‘Dabanng’ is a cross between a Bollywood flavored Spaghetti Western, a rustic Indian taken on Robin Hood and a satire. Barring a few strums of the guitar, Flamenco style, morally ambiguous characters, a corrupt cop distributing money to the poor and a few catchy one liners, the film falls short of doing justice to all its influences. However, with allegorical names, good action and music, a peppy dance number and a protagonist whose character seems to be the quintessential role for the actor who plays it, the film ends up being tolerable.
The story revolves around Chulbul Pandey, a corrupt police officer in charge of Lalganj in Uttar Pradesh. He is a fearless cop who like beating up bad guys but does not necessarily follow rules as far as money is concerned. He takes his share and distributes it as he sees fit. His personal life is traumatic due to his strained relationship with his step-father and step-brother. He incurs the wrath of the local political aspirant who wants to cut him down to size and uses his step-brother against him. How Pandey counters his personal and professional challenges is what the film tries to explore.
The story is along predictable lines. But, that is not its shortcoming. The shortcoming lies in the dialogues. Barring the ones that were promoted, the lines mostly fall flat. The relationships lack chemistry, be it Chulbul’s relationship with his mother, his step-father, step-brother or his girlfriend. Nothing really fires up the screen. However, credit must be given to Anubhav Sinha for creating a very stylized world within a world, with quirky characters, and a small town, where people are at the mercy of the powerful few. The action sequences are well choreographed and the music has melodious and raunchy numbers. Overall, more effort could have been put in, to spice up key exchanges.
Chulbul seems to be the kind of role that people want to see Salman Khan in. The viewer tends to feel bad for him, but not too bad, because he shakes it off fast. His dead pan delivery towers above the rest and he holds the weak structure together. His look also scores with a thin mustache and Ray-Ban aviators. Debutante Sonakshi Sinha has good looks and a good personality on screen. The role does not give her much to do though, so nothing much can be said about her acting prowess. Sonu Sood as the local goon with political aspirations delivers a believable performance and seems to be making a name for himself in ‘negative’ roles. Vinod Khanna, Dimple Kapadia, Om Puri and Arbaaz Khan are accounted for, but show nothing to write about.
Overall, ‘Dabangg’ disappoints considering the hype that surrounded it, pre-release. You get in expecting a riot, but get out having watched a few arguments and a few slaps. It ends up being par for the course. Nothing more. Nothing less.
