12 Years of Dabangg Phenomenon - A Cult Classic Film In The 'Masala' Genre

Mumbai, September 10 - The No.1 Grosser & the Biggest hit of 2010 Dabangg with Salman khan in a titular role completes its Glorious 12 years today & the film has gained a cult status among movie-goers now. Dabangg had a huge pre-release hype due to the extraordinary trailer & the national chartbuster songs like "Munni Badnaam" & "Tere Mast Mast Do Nain". It would be safe to say that Dabangg was among the Top3 most hyped films on ground-level over the last 15 years.

Due to the never before seen hype, Dabangg opened to an earth-shattering response from morning shows and broke the opening day record of 3idiots by collecting over 14.50cr. Later it went on to smash the opening weekend & week record of 3idiots by a big margin. The first 3 days saw Dabangg collecting the Highest Single Days at the box office which is to date a record for any Hindi film.



Before Dabangg, Salman khan had a Superhit film wanted which proved to be Blockbuster in interiors but it couldn't run well in multiplexes due to the adult certificate but with Dabangg - all segments of an audience had arrived. From masses from interiors to Class multiplex audiences from Urban centers. The film was for a Universal audience with the Biggest universal Superstar Salman khan and as a result, Dabangg became the most watched film in the history of Indian cinema in the "Cop" genre. In scale, size, and audience, Salman khan's Dabangg is Bigger than Iconic Amitabh Bachchan's Superhit film Zanjeer(1973).

Due to the arrival of huge streaming services like Netflix, Amazon prime, and many others, web series are started being made in huge numbers in the last 5 years & most web series in India have a reference from Dabangg. Be it the Dabangg hook step, the placing of a goggle behind his neck collar, the unforgettable dialogues of the film, or the character "Chulbul Pandey." The most recent web series or film to have a Dabangg reference is Ludo and Mimi proving the fact that Chulbul Pandey is one of the most iconic characters the Indian screen has ever witnessed & Dabangg is one of the most popular films ever made.

The Dabangg performance of Salman khan is arguably his best performance to date. He never looked as confident as he looked in Dabangg. His Body-language, his dialogue delivery, and his comic timing were so perfect that you cannot even think any other actor could have played Chulbul Pandey better than Salman. It looked like Salman khan was Born to play Chulbul Pandey. Salman plays Chulbul Pandey with the right amount of Swag, Style, Grey-shade, and mockery! His screen presence is Unbeatable. Dabangg is a one-man show - The Salman khan show!



Makers cashed in on the popularity of the character chulbul Pandey and the film Dabangg and converted it into a franchise. The 2nd film of the Dabangg franchise was released on Xmas 2012 with a Record-breaking initial and ended up being another Blockbuster for Salman khan. The 3rd film Dabangg3 didn't do as expected due to content being not up to the mark and largely affected by CAA NRC protests but was a decent earner with collections of around 140crs.

Dabangg was a trendsetter film. When the entire Bollywood was following & making films just for the Urban NRI audiences(3idiots, Love Aaj Kal, Kites, MNIK, Kambhakt Ishq, De Dana Dan), Came Dabangg, thrashed records left, right, and center and started a completely "Dabangg genre" of films. Singham, Rowdy Rathore, Talaash(This is in the less commercial zone), and Chennai Express were nothing but babies of Dabangg.

If Sholay gave birth to the action-masala genre with item songs, Dabangg gave it rebirth!

Stay tuned...