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''Dabangg'' () is a 2010 Indian
Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
-language
action comedy film The action comedy is a film genre that applies to action films where humor plays a much more central role. While early films feature stuntwork and humor, academic Cynthia King wrote that the genre only came into its own as a mainstay of the Americ ...
directed by Abhinav Singh Kashyap and produced by
Malaika Arora Malaika Arora (born 23 October 1973) is an Indian actress, dancer, model, Video Jockey ( VJ ) and television personality who appears in Hindi-language films. She made her debut as a film producer in 2008 with her former husband Arbaaz Khan, f ...
and
Arbaaz Khan Arbaaz Salim Abdul Rashid Khan (born 4 August 1967) is an Indian actor and film producer who primarily works in Bollywood, Hindi cinema, in addition to Telugu cinema, Telugu, Urdu and Malayalam, Malayalam cinema. Since his debut in 1996, he ha ...
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'' a ...
under
Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Limited was a film production and distribution company that produced and distributed Hindi films. The chief of the company was Dhilin Mehta. Television Ashtavinayak Cine Vision produced the serial ''Amrapali'' ...
. The film stars
Salman Khan Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan (; born 27 December 1965) is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who predominantly works in Hindi films. In a career spanning over three decades, his awards include two National Film Awa ...
,
Sonakshi Sinha Sonakshi Sinha (; born 2 June 1987) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films and series. The daughter of actors and politicians Poonam Sinha, Poonam and Shatrughan Sinha, she has appeared in ''Forbes India'' Forbes Celebrity 100, Celebrity ...
,
Arbaaz Khan Arbaaz Salim Abdul Rashid Khan (born 4 August 1967) is an Indian actor and film producer who primarily works in Bollywood, Hindi cinema, in addition to Telugu cinema, Telugu, Urdu and Malayalam, Malayalam cinema. Since his debut in 1996, he ha ...
and
Sonu Sood Sonu Sood (born 30 July 1973) is an Indian actor, film producer, Model (person), model, humanitarian, and Philanthropy, philanthropist who works predominantly in Hindi cinema, Hindi, Telugu cinema, Telugu and Tamil cinema, Tamil films. He is k ...
in the lead roles, while
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 Urdu, Malayalam, Bengali, Kannada, English, Punjabi, Gujarati, Telugu, and Marathi films, as well as ind ...
,
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 fathe ...
,
Vinod Khanna Vinod Khanna (6 October 1946 – 27 April 2017) was an Indian actor, film producer, and politician known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of the greatest actors of Hindi cinema. Recognised as a style and fashion icon, he wa ...
,
Anupam Kher Anupam Kher (born 7 March 1955) is an Indian actor, director and producer who works primarily in Hindi cinema. In a career spanning over four decades, he has acted in more than 540 films. A veteran of Indian cinema, Kher is recipient of two Na ...
,
Mahesh Manjrekar Mahesh Vaman Manjrekar (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, əɦeːʃ maːɲd͡zɾekəɾ born 16 August 1958) is an Indian actor, film director, screenwriter and producer who works primarily in Hindi films, alongside Marathi language, ...
and
Mahie Gill Rimpy Kaur "Mahie" Gill (born 19 December 1975) is an Indian actress, working in the Hindi and Punjabi film industries. She is best known for her role of ''Paro'' in Anurag Kashyap's critically acclaimed Hindi film '' Dev.D'', a modern take on ...
feature in supporting roles. The film marks the debut of Sinha as an actress, Arbaaz Khan as a producer and Kashyap as a director. Arora makes a special appearance in the song "
Munni Badnaam Hui "Munni Badnaam Hui" () is a song from the 2010 Hindi film ''Dabangg'', featuring Malaika Arora, Sonu Sood and Salman Khan. The song is sung by Mamta Sharma and Aishwarya Nigam, with music by Lalit Pandit. Mamta Sharma won the Filmfare Award fo ...
". ''Dabangg'' is set in the
Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 800 districts and smaller administrative divisions by the respe ...
of
Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...
. It was made with a budget of 30 crore and marketed at 12 crore. The film was shot primarily in the town of Wai in
Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...
, while other major scenes were shot in the
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...
. ''Dabangg'' was released during Eid on 10 September 2010 in nearly 2,100 cinemas worldwide, where it received positive reviews from critics, with praise for the performances of the cast (especially Khan and Sood), the action sequences, soundtrack and humour. It went on to gross () worldwide and became the highest-grossing Hindi film of 2010. ''Dabangg'' has won several awards—the
National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment The National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the National Film Development Corporation of India, and was constituted in the year 1975. This is one of th ...
and six
Filmfare Awards The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Indian cinema.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were introduced by Filmfare magazine of The Times G ...
