''Dabangg'' () is a 2010 Indian
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...
-language
action comedy film
Action comedy is a genre that combines aspects of action and comedy. The genre is most prevalent in film with action comedy films, though several TV series fit this genre.
Film
The action comedy film is a film genre that combines aspects of a ...
directed by
Abhinav Singh Kashyap and produced by
Malaika Arora Khan
Malaika Arora (born 23 October 1973) is an Indian actress, dancer, model, VJ and a television personality who appears in Hindi-language films. She made her debut as a film producer in 2008, with her former husband Arbaaz Khan, founding the c ...
and
Arbaaz Khan under Arbaaz Khan Productions with
Dhilin Mehta
Dhilin Mehta is an Indian film producer. He served as the chief executive officer of Ashtavinayak Cine Vision. He produced the DD1 serial Aamrapali in 2002. He started his career with small budget films like ''Fun2shh'' and '' Agnipankh'' an ...
under
Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision. Khan's elder brother
Salman Khan
Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan (; 27 December 1965) is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works in Hindi films. In a film career spanning over thirty years, Khan has received numerous awards, including two Nationa ...
stars in the lead role, with
Sonakshi Sinha
Sonakshi Sinha (; born 2 June 1987) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. After working as a costume designer in independent films, she made her acting with the action film '' Dabangg'' in 2010, which won her the Filmfare Award for B ...
in her acting debut; Arbaaz,
Om Puri
Om Prakash Puri (18 October 1950 – 6 January 2017) was an Indian actor who appeared in mainstream commercial Hindi films as well as Bengali, Kannada, English,Punjabi and one Telugu film, as well as independent and art films and also starr ...
,
Dimple Kapadia
Dimple Kapadia (born 8 June 1957) is an Indian actress predominantly appearing in Hindi films. Born and raised in Mumbai by wealthy parents, she aspired to become an actress from a young age and received her first opportunity through her father ...
,
Vinod Khanna
Vinod Khanna (6 October 1946 – 27 April 2017) was an Indian actor, film producer and politician who is best known for his work in Hindi films; while also being a notable spiritual seeker. In Bollywood, he was the recipient of two Filmfare awa ...
,
Anupam Kher,
Mahesh Manjrekar
Mahesh Vaman Manjrekar (Marathi pronunciation: əɦeːʃ maːɲd͡zɾekəɾ born 16 August 1958) is an Indian actor, film director, screenwriter and producer who works primarily in Hindi films, alongside Marathi, Telugu and Bhojpuri films. He ...
and
Mahie Gill featuring in supporting roles, while
Sonu Sood
Sonu Sood (born 30 July 1973) is an Indian actor, film producer, model, humanitarian, and philanthropist who works predominantly in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada films. In 2009, he received the Andhra Pradesh State Nandi Award for Best Vi ...
plays the main antagonist. The film marks the debut of Arbaaz as a producer and Kashyap as a director. Malaika appears in the
item number
In Indian cinema, an item number or item song is a musical number inserted into a film that may or may not have any relevance to the plot. The term is commonly used within Indian films (Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, and ...
"
Munni Badnaam Hui".
''Dabangg'' is set in the
Indian state
India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions.
History
Pre-indep ...
of
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
, and tells the story of a fearless police officer, Chulbul Pandey, and his troubled relationship with his stepfather and half-brother. Made with a budget of 30 crore and marketed at 12 crore, ''Dabangg'' was shot primarily in the town of
Wai in
Maharashtra, while other major scenes were shot in the
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at ...
.
''Dabangg'' was released during
Eid-Ul-Fitr on 10 September 2010 in nearly 2,100 cinemas worldwide. It opened to generally positive reviews, with praise for the performances (especially those of Khan and Sood), action sequences, music and humour, but criticism for its script and screenplay. It went on to gross () worldwide.
It is the
highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2010. ''Dabangg'' has won
several awards—the
and six
Filmfare Awards
The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Hindi-language film industry of India.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were first introduced by th ...
, including
Best Film and
Best Female Debut (Sinha). Later remade in
Tamil as ''
Osthe'' and in
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
as ''
Gabbar Singh'', the film was followed by
two sequels: ''
Dabangg 2'' (2012) and ''
Dabangg 3'' (2019). The latter serves as a partial prequel, describing a flashback which formed the events of ''Dabangg'' itself.
