Dabangg – A Franchise Spanning A Decade

With Salman Khan successfully delivering a box office hit with Dabangg, the film went on to become a franchise with Dabangg 2 and the newly released Dabangg 3.  The films rode on the back of Salman Khan, who essays the role of a police officer named Chulbul Pandey.  As Dabangg 3 released today, let us have a look at how the franchise spawned and is still ruling after a decade.

Dabangg (2010)

Dabangg was Arbaaz Khan’s first foray as a producer under Arbaaz Khan Productions.  Sonakshi Sinha also marked her debut in Bollywood with Dabangg.  This movie was released on September 10th, 2010.  Salman Khan played the lead role of a corrupt and fearless police officer named Chulbul Pandey, while Sonu Sood played the role of the antagonist.  

The film portrayed how Chulbul Pandey explores his relationship with his stepfather and stepbrother while pursuing his duties as a police officer.  This film became a huge hit, thanks to many things going right for it. Salman Khan was spot on in portraying the fearless police officer, while Sonakshi Sinha was spot on as Rajjo, Salman Khan’s love interest and later, his wife, in the film.  The dialogue “Thhappad se darr nahi lagta saahab, pyaar se lagta hai” by Rajjo is still fresh in the minds of the audience as are the songs Hud Hud Dabangg and Munni Badnaam Hui.  

The film went on to win the Best Film award at the 56th Filmfare Awards and won 5 other awards at the same ceremony, with Sonakshi Sinha taking home the award for the Best Female Debut.  Sonakshi Sinha later explained how she was approached by Salman Khan at a function to play the role of Rajjo and how she lost 30 kg of weight to prepare for the movie.  The film raked in a net domestic collection of Rs. 1.41 billion.  Dabangg was also adapted in Telugu as Gabbar Singh, with Pawan Kalyan playing the lead and in Tamil as Osthe.

Dabangg 2

Following the critical success of Dabangg, a sequel was released on December 21st, 2012.  Dabangg 2 marked the directorial debut of Arbaaz Khan.  Salman Khan and Sonakshi Sinha reprised their roles as Chulbul Pandey and Rajjo respectively.  Prakash Raj played the role of the antagonist, Thakur Bachcha Singh, replacing Sonu Sood.  This film was set in Kanpur, where Chulbul Pandey is in charge of a local police station.  Dabangg 2 follows the story of how Chulbul Pandey deals with Bachcha Singh’s confrontations and ultimately arrests him and kills him.  The songs Dabangg Reloaded and Fevicol Se went on to become commercial hits, earning play time at a lot of parties and events.  Dabangg 2 went on to become the second highest grosser of 2012, trailing behind Ek Tha Tiger, which also starred Salman Khan as the lead.  Salman Khan won the Best Actor award at the Filmfare Awards.  The film accumulated a net of Rs. 1.55 billion. This is the movie which saw Salman Khan acting in a sequel for the first time in his 22 year old career.

Dabangg 3

Following a long gap of 7 years, this franchise, spanning nearly a decade, came to an end, with the final installment releasing on December 20th, 2019.  Salman Khan and Sonakshi Sinha reprise their roles from the previous installments, while Kichcha Sudeep plays the role of the antagonist.  This movie follows the story of a younger Chulbul Pandey and the experiences which shaped him to become ‘Robinhood Pandey.’ He has a confrontation with Balli (Sudeep) after busting his prostitution racket.  The film then follows the plot of good versus evil and how Chulbul Pandey manages to save the day in the end.  

Dabangg 3 is a fitting end to the franchise and is likely to become a hit, if Salman Khan’s popularity with the Indian masses is to be taken into consideration.

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