Dabangg - Cowdung
So it was time to reenter the Bollywood scene with a movie. I have not seen a Hindi movie in a while and have not felt the need to review one if I have seen one. The last movie that I witnessed was Once upon a time in Mumbai. Incidentally I watched Godfather later and it was clear where was Once upon… inspired from. So enough said. Dabangg was a movie I was looking forward to. The movie won round 1 by the virtue of some amazing promos. Salman Khan looked very different and the punch lines used in the trailers were eye catching. So I had marked the movie as one that has to be watched. When the song “Munni badnaam hui…” came out the movie just found another reason to be seen. Abhinav Kashyap happens to be the brother of one of my favorite directors Anurag Kashyap. Yet another reason to watch the movie. What I did not know was how I’d crash land with such huge expectations.
It just goes to prove once again that when a lot of hype is created for a movie one should tread carefully. The reason why I didn’t mention Sonakshi in the earlier bit is two fold. a) I didnt expect much from her as you would not call her a typical slick beauty b) she actually turned out to be pretty good in her limited role. This Salman Khan starrer is the story of a bad cop who has his own sense of justice and rules. The movie feels like a collection of events. I am not sure if the fault lies at an editing stage or at the story stage itself. For me to say that the addition of some scenes would have created an impact with the movie would be unfair. This is because the movie had too many lacunae. There were holes through which trucks could pass. The entire movie sounded very pointless.
Sonu Sood plays the man with the gray shade and he cannot pull off a bad guy. He was forgettable. Some actors cannot act but exist because they have a background. Arbaaz Khan falls under that list. He plays the step brother of Salman and has done nothing noteworthy. Mahesh Manjeraker plays the father of the female lead, a small cameo. The character neither created an impact nor was it forgettable. He has a tacky presence for no reason. The movie revolves around the subject of Salman Khan’s idea of good and bad. He has bad guys to fight in the form of Sonu Sood and also Vinod Khanna who plays his stepdad. But what isn’t clear is what is his fight against. Hence the story has a lot of holes that were not expected to be covered.
Chulbul Pandey is the central character of the movie. He is this lovable village cop and the saving grace of the movie. His antics are refreshing and funny. But the director had hoped that this would be enough to carry the movie home. I am sorry the audience isn’t foolish. Every character needs strength but this movie aimed at masala stuff for the story and an interesting character in Chulbul to take the story home. Salman Khan looks great as Chulbul Pandey. He is brash, coarse, arrogant and intentionally funny. But for a story set in the rural background a lot could have been done. Thereis no depth and this flame is going to die out once the marketing hype ends. One movie comes to my mind when I think about Dabangg, Ishqiya. The story is very different but the setting is very similar. Now Vishal Bharadwaj is a master and you can see how the story is told there. I am just tired of watching movies that only have a few scenes that are worthwhile. I demand a good story along with telling performances. Dabangg falls woefully short.
Recommendation to watch – well, have you ever seen a Chulbul Pandey before? So go watch him but don’t expect much because there isn’t much.
It just goes to prove once again that when a lot of hype is created for a movie one should tread carefully. The reason why I didn’t mention Sonakshi in the earlier bit is two fold. a) I didnt expect much from her as you would not call her a typical slick beauty b) she actually turned out to be pretty good in her limited role. This Salman Khan starrer is the story of a bad cop who has his own sense of justice and rules. The movie feels like a collection of events. I am not sure if the fault lies at an editing stage or at the story stage itself. For me to say that the addition of some scenes would have created an impact with the movie would be unfair. This is because the movie had too many lacunae. There were holes through which trucks could pass. The entire movie sounded very pointless.
Sonu Sood plays the man with the gray shade and he cannot pull off a bad guy. He was forgettable. Some actors cannot act but exist because they have a background. Arbaaz Khan falls under that list. He plays the step brother of Salman and has done nothing noteworthy. Mahesh Manjeraker plays the father of the female lead, a small cameo. The character neither created an impact nor was it forgettable. He has a tacky presence for no reason. The movie revolves around the subject of Salman Khan’s idea of good and bad. He has bad guys to fight in the form of Sonu Sood and also Vinod Khanna who plays his stepdad. But what isn’t clear is what is his fight against. Hence the story has a lot of holes that were not expected to be covered.
Chulbul Pandey is the central character of the movie. He is this lovable village cop and the saving grace of the movie. His antics are refreshing and funny. But the director had hoped that this would be enough to carry the movie home. I am sorry the audience isn’t foolish. Every character needs strength but this movie aimed at masala stuff for the story and an interesting character in Chulbul to take the story home. Salman Khan looks great as Chulbul Pandey. He is brash, coarse, arrogant and intentionally funny. But for a story set in the rural background a lot could have been done. Thereis no depth and this flame is going to die out once the marketing hype ends. One movie comes to my mind when I think about Dabangg, Ishqiya. The story is very different but the setting is very similar. Now Vishal Bharadwaj is a master and you can see how the story is told there. I am just tired of watching movies that only have a few scenes that are worthwhile. I demand a good story along with telling performances. Dabangg falls woefully short.
Recommendation to watch – well, have you ever seen a Chulbul Pandey before? So go watch him but don’t expect much because there isn’t much.
Sundaram seen ur reviews , some of them are really nice.... but in this case , u said audience is not a fool. and the movie has become one of the biggest hit ever !!
ReplyDeleteI come from Hyderabad. In our lands every 3rd movie is like Dabangg and everything shown in it is very Rajinikanthish. The movies are ones that really dont enthrall audiences, they are only a superhuman phenomenon. This movie hence takes cinema a step back in time and not a step forward.
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