Starring: Salman Khan,
Arbaaz Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Vinod Khanna, Prakash Raj
Released: 2012
Verdict: destroy every
copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable -
good – great – amazing
Remember my next to
ecstatic review of Dabangg? Well, this one is going to be almost
fully non-ecstatic. Because Dabangg 2 is one of those movies that are
witnesses to the fact really good films should not be milked just for
the sake of it. Most sequels do not turn out as half as good as their
predecesors and Dabangg 2 is just another one of those. Not memorable
from any angle and relying way too much on Salman Khan´s X-factor as
well as overdoing references to the awesome original movie, Dabangg 2
is not a „horrible“ film, but it was probably, together with Jab
Tak Hai Jaan, the biggest disappointment of the last year, failing to
meet expectations by far.
We meet Chulbul Pandey a
lot more joyful, mellowed and chilled than before. He has settled
with his wife Rajjo and accepted a transfer into a bigger city. His
family life is happy and content. Not only Rajjo is pregnant and
glowing (and my, does she looks wonderful!), but his step-father and
brother become a full-time caring relatives. The Pandey family
harmony takes up the most part of the film and I felt like instead of
a masalla film I was watching a TV soap educating me on how a proper
family behaves. It does have sweet moments (Rajjo reminding Chulbul
he forgot his trademark sunglasses) and funny moments (Pandey sr. getting fake calls from an unknown „lady“), but there is really
nothing much to talk about. This storyline was still the best one –
which doesn´t really shed favourable light on the rest of the movie.
If you are making a sequel
to a movie that had a truly menacing and memorable villain like Sonu
Sood as a corrupt politician, you absolutely need a villain even more
menacing, memorable and ideally even more corrupt. And saying he is
like that, not showing it, is just not enough. That Prakash Raj is
among the finest when it comes to being a villain has been proved in
the past more than once. However Dabangg 2 doesn´t take an advantage
of having him in the slightest. There is not a single scene in which
you would actually feel concerned for Chulbul, because his enemies
seem helpless in spite of some threatening. The way the villain is
weaved into the story (or rather lack of it) is too predictable and
almost copied from the previous film too. Chulbul insults the corrupt
guy. Corrupt guy threatens Chulbul. Chulbul is not afraid. Corrupt
one kills/harms a member of Chulbul´s beloved parivaar. Chulbul
wrestles shirtless with another shirtless villain. Chulbul kills the
villain. The end.
Referencing to the
previous movie is fine, as long as it´s not overdone, but Dabangg 2
does just that. „Chalte hain“ becomes „Aate hain“, the
„you´ll be confused from which hole to fart“ is back as well as
a guy with mummy calling him in the least appropriate moment. There
is an item song, just lot less fun than Munni (and Kareena Kapoor
does have adorable expressions but cannot dance for peanuts), we get
Munni, just lot less fun than last time, we get a song about
Sonakshi´s eyes, just lot less good than last time...... There is
nothing fresh about the film. It is probably the most boring masalla
movie I´ve seen in the past few years. And the thought there is
supposed to be Dabangg 3 does not fill me with any excitement
whatsoever.
To say something positive:
performances are good, direction too isn´t bad, and there is nothing
that would offend anyone´s sentiments I feel.
No fun, no twist, no
originality. Dabangg 2 is not worth being an heir to the original.
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