When a formula becomes a hit, every star worth his salt tries it. It is Sanjay Dutt’s turn to do a Dabangg . It is a kind of film, which is assembled, after the star is signed and Aviators are ordered. So pushing Sanjay’s image of a good man caught in a world of deceit and crime, director K.S. Ravi Kumar, known for working with superstars from the South, has stirred his staple contraption for Dutt here.
He has come up with a ‘combo’, yes, that is how Dutt defines his character in the film. He plays a police officer who uses unlawful means to take on the corrupt. Well, the characters in the film take a long time to decide whether he is a man of order or disorder, but those have grown on Hindi cinema will guess from the first sequence how it is going to pan out. There is gruesome action, but no blood for it will warrant an ‘A’ certificate. The cars fly for no reason with Dutt standing in between as a listless conductor of an orchestra.
From his Hindu-Muslim parentage to his propensity to help the needy, Ravi Kumar has filled the screenplay with montages from Dutt’s real life to garner sympathy. It generates some unintentional laughter.
Talking of laughter, such films require a villain who could be funny and menacing at the same time, and Prakash Raj has mastered this art. Here he repeats his Singham act with some crowd-pleasing dialogues. The algorithm of action also requires a heroine, half the age of the leading man. Here Prachi Desai does the needful with six scenes and a couple of songs. And, Ravi Kumar has managed to justify everything.
Genre: Action/Drama
Director: K.S. Ravi Kumar
Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Prakash Raj, Prachi Desai, Rajpal Yadav
Storyline: A new policeman comes to town to beat a corrupt politician at his own game
Bottomline: Sanjay deserves a better image-boost and we need a break from the clones of Dabangg
