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In Dabangg 3, Salman Khan is back as the irreverent cop from Uttar Pradesh, Mr Chulbul Pandey, who steals from the corrupt and saves the innocents in the process. He is now an ASP of a place called Tundla and his relationship with slap-scared wife Rajjo, played by Sonakshi Sinha, is hotter than ever. Dabangg 3 also offers us a window to look into Chulbul's past and see how he became the man he is now, without explaining, though, how he got his Hulk powers. That is, if you really care about it. Dabangg 3 Movie Review: Salman Khan Struts His Way Through a Brittle Prequel/Sequel That Isn’t ‘Dabangg’ Enough to Change the Formula.
Dabangg 3 is directed by Prabhudeva who had earlier directed Salman Khan in Wanted, which was a big hit. Salman Khan, who was impressed with his 'work' in D3, has also asked Prabhudeva to helm his upcoming Eid release, Radhe - Your Most Wanted Bhai. Looking back at how Dabangg 3 turned out to be, I think it has more to do with Prabhudeva's patience in bearing Bhai's idiosyncrasies rather than in his talent in making an entertaining film. Is this why Arbaaz Khan, who has produced all the films in Dabangg franchise, has not bothered to return to direct this film, after helming Dabangg 2?
For Dabangg 3 is a product just to appease Salman Khan fans, and is the weakest film in the trilogy, grovelling in its predictability. We should have been warned about this, when we found out that Salman himself has scripted the film. Bhai, why not put your efforts more in your swagger and let the more imaginative ones write your script? Haven't the failures of your previous writing efforts, Chandra Mukhi and Veer been stinging enough?
And like with any Salman Khan movie, there are plenty of WTF moments in the film, 15 of which we have put in the list below. Careful! Plenty of SPOILERS ahead!
#1 Ariana Grande + Madhuri Dixit
The movie begins with a wedding happening in a huge mansion, where a lady reporter coos on camera about how Ariana Grande and Madhuri Dixit would be performing at the venue. As she fawns over Madhuri (don't we all?), she is pushed aside by a gang of moronic dacoits, who are stupid enough to appear in front of the camera.
Putting aside the fact that the film took a dig at all the Ambani wedding, we wonder why a place that was supposed to host an international celeb (unless it was a rumour) has such lax security to be broken by a handful of idiotic robbers?
#2 That Ground-Breaking Entry
Every director of a Salman Khan film has two huge challenges - how to make his entry dhaasu and how creatively can they make him take off his shirt! Speaking of the former, Dabangg 3 allows Salman to have an earth-shattering entry. Literally!
This happens after the aforementioned sequence, where the dacoits take refuge in haveli's huge basement, and finds the room shaking. Before we realise what happened, Chulbul arrives in an earth-boring contraption, when he could have easily broken the doors as is the norm. Bhai ke filmein alag na sahi hai, par entry toh alag honi chahiye! Salman Khan's Dabangg 3 Opens To 30-35% Occupancy At The Box Office.
#3 Shooting His Subordinate's Limb
Okay, this is something we have seen Chulbul do in the past. But in the previous movie, it was a pre-arranged tactic between Chulbul and his subordinates to make a crime scene even stronger.
In Dabangg 3, though, Chulbul shoots the arm of a subordinate, without any warning. All just because he asked for a promotion. I know that they look upto Chulbul, but Bhai, thoda control!
#4 Bringing Back Prajapati
The late Vinod Khanna had played Chulbul's step-father and Makhi's (Arbaaz Khan) father in the first two Dabangg film. After his passing away, it was expected that his character would be killed off between the last film and Dabangg 3.
Instead, the makers retained his character, replacing the departed actor with his younger brother, Pramod Khanna. They even gave him his elder brother's likeliness, though his stiff performance does little justice to what Vinod Khanna brought to the role earlier.
#5 Salman and Saiee's Creepy Pairing
Salman Khan is going to turn 54 in a matter of a few days. Saiee M Manjrekar, the daughter of actor-director Mahesh Manjrekar, is about 21 years old. That's a freaking 33-year difference between the actors, who are playing lovebirds in the film. Just look at the below picture taken just a few years back, in case you don't get awkward the pairing is.
Sure, Chulbul is shown a few years younger in the prequel, but he still looks like he is nearing '40s, and seeing him romancing a fresh-out-of-teens Khushi feels awkward in all ways.
#6 Women Empowerment, Yay?
Chulbul is shown as the knight in khaki armour for the ladies, saving many girls from a human trafficking circle, before getting into a lecture on respecting women. In the flashback portions, he and his family go to ask for Khushi's hand in marriage, and he offers to pay for the dowry so that her family can make her complete her studies.
So considerate Bhai, na? But we can't overlook the fact that before paying for the dowry, Chulbul never bothered to ask the girl if she wants to marry him first. He was lucky that the girl had started liking this middle-aged looking man when he managed to meet her later. Chulbul also tries to depict himself as a loving husband, but that hasn't stopped him from gyrating with Warina Hussain's dancer in "Munna Badnaa Hua" song. So hypocrite Bhai, no?