Plot
Chulbul Pandey, a young boy, lives with his younger half-brother, Makkhanchand "Makkhi" Pandey, stepfather Prajapati Pandey and mother, Naina Devi in Laalgunj,
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
. He has a troubled relationship with Prajapati and Makkhi. After 21 years, Chulbul becomes a policeman. Chulbul, who calls himself "
Robin Hood
Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is de ...
" Pandey, still lives with his family. Makkhi is in love with Nirmala, whose father Masterji opposes the relationship. Chulbul falls in love with a girl named Rajjo, whom he meets during a police chase culminating in an encounter.
A corrupt political leader named Chedi Singh meets Chulbul and both quickly become enemies. Makkhi asks Prajapati to arrange his marriage with Nirmala. Prajapati refuses because he needs money to repay the loans he took to make his factory, and he believes that he can acquire money through his son marrying a rich girl. In desperate need of money, Makkhi steals some cash from Chulbul's cupboard and gives the stolen cash to Masterji, hoping that he will permit Makkhi to marry Nirmala. Meanwhile, Chulbul meets Rajjo and proposes marriage, which she rejects, as she has to take care of her father, Hariya—a drunkard.
Chulbul comes home to find his mother, Naini Devi, dead. He goes to Prajapati to make peace, as he is the only family left. However, Prajapati rejects and despises him as an outcast. Makkhi invites Chulbul to his marriage with Nirmala. Chulbul convinces Hariya to marry Rajjo. Hariya commits suicide, as he knows that Rajjo will not marry anyone while he is alive. Chulbul takes Rajjo to Makkhi's exuberant wedding. Realising that Makkhi has stolen his money to finance the wedding, Chulbul marries Rajjo in an impromptu ceremony. Masterji feels disgraced and cancels Makkhi's wedding with Nirmala.
Makkhi, still feeling cross about Chulbul jeopardising his wedding, beats up one of the workers in his factory due to a small mishap. The worker goes to the police station with his mother to file a complaint. Rather than simply ask Makkhi to apologise to the worker, Chulbul beats up Makkhi in public to disgrace him. Chedi takes advantage of the situation and takes Makkhi along with Prajapati to the police station. Prajapati not wishing to aggravate the matter any further resolves the situation by accepting an apology from Chulbul but still, after a conversation between him and his stepfather that shows their troubled relation, Chulbul slaps his brother as a form of disgrace. Chulbul meets Dayal Sahu a.k.a. Dayal Babu, a local political leader, who also dislikes Chedi. With his help, Chulbul adulterates Chedi's breweries and wrongly frames him for it.
To take revenge, Chedi burns Makkhi's factory. Prajapati is shocked, and suffers a heart attack and is hospitalised. Makkhi goes to Chedi for help, little knowing that he was the one responsible. Chedi agrees to finance Prajapati's treatment if he delivers a crate of mangoes to Dayal Babu's house. Unbeknownst to Makkhi, Chedi has placed a bomb inside the crate, which explodes after he leaves, killing Dayal Babu. Chedi gives Makkhi a task to kill Chulbul. Makkhi accepts, but ends up confessing it to Chulbul. He reveals to Chulbul that Chedi made him plant the bomb unknowingly. Chulbul forgives him and reconciles with him. During a final confrontation between Chulbul and Chedi, Makkhi reveals to Chulbul that it was Chedi, who killed Naini. Both men then kill Chedi by forcing him to inhale smoke.
The movie ends with Makkhi marrying Nirmala happily.
Cast
Credits adapted from
Bollywood Hungama
Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is a Bollywood entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000.
The website provide ...
.