, including
Best Film The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Bes ...
and Best Female Debut (Sinha). The film was remade in
Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
as ''
Osthe ''Osthe'' (''The Best'') is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film directed by S. Dharani, a remake of the 2010 Bollywood film ''Dabangg''. It stars Silambarasan, Richa Gangopadhyay, Sonu Sood, Jithan Ramesh, Santhanam, VTV Ganesh ...
'', with Sood reprising his role, and in
Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...
as '' Gabbar Singh''. It was followed by two sequels: ''
Dabangg 2 ''Dabangg 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 ...
'' (2012) and ''
Dabangg 3 ''Dabangg 3'' () is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language action drama film directed by Prabhu Deva and jointly produced by Salman Khan Films, Arbaaz Khan Productions and Saffron Broadcast & Media Limited. The third installment in the ''Dabangg'' fi ...
'' (2019). The latter serves as a partial prequel, describing a flashback which formed the events of ''Dabangg''.


Plot

Chulbul Pandey is a young boy who lives with his younger half-brother Makkhanchand "Makkhi" Pandey, stepfather Prajapati Pandey and mother Naina Devi in
Lalganj, Uttar Pradesh Lalganj is a town and nagar panchayat (municipality) in Raebareli district of Uttar Pradesh, India. As of 2011 Lalganj had a population of 23,124, in 3,996 households. History Lalganj was founded by, and named after, Lal Singh of Simarpaha. ...
. Chulbul has a troubled relationship with Prajapati and Makkhi. After 21 years, Chulbul becomes a cop and calls himself as ''
Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary noble outlaw, heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature, theatre, and cinema. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions o ...
'' Pandey, where he still lives with his family. Makkhi is in love with Nirmala, whose father Masterji opposes their 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, but Prajapati refuses because he needs money to repay the loans he took to make his factory and 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 proposes marriage to Rajjo, who rejects as she has to take care of her drunkard father Hariya. Chulbul arrives home to find his mother Naini Devi dead, where 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, where 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. Still feeling annoyed that Chulbul jeopardised his wedding, Makkhi 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 brutally beats up Makkhi in public to disgrace him. Chedi takes advantage of the situation and takes Makkhi along with Prajapati to the police station. Not wishing to aggravate the matter any further, Prajapati resolves the situation by accepting an apology. Chulbul meets a political leader named Dayal Sahu aka Dayal Babu, who also dislikes Chedi. With his help, Chulbul adulterates Chedi's breweries and wrongly frames him for it. Enraged, Chedi burns Makkhi's factory where Prajapati suffers from a heart attack and is hospitalised. Makkhi goes to Chedi for help, where 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 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 Naina. Chulbul finally kills Chedi by suffocating him with the exhaust pipe of a tractor and arranges Makkhi's marriage with Nirmala.


Cast

*
Salman Khan Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan (; born 27 December 1965) is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who predominantly works in Hindi films. In a career spanning over three decades, his awards include two National Film Awa ...
as Chulbul Pandey, Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police *
Sonakshi Sinha Sonakshi Sinha (; born 2 June 1987) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films and series. The daughter of actors and politicians Poonam Sinha, Poonam and Shatrughan Sinha, she has appeared in ''Forbes India'' Forbes Celebrity 100, Celebrity ...
as Rajjo Shreshawat *
Arbaaz Khan Arbaaz Salim Abdul Rashid Khan (born 4 August 1967) is an Indian actor and film producer who primarily works in Bollywood, Hindi cinema, in addition to Telugu cinema, Telugu, Urdu and Malayalam, Malayalam cinema. Since his debut in 1996, he ha ...
as Makkhanchand "Makkhi" Pandey *
Vinod Khanna Vinod Khanna (6 October 1946 – 27 April 2017) was an Indian actor, film producer, and politician known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of the greatest actors of Hindi cinema. Recognised as a style and fashion icon, he wa ...
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 fathe ...
as Naina Devi *
Sonu Sood Sonu Sood (born 30 July 1973) is an Indian actor, film producer, Model (person), model, humanitarian, and Philanthropy, philanthropist who works predominantly in Hindi cinema, Hindi, Telugu cinema, Telugu and Tamil cinema, Tamil films. He is k ...
as Chedi Singh *
Mahesh Manjrekar Mahesh Vaman Manjrekar (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, əɦeːʃ maːɲd͡zɾekəɾ born 16 August 1958) is an Indian actor, film director, screenwriter and producer who works primarily in Hindi films, alongside Marathi language, ...
