A classless act

Nonika Singh

Sawagat nahi karoge hamara... Seriously is there any reason to welcome yet another outing of Dabbang and its lead and our superstar Salman Khan. No doubt he endeared himself to us and viewers with his natural swag and chutzpah in the very first Dabangg as the rather adorable Inspector Chulbul Pandey. He retains some of the charisma but much is lost too. And in the hands of Prabhu Deva, who has taken the directorial baton from Arbaaz Khan who helmed the sequel, you cannot expect much change in the prototype. Salman enters the film, in a larger-than-life fight scene. From start to finish, the fights continue, the last one lasting almost a lifetime. Of course, here we have a back story too; actually the third part was touted as a prequel. Saiee Manjrekar makes a decent debut and shows some of the genes of her talented father Mahesh Manjrekar. In her portrayal of an innocent girl Khushi, Chulbul’s love interest (much before Rajjo, we are informed), she looks fresh and charming. But is let down by the story, incidentally credited to Salman whose names figures in the screenplay titles too.

On screen, of course, it’s a given that he will dominate almost every frame. The only match is his bête noire Bali Singh. Antagonist Kichcha Sudeep, a noted Kannada actor, does manage to shine through. He gets his pound of flesh, literally (burying dead bodies in his garden) and much screen time. His menace is palpable and is a counterpoint to Chulbul’s chulbul ways. Only Chulbul’s charming ways are not as winning any more. Unlike Dabangg, where we were not meant to take anything seriously, here the film pretends to be more than it is, even socially correct. But with its heart in commercial tropes, clearly there is little it can achieve and ends up making assertions of the wrong kind.

Even when it pretends to be an entertainer with heart in the right place, it remains typical and formulaic. Though mercifully we are spared the mandatory ‘rape’ sequence, the standard revenge tool of Hindi films, more is familiar here than new. Humour, the very first scene establishes, is likely to be crass. And so it is, catering to the lowest common denominator and baser instincts. Unless you find sequences such as a middle-aged woman eyeing a man or a grown up man acting in juvenile ways rib-tickling. A couple of dialogues, “apne docile pati ka dabang roop dekho,” however are genuinely amusing. Sonakshi Sinha-Salman Khan naunk-jhonk is palatable. Actually, Sonakshi might flit in and out of song sequences but fits well in a movie that essentially belongs to Salman. Ditto for Arbaaz; he plays the same part, that of an errant stepbrother. The twist involving him you see coming from a distance. So does all else… Pandey family bahut complicated hai…but nothing is complex in this simplistic retelling; more of the same and less of the previous ones.

In the closing rushes Sonakshi reminds us of her iconic dialogue from Dabangg, “Thappad se darr nahi lagta sahab, pyar se lagta hai.” Only we are rather scared of yet another outing, the possibility of which of course depends entirely upon you dear viewers. Should you watch this one… well despite Salman talking of, ‘hum class or mass dono ke liye kaam karte hain,’ this classless act we think is for neither. As for Sallu Bhai fans, well aren’t they a class in themselves.