Director Abhinav Kashyap positioned a fearless cop in rural India to challenge the vile criminals with the South Indian cinema inspired over-the-top action, item songs, goofy humor and dance moves. Salman Khan owned the character of Chulbul Pandey, the quintessential cinematic hero who rises at every occasion and dances at every opportunity. In all its ridiculousness, 'Dabangg' was an entertainer that brought a welcome change to the mass-appealing action genre. Little did Kashyap know that he would set off a wave of the South-Indian inspired films that took everything to another degrading level. Since there was no stopping the craze for the Robin hood Pandey, Arbaaz Khan took over the direction of the sequel and although it is quite obvious that he should refrain from any such future endeavors, Dabangg 2 retains some qualities that made its predecessor such a blockbuster. These qualities are namely dialogues and Salman Khan.
Chulbul Pandey has been transferred to Kanpur, a city infested with the cunning unlawfulness of Bacha bhai (Prakash Raaj). While at home, he has light moments with his father, Pandeyji (Vinod Khanna), Makkhi (Arbaaz Khan) and of course, the wife Rajjo (Sonakshi Sinha). The funnier moments though, are with the Police force that jokes, dances and reacts to trivial questions.
Bacha bhai needs to maintain a good image in public on the eve of elections and therefore, for the first half of the movie, he mostly ignores Pandey's quest to eliminate crime in Kanpur. His brother, Genda (Deepak Dobriyal) confronts Pandey briefly in a memorable stand-off that triggers Bacha's pursuit of revenge on Pandey. Till their final confrontation of mortal kombat, both vengeful Bacha bhai and Chulbul Pandey stroll through a plot-less, aimless street that is the result of Arbaaz Khan's involvement in film-making. Meanwhile, the burden of providing laughter and engagement is upon Salman Khan's shoulders and he can only go that far by himself without support from any of the film's aspects.
As it turns out, Arbaaz Khan made it simple enough for himself. He replicated some elements of Dabangg that pleased the masses, song by song and scene by scene. That left the script, story, characterization, cinematography, screenplay and direction as an afterthought to signing up Kareena Kapoor for the train-wreck of an item number that was Fevicol. A song every 15 mins just leaves the audience in frustration as the plot moves an inch towards the cliff. Even Munni and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan couldn't save us from the boredom that the crudely choreographed songs blatantly outshone the trifling music by Sajid-Wajid.
The characters who became memorable in Dabangg are now written with no bearing for evolution and the potential that such a star-cast could provide, goes to sheer waste.
Prakash Raaj is an outstanding villain. As Jaykant Shikre in 'Singham', his evil was both cunning and powerful. Not to forget, his superlative comic timing. As Bacha bhai, his talent is wasted when the opportunity laid a fine platform for a memorable character like Chedi Singh. Perhaps that is where Abhinav Kashyap's direction is missed the most. Even though Chulbul Pandey seems like the indefatigable, shrewd cop who will remain a step ahead of his nemesis, the villain's character brings the balance to the film and keeps the audience engaged in the plot. But it all went wrong here.
Deepak Dobriyal is delightful in his brief role and Vinod Khanna is hilarious as the gullible father. It is indeed difficult to ascertain whether Arbaaz Khan is a worse actor or director and let's just put it this way, that there are far better newcomers to choose from than Sonakshi Sinha.
The Police brigade seemed to enjoy the film the most and one can easily tell. They provide the witty one-liners and jarring dances that make this style of cinema appealing to the masses. Upon Pandey's inquiry about the nation's worrisome future, a constable's opinion is truly hilarious; “Country on deathbed Sir, full kidney phail Sir.â€
Alas, that is all that the movie has to offer to even make it a shadow of Kashyap's Dabangg. It entertains in similar fashion but offers nothing new or refreshing.
Salman Khan is noticeably bulkier with minimal movement of arms, legs and neck. It really is time for him to wear one size bigger now. Yet, his dialogue delivery, expressions and persona of being the fearless hero that saves every day are what make Dabangg 2 bearable. There is no other saving grace unfortunately and it sets yet another example why this genre of movies is decaying rapidly.
Hopefully, producers realize that the opening week collections alone do not decide the fate of a film. 150 Cr may have sent them laughing to the bank but Dabangg 2 has done very little for its cast, its audience and the genre of masala movies.
- 6.20 on a scale of 1-10.