Dabangg 2

About the film

Dabangg 2 (transl. Fearless 2) is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language action comedy film directed and produced by Arbaaz Khan under Arbaaz Khan Productions. It is a sequel to Dabangg (2010), and the second installment of the Dabangg series. Salman Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Arbaaz Khan, Mahie Gill and Vinod Khanna reprise their roles, while Prakash Raj, Nikitin Dheer, Pankaj Tripathi, Manoj Pahwa and Deepak Dobriyal appear in supporting roles.

Dabangg 2 was theatrically released in India on 21 December 2012 during the Christmas festival. It earned ₹58.3 crore (US$6.1 million) net in India within three days of its release to break the record of Ek Tha Tiger (2012), another film featuring Salman Khan. Dabangg 2 grossed over ₹253.54 crore (US$27 million) at the worldwide box office, becoming the second highest-grossing Hindi film of 2012 behind Ek Tha Tiger, and one of the highest-grossing Indian films of all time. The film accumulated ₹155 crore (US$16 million) net and was termed a "blockbuster" by Box Office India. The third film in the franchise and a circumquel titled Dabangg 3 was released in December 2019.

Plot

After the events from the previous film, Inspector Chulbul Pandey takes charge of a local police station in Kanpur and resides there with his wife Rajjo, half-brother Makkhi and stepfather Prajapati Pandey. In Kanpur, an assassin murders a witness who is about to testify against a dreaded gangster and politician named Thakur Bachcha Singh.

Chulbul tracks the assassin down, killing him at a coffeehouse. After several public altercations, Bachcha's brother Genda convinces him to get rid of Pandey, threatening Prajapati Pandey to kill his entire family if Chulbul keeps on interfering in Bachcha's illegal activities. Genda harasses a girl at her wedding, where Chulbul arrives and asks Genda to leave. Genda refuses and continues to insult Chulbul, who breaks his neck, leading to his death. Meanwhile, Rajjo becomes pregnant and Chulbul is advised by everybody to leave Bachcha alone for the sake of his family's safety. Bachcha promises to avenge his brother's death before the election but he faces the pressure from his own party to condemn Genda's actions for his own and party's image.

He meets Rajjo and Makkhi while they were leaving a temple. Makkhi is shot by Bachcha and Rajjo is pushed off the temple stairs. Rajjo and Makkhi survive, but Rajjo suffers a miscarriage. Enraged, Chulbul enters Bachcha's location and kills all of his men, including Bachcha. Later, Chulbul and Rajjo bear a baby boy and Chhedi Singh's photographer asks for a family photo. They all laugh and the photographer takes the picture.

Production

When director Abhinav Kashyap opted out of directing the sequel, Arbaaz Khan himself decided to helm the film. Prakash Raj was confirmed to have been chosen to play the main villain. Kareena Kapoor Khan chose to play an item number in the film, despite initial reports considering Katrina Kaif for the role.

In Feb 2012, it was reported that distribution rights were sold to UTV Motion Pictures for a price of ₹ 1.40 billion, the highest for a Bollywood film till date. But later UTV Motion Pictures reported the news as completely fake & nonsense. UTV Motion Pictures has brushed aside rumours of purchasing the rights of the sequel to Salman Khan-Sonakshi Sinha starrer, Dabangg 2 for ₹ 1.40 billion.

The national emblem framed on the wall of Chulbul Pandey's police station was depicted incorrectly. Sensitive to the slightest abnormality pertaining to national sentiments, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has asked producer-director Arbaaz Khan to simply blur the corner of the film's frames where the national emblem appears.

Pre-release business

The figures don't include the Print and Advertising (P&A) costs.

Music

The songs are composed by Sajid–Wajid while the lyrics were penned by Jalees Sherwani, Irfan Kamal, and Sameer. The film score is composed by Sandeep Shirodkar. The full soundtrack album was released on 9 November 2012. One notable track, often referred to as the "Chatni Song" in promotional material and sung by Mamta Sharma and Wajid Ali, is an adaptation of the famous Indo-Trinidadian Chutney song "Kaise Bani" (or "Phulauri Bina Chutney Kaise Bani") by Sundar Popo, which itself has roots in traditional Bhojpuri folk music.The Dabangg 2 version significantly altered the original English lyrics, removing specific Trinidadian cultural and historical references (such as Sangre Grande and the kudari tool) and changing contextual details (e.g., falling into a train instead of a sugarcane field), thereby adapting the song for a mainstream Indian audience and stripping it of its specific diaspora connotations.

Marketing

The first look of the film was unveiled on 19 October 2012 and theatrical trailer was launched on 20 October 2012 at Salman Khan's reality show Bigg Boss 6. Chulbul Pandey, Khan's character in Dabangg 2 appeared in StarPlus soap Diya Aur Baati Hum to promote the film. It aired on 12 and 13 December 2012. Salman and Sonakshi promoted the film on the sets of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. Dabangg 2 was screened at the Ketnav theatre in Khar, a western Mumbai suburb, on 17 December 2012. A Dabangg 2 special screening was done for the star kids on 19 December 2012. Another premiere was held on 20 December 2012 in which Aamir Khan also attended.

Key details