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 Urdu, Malayalam, Bengali, Kannada, English, Punjabi, Gujarati, Telugu, and Marathi films, as well as ind ...
as Kasturilal Vishkarma *
Anupam Kher Anupam Kher (born 7 March 1955) is an Indian actor, director and producer who works primarily in Hindi cinema. In a career spanning over four decades, he has acted in more than 540 films. A veteran of Indian cinema, Kher is recipient of two Na ...
as Dayal Babu *
Mahie Gill Rimpy Kaur "Mahie" Gill (born 19 December 1975) is an Indian actress, working in the Hindi and Punjabi film industries. She is best known for her role of ''Paro'' in Anurag Kashyap's critically acclaimed Hindi film '' Dev.D'', a modern take on ...
as Nirmala *
Tinu Anand Tinu Anand (born Virender Raj Anand) is an Indian actor, director, writer and producer in Hindi cinema and a few Telugu and Tamil films. Personal life He is the son of veteran writer Inder Raj Anand, brother of producer Bittu Anand and uncle ...
as Masterji, Nirmala's father *
Murli Sharma Murali Sharma (born 9 August 1972) is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Telugu and Hindi films. Sharma has starred in over 130 feature films including Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, Kannada and Malayalam cinema. Sharma gained wide r ...
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 family in Hisar, Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territori ...
as Sumant Kumar *
Malaika Arora Malaika Arora (born 23 October 1973) is an Indian actress, dancer, model, Video Jockey ( VJ ) and television personality who appears in Hindi-language films. She made her debut as a film producer in 2008 with her former husband Arbaaz Khan, f ...
as Munni in the
item number In Indian cinema, an item number or special 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 ( Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu c ...
"
Munni Badnaam Hui "Munni Badnaam Hui" () is a song from the 2010 Hindi film ''Dabangg'', featuring Malaika Arora, Sonu Sood and Salman Khan. The song is sung by Mamta Sharma and Aishwarya Nigam, with music by Lalit Pandit. Mamta Sharma won the Filmfare Award fo ...
"


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 an Indian entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000. The website provides n ...
, 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 story, coming-of-age romantic comedy film written and directed by Abbas Tyrewala and produced by Mansoor Khan and Aamir Khan under Aamir Kh ...
'', 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 Malaika Arora (born 23 October 1973) is an Indian actress, dancer, model, Video Jockey ( VJ ) and television personality who appears in Hindi-language films. She made her debut as a film producer in 2008 with her former husband Arbaaz Khan, f ...
, 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, Maharashtra Wai (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Vāī''; Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, �aːi) is a town in Satara district of Maharashtra state in India. Located on the Krishna River, Wai was a prominent town during the Peshwa era. Two important Maratha, Marathi ...
and the
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...
. The shooting commenced in September 2009. Production designer
Wasiq Khan Wasiq Khan (1975 - 5 May 2025) was an Indian production designer and art director, who works in Bollywood. He has two daughters. He is known for his gritty realism in Anurag Kashyap's films such as ''That Girl in Yellow Boots'' (2011) and ''Gan ...
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 (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
, making ''Dabangg'' the first film to be shot there. Some scenes were also filmed at the
Emirates Palace The Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental, Abu Dhabi (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 ...
hotel in
Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...
. 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, while
Farah Khan Farah Khan Kunder (; born 9 January 1965) is an Indian film director, writer, film producer, actress, dancer and choreographer who works predominantly in Hindi films. Khan has choreographed more than a hundred songs in over 80 films, winning th ...
choreographed the item number, "
Munni Badnaam Hui "Munni Badnaam Hui" () is a song from the 2010 Hindi film ''Dabangg'', featuring Malaika Arora, Sonu Sood and Salman Khan. The song is sung by Mamta Sharma and Aishwarya Nigam, with music by Lalit Pandit. Mamta Sharma won the Filmfare Award fo ...
". 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 wrote and composed the item number "
Munni Badnaam Hui "Munni Badnaam Hui" () is a song from the 2010 Hindi film ''Dabangg'', featuring Malaika Arora, Sonu Sood and Salman Khan. The song is sung by Mamta Sharma and Aishwarya Nigam, with music by Lalit Pandit. Mamta Sharma won the Filmfare Award fo ...
" 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. Members ...
composed the remainder of it.
