DABANNG 2 REVIEW

Dabangg 2 will centre around Chulbul Pandey as its central character. Only the backdrop this time round will be a posh metropolitan city and not a gaon. You see, Chulcul Pandey will be transferred to a city and will mingle with the elite, but will retain his simplistic flavour and values.

Dabangg 2 encashes two brands completely - Salman Khan and Dabangg itself. The film works more for the actor than for the film itself. A feast for the superstar's fans and a one-time watch for the rest.

It wouldn't be wrong to say Salman Khan is the Rajinikanth of Hindi film industry. He can swing villains around like a yo-yo, beat them down to pulp, fly from a place to the other, run faster than a cheetah and cause earth to shatter while making an entry. What's best, he can execute this all while making it look believable. So while people say a Salman Khan starrer doesn't quite need a strong story for his presence alone can make the movie work, Arbaaz Khan Debuts into direction by taking the legacy of Salman's blockbuster Dabangg forward with its sequel. Whether he brings a blend of story and star power or not let's find out.

Quite unlike the sequels being made in the industry which hold no relevance to their predecessor, Dabangg 2 takes off as a continuation of its first part. Chulbul Pandey, who's now a family man with a wife Rajjo (Sonakshi Sinha), a father Prajapati Pandey (Vinod Khanna) and brother Makhi (Arbaaz Khan), gets a transfer from Lalganj to the big city of Kanpur. The league may now have become bigger and the goons more villainous but it only takes two fights for this Robin Hood Pandey to claim his status of a super cop in the city. While he comes hard on the criminals and notoriously robs the rich and helps the poor, he also ruffles feathers with Baccha Singh a big political hoodlum. Worse still, he ends up killing Baccha Bhaiyya's beloved brother Genda (Deepak Dobriyal) setting off a rage amongst Baccha and his troupe that only wants to settle scores by killing Chulbul. The rest of the stories comprises of a battle between Baccha and Chulbul.

Debutant director Arbaaz Khan takes over the baton from Abhinav Kashyap who made Dabangg and instead of bringing in much change in the cast and story he retains almost everything from the first part. As an astute businessman and also the producer, Arbaaz keeps all the tried and tested elements of blockbuster Dabangg that potently raised Salman Khan to his stardom.

The film all in all has 5-7 fight sequences, 5-7 grand hero entries of Salman with loud background score, 5-7 songs and characters repeated from Salman's earlier hits. Some of the sequences are literally repeated in order to click with the masses. The film may just have one of the most done to death plots executed in a very done to death format but yet again it will still be watched and rejoiced by Salman Khan fans. Reason? For Arbaaz celebrates the stardom of his big brother and makes sure that his fans get their worth for money.

Arbaaz gives Salman a freehand to essay his part keeping his fans choices in mind and the latter who clearly knows by now what works with his fans takes his character of a mischievously smart and righteous cop forward by bringing newer shades to his character. The superstar brings a perfect blend romance, emotions, comedy and action. One also sees the macho cop's boyish side as he converses with his father.

Sonakshi Sinha this time around too doesn't get much to offer to the film except for 2-3 expressions and 2-3 songs but still looks a perfect match for the personality of Salman Khan. Prakash Raj comes across as a good replacement for Sonu Sood. His character and antics are similar to his earlier Bollywood films Wanted and Singham but still doesn't appear jaded in this one.

The rest of the cast including the likes of Vinod Khanna, Niketan Dheer and Deepak Dobriyal are decent in their parts. Kareena Kapoor's item number although has hit it off with the masses in the film appears needlessly inserted. Music by Sajid Wajid also is pretty much like a rehash of the first part.

To sum it up, Dabangg 2 encashes two brands completely - Salman Khan and Dabangg itself. The film works more for the actor than for the film itself. A feast for the superstar's fans and a one-time watch for the rest.