*
Salman Khan
Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan (; 27 December 1965) is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works in Hindi films. In a film career spanning over thirty years, Khan has received numerous awards, including two Nationa ...
as Chulbul Pandey
*
Sonakshi Sinha
Sonakshi Sinha (; born 2 June 1987) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. After working as a costume designer in independent films, she made her acting with the action film '' Dabangg'' in 2010, which won her the Filmfare Award for B ...
as Rajjo Shreshawat
*
Arbaaz Khan as Makkhanchand "Makkhi" Pandey
*
Vinod Khanna
Vinod Khanna (6 October 1946 – 27 April 2017) was an Indian actor, film producer and politician who is best known for his work in Hindi films; while also being a notable spiritual seeker. In Bollywood, he was the recipient of two Filmfare awa ...
as Prajapati Pandey
*
Dimple Kapadia
Dimple Kapadia (born 8 June 1957) is an Indian actress predominantly appearing in Hindi films. Born and raised in Mumbai by wealthy parents, she aspired to become an actress from a young age and received her first opportunity through her father ...
as Naini Devi
*
Sonu Sood
Sonu Sood (born 30 July 1973) is an Indian actor, film producer, model, humanitarian, and philanthropist who works predominantly in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada films. In 2009, he received the Andhra Pradesh State Nandi Award for Best Vi ...
as Chedi Singh
*
Mahesh Manjrekar
Mahesh Vaman Manjrekar (Marathi pronunciation: əɦeːʃ maːɲd͡zɾekəɾ born 16 August 1958) is an Indian actor, film director, screenwriter and producer who works primarily in Hindi films, alongside Marathi, Telugu and Bhojpuri films. He ...
as Hariya Shreshawat
*
Om Puri
Om Prakash Puri (18 October 1950 – 6 January 2017) was an Indian actor who appeared in mainstream commercial Hindi films as well as Bengali, Kannada, English,Punjabi and one Telugu film, as well as independent and art films and also starr ...
as Kasturilal Vishkarma
*
Anupam Kher as Dayal Babu
*
Mahie Gill as Nirmala
*
Tinu Anand as Masterji, Nirmala's father
*
Murli Sharma as ACP Malik
* Ram Sujan Singh as Chaubeji
* Rajeev Sharma as Toluram Rastogi
*
Amitosh Nagpal
Amitosh Nagpal (born 22 October 1984) is an Indian actor, screenwriter and lyricist, known for his role in '' Besharam''.
Early life
Amitosh Nagpal was born in a Punjabi
Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to:
* Something of, from, or rela ...
as Sumant Kumar
*
Malaika Arora as Munni in the
item number
In Indian cinema, an item number or item song is a musical number inserted into a film that may or may not have any relevance to the plot. The term is commonly used within Indian films (Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, and ...
"
Munni Badnaam Hui"
Production
Casting
Salman Khan grew a moustache after consulting with his brother and prepared his hair to suit his role. For the former, he had to try out nearly fifty styles in a span of four months before commencement of the filming. Photo-shoots were held to finalise his look.
Abhinav Kashyap, in an interview with
Bollywood Hungama
Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is a Bollywood entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000.
The website provide ...
, revealed that initially he had considered a few others for the role of Chulbul Pandey, but eventually changed his mind and approached Salman.
Kashyap had seen Arbaaz in ''
Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na
''Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na'' ( ''Whether You Know Or Not'') is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language coming of age romantic comedy film written and directed by Abbas Tyrewala and produced by Mansoor Khan and Aamir Khan under Aamir Khan Productions, w ...
'', doing a cameo and approached him to be a part of the project. After reading it, he had instantly accepted to produce and star in it.
Sonu Sood was selected for playing the lead antagonist. He revealed that his character was that of a "youth leader with grey shades." Mahesh Manjrekar was later approached to play the father of Sinha's character, although he had plans to quit acting.
In April 2009, Sonakshi Sinha signed for her debut role. Salman had seen her at a function engaging in dancing and offered her the role.
Speaking about it, she said that she had lost a weight of 30 kg over two years to prepare for her character of a village girl by "a combination of proper diet and vigorous exercise". She added that she had been "observing people and trying to pick up nuances" as a step of further preparation.
Malaika Arora, who had performed a few item numbers in her career, most notably in ''
Dil Se..'', was confirmed to do the same in the film. This was the first of its kind in her home production.
Filming
''Dabangg''s shooting took place primarily in
Wai and the United Arab Emirates.
The shooting commenced in September 2009. Production designer
Wasiq Khan drew over 100 sketches detailing out every set in the film.
