Dabangg 3 Movie Review: Chulbul Pandey (Salman Khan) is now the ASP of Tundla. He is still the same ol' Robinhood Pandey, who can take down any number of goons, no matter the size, and make them dance to his tunes. He is also a father of a kid, and his relationship with his wife Rajjo (Sonakshi Sinha) is more romantic than ever. Then he meets a forgotten demon from his past, Bali Singh (Kichcha Sudeepa), a powerful don who buries dead bodies in his own garden and plants roses over them. And whether you want it or not, you get Chulbul's tragic past love-story before Rajjo and how Bali ended it in one stroke, giving Bhai his own 'Gwen Stacy' moment. Who thought Salman would take inspiration from Spidey comics! Salman Khan's Dabangg 3 Opens To 30-35% Occupancy At The Box Office.

The first Dabangg film, directed by Abhinav Kashyap, revisited an old formula of good vs bad, but treats it with more panache and smartly uses Salman Khan's swagger. The result was an entertaining film that made huge bucks at the box office, and began Salman's blockbuster streak. The sequel was directed by Arbaaz Khan, and it cashed in the Dabangg formula but repeated the same template. It was a bigger hit, nevertheless/

Now with Dabangg 3, the new director Prabhudeva once again revisits that same template but brings with him ingredients that you associate with a Tamil potboiler. So you have unwanted humour in elongated action sequences. You have unwanted humour in random sequences (WTF was that "Tohfa Tohfa Tohfa" scene all about?). You have comic sidekicks who irritate the hell out of you. You have unwanted songs coming up in any goddamn situation. You have a villain with loads of personality but zero dimension, now with a personal connection to the hero.

And yes, now you also have a mandatory flashback sequence for the hero, which was not once referenced in any of the previous movies. If Chulbul's past love story with a doomed Khushi (Saiee M Manjrekar) had affected him so much, why was not a single mention given to her in the past? After all, it was she who shaped him the way he is now -from his name to his habit of taking money from the corrupt to his quirk of placing his shades behind his collar. (SPOILERS AHEAD) And it was her demise that even spurred him to become a cop.

The flashback portions also show that Khushi and Rajjo are related, with Rajjo's dead mother being Khushi's aunt. And yet, Chulbul, who shows off being a loving, caring husband, never bothered to see how his mother-in-law even looked like! Or for the matter, why were Chulbul and his step-brother Makkhi (Arbaaz Khan) on friendly terms in these portions, when they hated each other's guts in the first film?

But then, expecting logic in a Salman Khan film is like looking for Achche Din in this India. So it's better to go with the flow, as Salman Khan struts around with an over-exaggerated swagger, thrusting his hip in almost every scene, trying to cover up the inflexibility of his body. To be fair, no matter how bad a Salman film is, it doesn't really bore the hell out of you. Which is also the case with Dabangg 3, the weakest in the franchise. Dabangg 3 Song Hud Hud Gets Edited After A Religious Group Raised Objections Against Certain Scenes.

So if you are an ardent Salman fan, you won't really care if the film is as predictable as, well... any Salman Khan movie. Dabangg 3 offers no damn surprise that will shake you off your chair. Even the shoehorned Ram-Lakhan twist between Chulbul and Makhi in the second half is so transparent, that you pray that Prabhudeva and Salman (who had written the story and helped in the screenplay) would come up with something surprising. Alas, no such luck as Dabangg 3 moves on to same old ways and scenes! Towards the end, Chulbul asks Bali why is it that every villain that he faced before and even now tries to kidnap his wife. I appreciate the Deadpool-kind of honesty there, but that isn't big enough to cover up the lazy storytelling and plot tactics. Par Bhai ne bahut massy moments daale hai na? Toh chup raho aur seeti maaro!

If you are a Bhai fan, you won't mind how creepy Salman and a baby-faced Saiie's pairing looks, even if Chulbul is supposed to be in his '20s in those scenes. Instead, you would be fawning over how Bhai's character insists on paying dowry to the girl's family so that they can complete her education. It doesn't matter that he never asked for her permission to marry him first. Salman ne Women Empowerment ko acknowledge kiya na? Bas kaafi hai!

If you are Salman fawner, you would also not mind the lack of energy in which the action sequences are shot. The dollops of slo-motion used take away the rawness of the fights, which is what made the first Dabangg film stand out. But Bhai ne end mein shirt nikaal diya na? Bas kaafi hai hume seeti maarne ke liye!

And lastly, if you are a Salman idoliser, you wouldn't mind how towards the end, Dabangg 3 inserts 'rape' in an extremely needless exchange between the hero and villain, just so that the latter could look even viler. In the times when the country hasn't recovered yet from the horrific number of recent rapes, such opportunistic scenes of eliciting shock in us are hardly appreciable. But Bhai ne uska mooh band kiya ki nahi? Basss!

Surprisingly, even the dialogues aren't upto the mark, while the music by Sajid-Wajid seems to be recycled tunes of their earlier efforts.

Watch The Trailer of Dabangg 3:

The Performances

No matter if his films don't get you, you can't deny the fact it is Salman Khan's larger-than-life presence that does help you get through the nearly three-hour runtime of most of his films. Here, again, Salman Khan does Salman Khan things and people come and whistle at that. So why the need to change anything? But there was a moment in the film, where I saw a performer in Salman try to emerge from the starriness of Bhai. It was a scene where he gets slapped by someone dear, and the silent, sad and anguished indignation in his eyes reminded me of the days when Salman tried to act. That scene was later rendered redundant by the predictable climactic twist, but it makes me wonder - will Salman Khan give Bhai a rest and let the actor in him out for one film?

Sonakshi Sinha, looks pretty and chirpy, and matches Salman's energy. Her role offers her nothing more than being Salman's arm candy and frequent damsel-in-distress. But the actress knows what she is getting into whenever she signs a Dabangg film.

As the antagonist, Kichcha Sudeepa's deep baritone makes him a convincing villain, though we have seen him do better villain antics in other movies. Like SS Rajamouli's Eega, for example. Arbaaz Khan shines in the second half. The debutante Saiee M Manjrekar does justice to her role.

It was welcome to see Dimple Kapadia back as Chulbul's mother. The franchise definitely misses her grace that she displayed in the first film, and the brief portions that we see her in here. Vinod Khanna's younger brother Pramod Khanna replaces the late actor as Chulbul's step-father, and he is given the same likeliness. Rajesh Sharma and Dolly Bindra irritate.

Yay!

- Salman's Swag

- Some Mass Moments

- A Few Self-Poking Gags Work

Nay!

- The Predictable, Convoluted Screenplay

- Unwarranted Song Placement

- Random Comedy Tracks

- Lacks Rawness in Action Sequences

Final Thoughts

Dabangg 3 is formulaic, senseless and loud, and offers little respite to anyone other than ardent Salman Khan fans. The idea to make the film both as a prequel and sequel may look intriguing on paper. But the predictable treatment by Prabhudeva loses the film an opportunity to veer off into an interesting direction. That makes Dabangg 3, while offering Bhai fans a few moments to cheer, the weakest in the franchise.

Rating:2.0

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 20, 2019 02:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).