Dinesh Kamath's column on movie 'Dabangg 2' that was published in Newsband

Dabangg 2 is an upcoming Bollywood action film directed and produced by Arbaaz Khan under the banner of Arbaaz Khan Productions. It is a sequel to the 2010 film Dabangg and is written by Dilip Shukla. Story is set in the city of Kanpur. The film will feature Salman Khan and Sonakshi Sinha reprising their roles from the previous film, whilst Prakash Raj plays the main antagonist. Writer is Dilip Shukla, Music is by Sajid-Wajid and Cinematography is by Aseem Mishra.

Dabangg 2 centres around Chulbul Pandey as its central character. Only the backdrop this time round is a posh metropolitan city and not a village. Chulcul Pandey is transferred to a city and mingles with the elite, but retains his simplistic flavour and values.

Dabangg 2 is a continuation of the amazing exploits of Chulbul ‘Robin Hood’ Pandey played by Salman Khan. The notable facets of the character include his nonchalance, his wry sense of humor and his tongue-in-cheek dialogues.

In the first film, Chulbul was pitted against Chedi Singh a local goon. And Chedi Singh had killed Chulbul’s mother Naina Devi (Dimple Kapadia).

Thus his family now consists of his stepfather Prajapati Pandey (Vinod Khanna), his younger half-brother, Makhanchan “Makkhi” Pandey (Arbaaz Khan), Makkhi’s wife Nirmala (Mahi Gill) and his wife Rajjo (Sonakshi Sinha).

This film begins with Chulbul moving on from being a local inspector in a small town Laalganj to becoming an Inspector-in-charge of Bajariya Thana, a police station in Kanpur, the largest and most populous city in Uttar Pradesh.

After arriving in Kanpur, Chulbul immediately gets into action thus bringing him in conflict with Baccha Bhaiyya (Prakash Raj). Baccha Bhaiyya is a criminal turned politician. Baccha Bhaiyya is aided by his two brothers, the cool and collected Chunni (Nikitin Dheer), the archetypal brawn in the trio, and Gainda (Deepak Dobriyal) the impulsive, hotheaded younger brother.

On numerous occasions Chulbul and Baccha Bhaiyya end up at loggerheads. But Baccha Bhaiyya’s strong desire to go legit and the keen advice from the senior political leader Awadh Narayan Singh (Yuggal Kishore) prevent him from taking on Chulbul.

Chulbul continues to be aided by his trustworthy band of constables from Laalganj. And he also makes new associates in Kanpur. Chulbul also receives the whole-hearted support of SP Mathur (Manoj Pahwa).

In the earlier film we witnessed Chulbul’s strained relationship with his stepfather Prajapati. In this film, we see Prajapati emerge as the true patriarch of the Pandey family. We witness Chulbul and Prajapati’s father-son bond grow and deepen through the film.

We also get to see the romantic Chulbul woo his new bride Rajjo. Rajjo now the lady of the house, exercises her rights and matches Chulbul in his wayward ways.

In a happy ending, Rajjo gives birth to Junior Pandey.

If Dabangg marked the return of action films, Dabangg 2 takes it to a higher level with some of the coolest action sequences ever conceived. The soundtrack of the film contains five original songs each with a promise of being a chartbuster like its predecessors. All in all, Dabangg 2 promises to be a full on entertainer, Chulbul Pandey and his sunglasses et al.

Thus the film has Salman Khan as Chulbul 'Robin Hood' Pandey, Sonakshi Sinha as Rajjo Pandey, Arbaaz Khan as Makhanchand 'Makhi' Pandey, Vinod Khanna as Prajapati Pandey, Mahi Gill as Nirmala Pandey, Prakash Raj as Thakur Bachcha, Deepak Dobriyal as Chunni, Sandeepa Dhar as Anjali, Malaika Arora Khan in a Special Appearance in song Pandey Ji Ki Seeti, Kareena Kapoor in a Special Appearance in song Fevicol Se, Sanjay Dutt Special Appearance in song Dabangg Reloaded and Rashami Desai Cameo Appearance in song Dagabaaz Re.

The soundtracks are composed by the music director-duo of Sajid-Wajid while the lyrics are penned by Jalees Sherwani, Irfan Kamal and Sameer. There is an item song named Fevicol featuring Kareena Kapoor Khan.

The film has songs like Dagabaaz Re sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Shreya Ghoshal, PandeyJee Seeti by Mamta Sharma, Wajid, Shreya Ghoshal, Fevicol Se by Mamta Sepati, Wajid, Keerthi Sagathia, Saanson Ne by Sonu Nigam, Tulsi Kumar, Dabangg Reloaded by Sukhwinder Singh, PandeyJee Seeti Remix by Mamta Sharma, Wajid, Shreya Ghoshal, Fevicol Se Remix by Mamta Sharma, Wajid and Dabangg Reloaded Remix by Sukhwinder Singh.

Thus the film Dabangg 2 is bound to be a big entertainer like its prequel. So do watch the film when it gets released on 21 December 2012.