Dabangg Fever!

By Anant Mathur (September 18, 2010)
 

I’ve waited a whole week to write this post. I could have written it last week but I wanted to wait a week to see the effects of Dabangg Fever. Needless to say, it’s an epidemic. What started out as infectious hit songs and remarkable promos turned into a full scale outbreak by morning on Friday September 10. And by the end of the first week Dabangg Fever had shattered every record in the books from opening day to weekend to first week collections. Finally, finishing off week one with a record Rs. 81 crores in collection. Dabangg Fever proved to be so contagious that it even shattered the records for advanced bookings at the Box Office.

As predicted in my previous post (All Eyes On Dabangg) it would be fairly safe to suggest that Dabangg will be the first Salman Khan film to break 100 crores in collections. No one knows for sure how long Dabangg Fever will last, we'll only get a clear vision of the damage Dabangg has done at the Box Office after we find a cure to rid ourselves of this wonderful disease. A cure might be months away because films like these are not easily forgotten. But we don’t mind, Dabangg Fever is something every man, woman and child the world over wishes to catch.
 

Dabangg is made for the BIG SCREEN. Nowadays, we rarely get a chance to enjoy films on the big screen – films lack entertainment value and that’s why two days after their release the business drops drastically for most big budget movies, very few last more than two weeks in the cinema halls. But films like Dabangg are what the big screens are meant for, entertainment to be enjoyed with the whole family, people whistling & dancing in the aisles. Films today have one, sometimes two songs which are entertaining. In Dabangg, every song makes you want to get up and dance. Even the love song Chori Kiya Re Jiya is filmed so well that you yearn to see it repeatedly.
 

From the first frame to the last, Dabangg is full of entertainment. The dialogues are excellent - every character in the film is given importance and has wonderful lines to deliver. Salman Khan steals the show in a never before seen performance which he has played to the optimal. 

Sonakshi Sinha's screen presence and charm win you over the moment you first see her. I can’t say enough about Sonakhi’s performance, anything I say will do injustice to this youngsters’ talent, so I will only say that she’s the best find since Kajol and far better than the toothpick looking actresses we have today. Finally! An actress, who doesn’t look anorexic and can delivery a good performance.

After a long time, I have felt content after viewing a Hindi film. By feeling content, I mean that I have no complaints. Usually, when I watch a Hindi film, there are tons of loose ends or the film is utter nonsense and predictable. Dabangg has so much entertainment value that it leaves nothing to be desired, it only makes you want to say “encore”.
 

When I think of Dabangg I believe it will be the Sholay of today’s generation. Dabangg is easily the most entertaining film to come out of Bollywood in the last 15 years. And it should be a favorite to win all the awards at every function next year. 

But like Sholay, Dabangg doesn’t need to win awards to impress us, because it’s already won our hearts and touched our souls.

© Anant Mathur. All Rights Reserved.