. One does find surprises along the way, not many of course but a few small ones for sure (the death of Chulbul’s mother for instance or the Mango box which very innocuously seemed nothing but a box full of mangoes!). 

Content-wise it wouldn’t possibly add up to much, but it is a movie with some class and some Masala. This isn’t a movie for the film critique to analyse an intricately woven plot. But a movie for the masses that is fun-packed, low on Funda but surely full of clean, pure entertainment! Go, watch it!