The cinematography was performed by Mahesh Limaye. The first schedule began in the town of Wai and continued for 45 days,
during which Sonu Sood, the main antagonist fractured his nose. A schedule, primarily involving a song shoot, was captured in the Khalid Bin Al Waheed station in
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics ...
, making ''Dabangg'' the first film to be shot there. Some scenes were also filmed at the
Emirates Palace
The Emirates Palace (Arabic: قصر الإمارات) is a luxury five star hotel in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It has been operated by Mandarin Oriental as of 1 January 2020. The hotel project was launched in December 2001 and was ini ...
hotel in Abu Dhabi.
The film, involving around five action sequences, was choreographed by
S. Vijayan, who previously served as the stunt director of ''
Wanted'', and shot over 60 days. Later, special effects were incorporated into those scenes. The songs were choreographed by Raju Khan and
Shabina Khan
Shabina Khan is an Indian choreographer. She choreographed songs for the Salman Khan starrer films '' Jai Ho, Dabangg,'' ''Prem Ratan Dhan Payo'', ''Tubelight'' and ''Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan''.
Career
She started assisting the choreograph ...
,
while
Farah Khan
Farah Khan Kunder (born 9 January 1965) is an Indian film director, film producer, actress, dancer and choreographer who works predominantly in Hindi films. Khan has choreographed dance routines for more than a hundred songs in over 80 films, w ...
choreographed the item number, "Munni Badnaam Hui".
The shooting was completed in early June 2010, and the film went into post-production. A party was held to commemorate the completion of the shooting and the success of the theatrical promo. It was attended by the main cast and crew.
Music
The 10-song soundtrack album consisted of five original songs, four remixes and one theme song.
Lalit Pandit Lalit may refer to:
* Lalit party, a left political party in Mauritius
* Lalit (raga), a raga in Indian classical music
* Lalit Suri, an Indian politician
* Lalit Surajmal Kanodia, an Indian business entrepreneur
See also
* Jatin–Lalit, a Bollyw ...
wrote and composed the item number "
Munni Badnaam Hui" while the music director duo
Sajid–Wajid
Sajid–Wajid was an Indian Bollywood Hindi film music director duo consisting of brothers Sajid Khan and Wajid Khan, the sons of Sharafat Ali Khan, a tabla player.
Wajid Khan, the younger of the two brothers, died on June 1, 2020. Since th ...
composed the remainder of it.
Faiz Anwar and
Jalees Sherwani wrote the lyrics for those tracks.
The audio rights of ''Dabangg'' were sold for about to
T-Series, and the album was launched on 20 August 2010 in
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...
. It received positive response and the album performed well on the charts after its release. The tracks "
Tere Mast Mast Do Nain" and "Munni Badnaam Hui" were successful upon release and topped the music, radio and streaming charts.
Marketing and release
''Dabangg'' was described as one of the most anticipated films of the year by ''
The Indian Express
''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Limited, Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, ...
''. The film's theatrical trailer, running for about two and a half minutes, was released on 23 July 2010, alongside Priyadarshan's ''
Khatta Meetha''.
Khan promoted the film on the reality show ''
Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega'', ''
India's Got Talent
India's Got Talent is a televised Indian Hindi language talent show series and is part of the '' Got Talent franchise''. The program is produced and distributed by Fremantle. The show aired on Colors TV till season 8; since season 9 the show is ...
'' and ''
Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Singing Superstar
''Hero Honda - Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Singing Superstar'' is the 4th installment of the '' Sa Re Ga Ma Pa'' Challenge series which premiered on 13 August 2010 on Zee TV. This series is hosted by Manish Paul, although the first shows were hosted by Pura ...
''. An event for the film was held at
DLF Promenade in
Vasant Kunj,
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the NCT Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati B ...
with the main cast in attendance, an exclusive merchandise for the film was launched. Another set of promotions were held at
Nagpur
Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...
and
Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...
. It was reported to have broken pre-release records for hype by ''Cinematix'', a filming awareness product originated by Ormax Media.
''Dabangg'' released worldwide on 10 September 2010. Before the film's theatrical release, a special screening of the film took place at
Film City on 6 September 2010. The premiere of ''Dabangg'' was held in Mumbai on 9 September 2010. It opened up across 1,800 screens in India and around 300 screens overseas. The film was released in 2300 theatres worldwide. It was also screened in Norway at an international film festival. The film's DVDs and VCDs were launched by the
Reliance Big Home Video on 12 October 2010. It was released on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...
on 28 January 2011 for free viewing to audiences in India. The satellite rights were pre-sold for to
Colors. The film is now available on
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
.
