Dabangg 2: Crass, idiotic and senseless

There is no room for a director, a screenplay writer, a story writer or a dialogue writer in the entire project.

Raksha Kumar January 05, 2013
Reading that Dabangg 2 had made close to Rs150 crore in less than 14 days perked up my interest. After all, I wondered, what would it take for a film to become one of the highest grossing Bollywood films of all times?

With enormous curiosity and an absolutely open mind (I haven’t seen its prequel, Dabangg.) I marched into a near-packed theatre armed with a bucket of popcorn.

The first kidnapping sequence reminded me of senseless south Indian action films which are omnipresent on movie channels these days.

The mindless violence and a desperate attempt at comedy already began to irritate my sensitive taste. I concluded long before the film ended that Dabangg 2 was crass, idiotic and senseless. I couldn’t believe the amount of money AK Productions had made by putting out a product that is way lower than substandard.

But, what does this say about the audience?

No sooner had I made my conclusion than I realised that I was trying to put the wrong lid on the bottle. The film was just perfect in its place. I was the wrong audience for it.

The film is for Salman Khan fans; they want to see him beat up the bad men, romance the heroine and have emotional encounters with other character actors.

Dabangg 2 is Salman Khan and Salman Khan is Dabangg 2.

There is no room for a director, a screenplay writer, a story writer or a dialogue writer in the entire project. No one would care about whether Salman’s dialogue made sense, as long as it was said in a characteristic Salman type of way. No one would care about the twists and turns the story would take (there is no story line, to begin with!) as long as Salman was in it. And, no one would care about the authenticity or plausibility of the plot because Salman was the only reality!

Of course, not to forget the ever important presence of "item songs" so our Salman bhai can take a break from his fights.

Most songs that adorn this title are an insult to poetry and are the worst form of sleaze.

Dabangg 2 is a tight slap across the faces of those Bollywood film makers who claimed that Indian audiences (at large) are mature enough to accept and adore intelligent movies with a well-thought out story line and decent dialogues.

This film is a clear indication of what the audiences want. In an era where audiences rule and filmmakers want to give them what they want, most of the money in the industry will surely go into making such films in the future.

I might be a prude, bordering on being a snob. Well, then that is who I am.

People like me hope and pray silently that films that are made for us are given as much financial resources (while I feel my Rs180 was wasted on Dabangg 2.)

Here's a call for attention to our minority community of avid film watchers - we need intelligent and entertaining films!

Read more by Raksha here or follow her on Twitter @Raksha_Kumar
WRITTEN BY:
Raksha Kumar The author is a Bangalore based video journalist freelancing for the New York Times and the BBC. She graduated from the Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University in May 2011 where she majored in TV news. She is a Fulbright Scholar and has worked in various media outlets in India. She tweets @Raksha_Kumar.
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (84)

saba | 11 years ago | Reply Can't agree more. People are drooling over Salman khan like anything n to dislike his movies has become a taboo(even if they lack plot n logic).
Parvez | 11 years ago | Reply Today Jan 13th, saw the movie on the big screen - its was insane, utter rubbish a true Salman Khan extravangza, hilarously and there was Sonakshi, Kareena and Malaika..........but it was Salu Mian all the way..........just brilliant.
VIEW MORE COMMENTS
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