#7 Khushi and Rajjo's Connection Problems
The prequel part of Chulbul's part involving Khushi brings its own set of problems. Like, despite Khushi playing a big part in changing Pandey the way he is now, there is not a single mention about her in the previous two movies. Which is made more complicated by the fact that Khushi and Rajjo are related by blood.
The movie tries to set up Khushi as Rajjo's maternal cousin, though both of them strangely refer to each other as besties. Rajjo's mother had met Chulbul when he came to ask for Khushi's hand, and she was killed by Bali (Kichcha Sudeep) along with Khushi and her uncle. It is really strange that after eight years of marriage, Rajjo never knew that her husband was in love with her cousin and Chulbul had no clue how his mother-in-law looked like!
#8 Movie Forgetting Chulbul and Makkhi's Turbulent Past
In the first Dabangg film, remember how Chulbul and his step-father and step-brother hated each other's guts, before his mother's demise brought them?
Well, the makers of Dabangg 3 seemed to have forgotten that, as Chulbul is seen to be in cordial relations with both of them in the prequel portions. Yes, he is shown ribbing his brother in those scenes, but that's in the same playful manner in which he treated Makkhi in the present-day portions.
#9 And Then Shoehorning It in A Contrite Twist
In the second half, we are made to think that Bali has brought Makkhi to his side and makes him ASP of Chulbul's station. When Chulbul manhandles Bali's man, Makkhi slaps his elder brother. As a shocked and anguished Chulbul looks on, Makkhi calls that slap his simmering reaction of years of being bullied by him, and we are seen flashes of Chulbul tormenting Makkhi. Salman's surprisingly strong performance in the scene also makes it feel really powerful.
And then, in the end, it was predictably revealed that the Ram-Lakhan twist was a ploy between the brothers to bring Bali down. If that was always the case, why show the flashes from the past, as if Chulbul was really stung by the fake slap?
#10 Sohail Khan's Cameo
As if two Khan's aren't enough, Salman managed to bring in his youngest brother, Sohail Khan for a cameo. He plays a cop shown in the prequel portions, who arrives after Chulbul takes down a bunch of goons single-handedly.
It is shown that Chulbul seems to borrowed his swagger from this cop, though they don't share a single frame. Since Dabangg 3 managed to bring in three brothers together, who leave out brother-in-law Aayush Sharma? Couldn't fit him in anywhere?
#11 Chulbul Pandey's 'Gwen Stacy' Moment
If you are an ardent reader of Spider-Man comics, you might remember the iconic panel where Spidey's love-interest Gwen Stacy was sent pummelling to her death by Green Goblin. This was also recreated in the film, The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
Who knew Salman was such a fan of Spidey comics, as Khushi's death at the hands of Bali closely resembles Gwen's? Knowing Bhai, though, pretty sure no one told him of the Marvel connection, and he may never have cared, even if they do!
#12 The Unexplained Return of Bali Singh
After he becomes a cop, Chulbul chases after his girlfriend-killer Bali and drives him off a huge cliff. Miraculously, Bali manages to survive the fall with no visible scars of the incident or explanation of how he did so.
What's more, he also abandons his vendetta against Chulbul, and instead was content burying bodies in his rose garden after becoming a don in Tundla. Despite both being such powerful personalities, it is mystifying how Chulbul and Bali were unaware of each other's existence, until Chulbul catches the latter's girl trafficking ring.
#13 "Tohfa Tohfa Tohfa"
Dabangg 3 is filled with unwanted (and often puerile) comedy tracks that hamper the film's pace. One of the most annoying scenes when Makkhi goes to meet a politician (Rajesh Sharma) at the behest of Bali, and he brings along Bali's human-trafficking agent, played by Dolly Bindra, whom Chulbul had arrested.
As Chulbul and the politician converse, suddenly, the makers add a gag between the politician and his brother-in-law (Paresh Ganatra). And before we wonder WTH is happening, the brother-in-law is enamoured with Bindra's character and starts singing "Tohfa Tohfa Tohfa" (from the movie Himmatwala) to her! At that moment, we wanted to find Bali's rose garden and bury ourselves in that!
#14 Salman and Prabhu Dheva Trying to Shake a Leg Together
Prabhu Deva is one of the best dancers in the world. Salman Khan does his own steps but is far from being an ordinary dancer, forget exemplary. And when the director tries to make a stiff Salman dance to the songs in the film, we are really curious what is going on in Prabhudeva's head.
What's more, during the "Munna Badnaam Hua" song, Prabhudeva makes a quick cameo and tries to dance along with Salman Khan. If you are wondering whether Bhai does the impossible, nope! Prabhu does his own moves, and Salman does his own, and the twain could never match their steps!
#15 The Considerate Bomb Blast
In order to get to Chulbul Pandey's bad side, Bali triggers a blast in the market and Rajjo is seen flying away in its impact. But like Bali, it looks like even the blast only wanted to troll Chulbul and his family, as the blast leaves Rajjo completely intact, including her makeup!
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 20, 2019 07:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
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