Reception
Critical response
The film generally received positive reviews from critics, most of whom praised the performances of Salman Khan and Sonu Sood, music, humour and action sequences. In a 4-star review for
Koimoi
Koimoi is a Bollywood entertainment website providing Bollywood news, box-office reports and film reviews. In January 2021, its Alexa ranking in India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is ...
,
Komal Nahta ensured that the film would be a commercial success and said "''Dabangg'' may be a routine subject but its other plus points will ensure that it proves a runaway hit". Kaveree Bamzai of ''
India Today
''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new on ...
'' gave the film four stars while labelling it as "one Zandu Balm of a movie." Film critic Aniruddha Guha of ''
Daily News and Analysis
Publications established in 2005
Newspapers published in Mumbai
English-language newspapers published in India
Daily newspapers published in India
Essel Group
2005 establishments in Maharashtra ...
'' called the film "slightly mad, and terribly entertaining."
Mathures Paul of ''
The Statesman'' gave the film 3.5 stars and commented, "''Dabangg'' aligns itself with viewers frustrated by the nonexistence of uncomplicated heroism on screen." In a 3-star review for
Rediff.com, Abhishek Mande stated "''Dabangg'' is not a movie for non-Salman fans. But for those who worship him it's a film you simply cannot afford to miss."
Anupama Chopra of
NDTV
New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. The company is considered to be a legacy brand that pioneered independent news broadcasting in India, and is credited for launching ...
gave 3 stars and stated that the film is watchable for the "sheer pleasure of watching Salman Khan in top form".
Sukanya Venkataraghavan of ''
Filmfare
''Filmfare'' is an Indian English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of Indian most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, reviews, events, a ...
'' also rated 3-stars, and praised Khan's performance.
Gaurav Malani of ''
Indiatimes
Times Internet is an Indian internet technology company, based in Gurgaon, which owns, operates and invests in various internet-led products, services and technology. It is the digital arm of the Times Group, the largest media conglomerate in ...
'' was critical towards the film's story, remarking "the film doesn't care a damn for coming up with any innovative storyline."
Rajeev Masand
Rajeev Masand is an Indian film critic and journalist. He has worked for Noida based English language news channel CNN-Indian Broadcasting Network (CNN-IBN). He usually reviews Bollywood films and major Hollywood films released in India in hi ...
of
CNN-IBN
CNN-News18 (originally CNN-IBN) is an Indian English-language news television channel founded by Raghav Bahl based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is currently co-owned by Network18 Group and Warner Bros. Discovery. CNN provides interna ...
panned the film's screenplay, but praised Khan's performance.
Shobhaa De of the ''Bangalore Times'' was critical, concluding "Let's hand it to Salman who has pulled off the stunts and pelvic thrusts. Nothing new there. But it is the naughty self-parodying, which is so camp, so out there, which delivers the biggest punch. What's left for this guy now – all he needs is a cape. And he can call himself Superman."
Box office
Domestic
''Dabangg'' opened to nett collections in its first day, and became the highest opener of all time across India. On the second day, it netted . At the end of its weekend, the film collected the total of . The film netted on Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday, and on Thursday taking the total nett collections to around in its first week of release.
It subsequently became the highest opening week nett grosser.
''Dabangg'' netted on the second Friday, on Saturday and on Sunday, for a second weekend, a drop of around 50% from the opening weekend. In its second week, the film earned , taking the total nett collections to in two weeks, thus becoming the second highest-grossing film of all time in two weeks. The distributor share of ''Dabangg'' was declared to be —the second highest in Bollywood. ''Dabangg'' collected during the third week and in its fourth week, taking the domestic nett collections to . The domestic nett collections in eleven weeks was . It eventually progressed to .
Overseas
''Dabangg'' opened to a positive response in the overseas markets as well. The film's final overseas collections were
US$6.10 million.
It grossed a total of US$4.20 million in the international markets at the end of its second weekend.
