Dabangg 3 Movie Review & Rating

PLOT: The film, a prequel in part, traces Chulbul Pandey’s journey from a young man named Dhaakad to police officer Chulbul Pandey, and his fight with the demons of his past.

Cast: Salman Khan, Kichcha Sudeep, Sonakshi Sinha, Saiee Manjrekar, Arbaaz Khan, Rajesh Sharma, Paresh Ganatra, Pramod Khanna, Nawab Shah, Dolly Bindra, Sharat Saxena and Mahesh Manjrekar.
Director: Prabhu Deva

MOVIE REVIEW: Dabangg 3 provides fans of the franchise exactly what they are looking for. Salman Khan is back as everyone’s favourite Chulbul Pandey, the lovable cop, who calls him Robin Hood Pandey. However, Dabangg 3 tells us that it is not his actual name! Yes, Chulbul Pandey’s actual name is Dhaakad Chand Pandey. Chulbul Pandey and his story move from Laalgunj to Kanpur to Tundla, all in Uttar Pradesh, in the third installment of the Dabangg franchise.

The first half begins in the present, where Chulbul and Rajjo are leading a peaceful life. His first raid is on a wedding party that’s been attacked by an armed gang of robbers and there is a long drawn out fight sequence. Chulbul leads a normal cop’s life until he busts prostitution & human trafficking racket under Chinti Valia played by Dolly Bindra. This gang led by kingpin Balli played by Sudeep.
An encounter between the hero and the villain leads the audience into the past, where Chulbul’s love story with Khushi faced unwarranted wrath from Balli. One day Bali Singh bumps into Khushi and he falls for her. But when he learns that Khushi is madly in love with Dhaakad, he gets enraged and kills her in front of him.

Director Prabhudheva has handled the narrative with ease and has ensured that despite a mediocre screenplay and a wafer-thin plot he keeps the audience entertained with humour, given a generous dose of comedy at frequent and opportune moments keep the mood light. Post interval, the film gets a bit better but still the editing could’ve been better in the second half. Most of the parts are predictable. There are few whistle-worthy scenes which will surely attract single screen audience, but Salman in last few years has been doing much better than all of these. The climax fight will be liked by masses, particular the shirtless sequence of Salman. The film, with a runtime of 2 hours and 42 minutes, seems very long and could have done with a tighter edit.

Saiee Manjrekar makes a decent debut. She tries her best but her dialogue delivery is not up to the mark. Kichcha Sudeep looks evil and menacing but didn’t get a well-written role. It’s good to see Dimple Kapadia back as Chulbul’s mother. Her comic timing is appreciable. Late Vinod Khanna’s brother Pramod Khanna has reprised the role of Prajapati Pandey. Sonakshi Sinha, Arbaaz Khan, Rajesh Sharma, Paresh Ganatra got limited screen time but do the supporting parts well.

Despite all its shortcomings and loopholes, the major reason Dabangg 3 keeps you entertained is because of the star power and charisma of Salman Khan. Sajid-Wajid’s music is just average. Hud Hud and Munna Badnaam Hua are not so great but worked well with the target audience. Naina Lade and Awara are average. Yu Karke  and Habibi Ke Nain are forced and are there just to add the runtime of the film.

Overall Hit ya Flop Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars (One Time Watch)
Direction 3/5
Story 2.5/5
Screenplay 2.5/5
Action 3.5/5
Performance 3.5/5

Cliché Dialogues, Average music, predictable, lengthy & weak plot. Don’t expect much from masala action entertainer film. Strictly for Salman Khan fans.