In the United States, ''Dabangg'' collected $628,137 from 62 screens in its opening weekend
and $1,068,589 at the end of its second weekend. In the United Arab Emirates, it collected 3.2 million
Dirhams
The dirham, dirhem or dirhm ( ar, درهم) is a silver unit of currency historically and currently used by several Arab and Arab influenced states. The term has also been used as a related unit of mass.
Unit of mass
The dirham was a un ...
in the opening weekend,
and $1,550,000 at the end of the second weekend.
''Dabangg'' collected a total of $5.50 million, making it the fifth highest-grossing in United Arab Emirates with a $2 million gross.
In the United Kingdom, it collected £332,673 from 41 screens in its opening weekend
and £570,566 by the end of its second weekend.
In Australia, the film collected
$126,000 from 14 screens in the opening weekend,
and A$272,909 at the end of its second weekend.
In Mauritius and South Africa, it collected US$25,000 each in its opening weekend.
In Fiji, the film collected US$20,000 the opening weekend.
In other territories of Europe and Africa, the film collected $100,000 in its opening weekend.
Controversies
"Munni Badnaam Hui" included a brand name 'Zandu Balm' in its lyrics, much to the displeasure of
Emami—the makers of the brand. A trademark case was settled by the producers and Emami out of court, and Malaika Arora was later chosen to an official advertising campaign promoting Zandu Balm. Activist Rajkumar Tak filed a case in the
Bombay High Court
The High Court of Bombay is the high court of the states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily at Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), and is one of the ...
, demanding that the deletion of the word "Hindustan" from the song, claiming that the censor board had not responded to his queries in regard to the "defaming" lyrics. He found them "highly objectionable" and "unpardonable" and labelled the song a "mockery" for the country, as a girl was "indecently" dancing in the presence of corrupted officers, which, according to him, threw bad light on the nation and "hurt the patriotic sentiments of every Indian".
Before release, critic and writer Shobhaa De called for a boycott of ''Dabangg'', due to Salman's comments on the
2008 Mumbai attacks
The 2008 Mumbai attacks (also referred to as 26/11, pronounced "twenty six eleven") were a series of terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist terrorist organisation from Pakistan, ...
. She criticised it as "arrogance, ignorance and plain stupidity." This sparked off a fight with the producers via
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
, and continued after her negative review of the film.
Anurag Kashyap
Anurag Kashyap (born 10 September 1972) is an Indian filmmaker and actor known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of several accolades, including four Filmfare Awards. For his contributions to film, the Government of France aw ...
, brother of Abhinav Kashyap, tweeted "Salman khan thinks he made my brother's life.. Hope he can do the same for his brother Arbaaz with ''Dabangg 2''." This was taken as "slamming" Salman and resulted in Arbaaz retorting back by referring to the comment as "attitude" instead of "gratitude". However, Anurag later apologised for his remarks, which Arbaaz accepted.
Awards and nominations
''Dabangg'' received accolades in major film award functions in India. Among them, it won the
. It was given six awards at the
56th Filmfare Awards, including one for
Best Film, seven
Screen Awards
The Screen Awards is an annual awards ceremony held in India honouring professional excellence in Bollywood. The nomination and award selection is done by a panel of distinguished professionals from the industry. The awards were introduced by t ...
, nine
Zee Cine Awards
The Zee Cine Award (ZCA) is an Indian awards ceremony for the Hindi film industry. They were instituted in November 1997 to award "Excellence in cinema - the democratic way".
They were first held in Mumbai until 2004, when the ZCA went internat ...
, and ten
IIFA Awards
The International Indian Film Academy Awards, popularly known as IIFA, is an annual awards ceremony for Bollywood. Produced by Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, the winners of the awards are decided by fans, who vote online for th ...
.
Legacy
''Dabangg''
's success attributed to the extensive promotional campaigns and the commercial factors present in the film.
The stock prices of the film's co-producers
Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision at
Bombay Stock Exchange
BSE Limited, also known as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), is an Indian stock exchange. It is located on Dalal Street in Mumbai. Established in 1875 by cotton merchant Premchand Roychand, a Jain businessman, it is the oldest stock exchange i ...
saw an increase with the company gaining about 40% of its prices from 1 September 2010.
About the promotional tactics of the film,
Dhilin Mehta
Dhilin Mehta is an Indian film producer. He served as the chief executive officer of Ashtavinayak Cine Vision. He produced the DD1 serial Aamrapali in 2002. He started his career with small budget films like ''Fun2shh'' and '' Agnipankh'' an ...
said that "We promoted the character
Chulbul Pandey
''Dabangg'' is a series of Indian Hindi-language action comedy films produced in common by Arbaaz Khan, starring Salman Khan as the titular cop Chulbul Pandey, Sonakshi Sinha as his love interest Rajjo Pandey, and Arbaaz Khan as Chulbul's step- ...
instead of brand Salman Khan. Today, the character has become a national rave in the league of
Gabbar Singh from ''
Sholay
''Sholay'' (, ) is a 1975 Indian Hindi-language action-adventure film directed by Ramesh Sippy, produced by his father G. P. Sippy, and written by Salim–Javed. The film is about two criminals, Veeru (Dharmendra) and Jai (Amitabh Bachchan), ...
'' (1975) and
Mogambo from ''
Mr. India Mr. or Mister India may refer to:
Pageants
* Rubaru Mister India, a national Indian beauty pageant in India that sends its winners to Mister International, Mister Global, Mister Model International and other international competitions
* Mister Indi ...
'' (1987)".
Film critic and trade analyst
Komal Nahta also compared these campaign to the marketing gimmicks used by
Rajkumar Hirani
Rajkumar Hirani (born 20 November 1962), also called Raju Hirani, is an Indian filmmaker, director, producer and editor known for his works in Hindi films. He is the recipient of several accolades, including three National Film Awards and ele ...
in ''
Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.'' (2003), ''
Lage Raho Munna Bhai'' (2006) and ''
3 Idiots
''3 Idiots'' (stylized as ''3 idiots'') is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language coming-of-age comedy-drama film written, edited and directed by Rajkumar Hirani, co-written by Abhijat Joshi and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Adapted loosely from ...
'' (2009), where the characters
Munna Bhai and Ranchoddas Chanchad are promoted to pull crowd till a time they become an established brand. He added "All the stars and producers have realized the value of marketing and promotion
..In fact theses gimmicks have become as important as, say, making a good film."
10 years after the film's release, Arbaaz Khan had stated in an interview that the film's budget was hiked from to , leading to few losses for him, but after the monumental success, he paid the salary for Salman Khan. In January 2022, the official merchandise of the film featuring movie clips, posters, and stills, among other collectables were released through
non-fungible token
A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided, that is recorded in a blockchain, and that is used to certify authenticity and ownership. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the ...
s (NFT). It was headlined by
Salman Khan
Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan (; 27 December 1965) is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works in Hindi films. In a film career spanning over thirty years, Khan has received numerous awards, including two Nationa ...
-backed BollyCoin in collaboration with the technology-backed marketplace creator NFTically. It was featured in
Time Out
Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to:
Time
* Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team
* Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken
* Timeout (computing), an enginee ...
's "100 Best Bollywood Films".
While the film was appreciated for its commercial elements, the flip side, it was criticised for the misogyny, objectification of women and the blatant sexism of the character Chulbul Pandey. In 2021,
Mumbai Police
The Mumbai Police (Marathi: मुंबई पोलीस, IAST: ''Mumbaī Pulīs'', formerly ''Bombay Police'') is the police department of the city of Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a part of Maharashtra Police and has the primary responsibiliti ...
shared few dialogues and quotes from the film denouncing misogyny.
Sequels
After the release of ''Dabangg'', Arbaaz Khan announced that he was planning a sequel to it. After the commercial success of the film, Khan reported "''
Dabangg 2'' may take time to hit the floors, but it is definitely on the cards." He also announced that the main leads, Salman Khan and Sonakshi Sinha were already cast to reprise their parts in the sequel. Among the new cast members are
Prakash Raj
Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam-language films, he is the recipient of severa ...
, who plays the main antagonist, while
Kareena Kapoor
Kareena Kapoor Khan (; ''née'' Kapoor; born 21 September 1980) is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi films. She is the daughter of actors Randhir Kapoor and Babita, and the younger sister of actress Karisma Kapoor. Noted for playing a v ...
performs an item number in the film. Director Abhinav Kashyap opted out of directing the sequel, and therefore Arbaaz took over as the film's director. ''Dabangg 2'' which released in December 2012, became one of the
highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time in India. Another sequel, ''
Dabangg 3'', was released in December 2019. It serves both as a prequel to ''Dabangg'' and a sequel to ''Dabangg 2'', taking the story back and forth.
In November 2021, director
Rohit Shetty
Rohit Shetty (born 14 March 1974) is an Indian film director, stuntman, producer and television host who works in Hindi cinema. He is one of the most recognised film director of Hindi Cinema. His movies are often mix genres of action, comed ...
had planned for a potential inclusion of
Chulbul Pandey
''Dabangg'' is a series of Indian Hindi-language action comedy films produced in common by Arbaaz Khan, starring Salman Khan as the titular cop Chulbul Pandey, Sonakshi Sinha as his love interest Rajjo Pandey, and Arbaaz Khan as Chulbul's step- ...
, Khan's character in his
Cop Universe
The Cop Universe is an Indian media franchise and shared universe created by Rohit Shetty consisting of media focusing on police officers. The franchise includes films, animated series, video games and web series. The shared universe was es ...
franchise, and work on the film might commence only after completing
Ranveer Singh's Cirkus. Later, that month, a fourth instalment of the franchise titled ''Dabangg 4'' was announced with Khan deciding to make few changes on the script and the character, in order to be raw and realistic, which followed after the critical response of his role in ''
Antim: The Final Truth'' (2021). Later, impressed by the narration of the script,
Tigmanshu Dhulia
Tigmanshu Dhulia (born 3 July 1967) is an Indian film dialogue writer, director, actor, screenwriter, producer and casting director known for his works in Hindi cinema and Television. He wrote the dialogue for the 1998 film '' Dil Se..'', the ...
was roped in to direct the film in late-December.
Remakes
''Dabangg'' was remade in
Tamil as ''
Osthe'' (2011) by
Dharani
Dharanis ( IAST: ), also known as ''Parittas'', are Buddhist chants, mnemonic codes, incantations, or recitations, usually the mantras consisting of Sanskrit or Pali phrases. Believed to be protective and with powers to generate merit for the ...
with
Silambarasan
Silambarasan Thesingu Rajendar, nicknamed as Simbu or his initials S. T. R., is an Indian actor, filmmaker and musician in Tamil cinema. He began his acting career by playing roles as a child artist in films directed by his father T. Rajendar, ...
playing the lead role, and Sonu Sood reprising his original role. It was also remade in
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
as ''
Gabbar Singh'' (2012), starring
Pawan Kalyan and was directed by
Harish Shankar
Sanganabhatla Harish Shankar (born 31 March 1979) is an Indian film director and screenwriter known for his works exclusively in Telugu cinema, and Telugu theater. He made his directorial debut with '' Shock'' (2006), produced by Ram Gopal Va ...
.
Animated series
An animated series based on the film titled ''Dabangg – The Animated Series'' is produced by
Salman Khan Films,
Arbaaz Khan Productions and Cosmos Maya. Conceptualised in late-2020, the series featured an animated version of the character
Chulbul Pandey
''Dabangg'' is a series of Indian Hindi-language action comedy films produced in common by Arbaaz Khan, starring Salman Khan as the titular cop Chulbul Pandey, Sonakshi Sinha as his love interest Rajjo Pandey, and Arbaaz Khan as Chulbul's step- ...
. It premiered through
Cartoon Network on 31 May 2021 and also through the
Disney+ Hotstar
Disney+ Hotstar (also known as Hotstar) is an Indian brand of subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Novi Digital Entertainment of Disney Star and operated by Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, both ...
streaming service.
References
External links
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{{Authority control
2010 action comedy films
2010 directorial debut films
2010 films
2010s Hindi-language films
2010 masala films
Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment National Film Award winners
Fictional portrayals of the Uttar Pradesh Police
Films adapted into television shows
Films set in Uttar Pradesh
Films shot in Dubai
Films shot in Maharashtra
Hindi films remade in other languages
Indian action comedy films
Indian films about revenge
Indian police films
Films about brothers