Faaiz Anwar Faaiz Anwar (born 9 March 1965) is an Indian poet and lyricist who has written songs for popular movies including Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin, Saajan, Tum Bin, Jab We Met, Dabangg, and Rowdy Rathore. Career Anwar entered the Hindi music indu ...
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 6 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, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...
. 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 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...
''. 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, Hindi language talent show series and is part of the ''Got Talent franchise''. The program is produced and distributed by Fremantle (company), Fremantle and Syco Entertainment. The show aired on C ...
'' 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 Purab ...
''. An event for the film was held at DLF Promenade in
Vasant Kunj Vasant Kunj is a neighbourhood located in New Delhi district of Indian union territory of Delhi. The area is home to several businessmen, actors, cricketers and the former prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh. It is located close to Indira ...
,
New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...
with the main cast in attendance, an exclusive merchandise for the film was launched. Another set of promotions were held at
Nagpur Nagpur (; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Nāgapura'') is the second capital and third-largest city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is called the heart of India because of its central geographical location. It is the largest and most populated city i ...
and
Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...
. 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 an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
on 28 January 2011 for free viewing to audiences in India. The satellite rights were pre-sold for to
Colors Color (or colour in Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though color is not an inherent property of matter, color perception is related to an object's light absorpt ...
.


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,
Komal Nahta Komal Nahta (born 30 April 1964) is an Indian film trade analyst. Nahta is the publisher of "Film Information" and also a television show host. He is an anchor of the trade show ETC Bollywood Business on the Bollywood TV channels ETC and Zee Ci ...
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, 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'' laun ...
'' gave the film four stars while labelling it as "one Zandu Balm of a movie." Film critic Aniruddha Guha of ''
Daily News and Analysis The ''Daily News and Analysis'', abbreviated as ''DNA'', is a Hindi-language news program on Zee news that was earlier an English-language newspaper with multiple local city editions across India. ''DNA'' was first launched as a broadsheet newsp ...
'' 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 Rediff.com, stylized as rediff.com, is an Indian news, information, entertainment, and shopping website. Founded by Ajit Balakrishnan in 1996, it was the first Indian website to become a mainstream news media organization. It is headquartered i ...
, 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 Anupama Vinod Chopra () is an Indian author, journalist and film critic who served as the festival director of the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image, MAMI Mumbai Film Festival from 2015 to 2023. She is also the founder and editor of the now-de ...
of
NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. It was founded in 1984 by economist Prannoy Roy and journalist Radhika Roy. NDTV began as a production house for news segments, ...
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 India's most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, reviews, events, ...
'' also rated 3-stars, and praised Khan's performance. Gaurav Malani of ''
Indiatimes Times Internet is an Indian Multinational Corporation, multinational technology company, headquartered in Gurgaon. It is the digital arm of The Times Group, the largest media conglomerate in India. Through its venture capital arm TVentures, Ti ...
'' 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 (born 13 March 1976) 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 rel ...
of
CNN-IBN CNN News18 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 international coverage for the c ...
panned the film's screenplay, but praised Khan's performance.
Shobhaa De Shobha De (''née'' Rajadhyaksha, formerly Kilachand; born 7 January 1948) is an Indian novelist and columnist. She is best known for her depiction of socialites and sex in her works of fiction, for which she has been referred to as the "Jackie ...
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$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
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 drahm is a unit of currency and of mass. It is the name of the currencies of Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Armenia, and is the name of a currency subdivision in Jordan, Libya, Qatar and Tajikistan. It was historicall ...
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 "Munni Badnaam Hui" () is a song from the 2010 Hindi film ''Dabangg'', featuring Malaika Arora, Sonu Sood and Salman Khan. The song is sung by Mamta Sharma and Aishwarya Nigam, with music by Lalit Pandit. Mamta Sharma won the Filmfare Award fo ...
" included a brand name ' Zandu Balm' in its lyrics, much to the displeasure of
Emami Emami Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Kolkata. The company caters to a number of niche categories in the personal care and healthcare segments. The company's products are sold across 60+ nations and are availabl ...
—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 courts of India, high court of the States and union territories of India, states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily ...
, demanding that the deletion of the word "
Hindustan ''Hindūstān'' ( English: /ˈhɪndustæn/ or /ˈhɪndustɑn/, ; ) was a historical region, polity, and a name for India, historically used simultaneously for northern Indian subcontinent and the entire subcontinent, used in the modern day ...
" 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 Shobha De (''née'' Rajadhyaksha, formerly Kilachand; born 7 January 1948) is an Indian novelist and columnist. She is best known for her depiction of socialites and sex in her works of fiction, for which she has been referred to as the "Jackie ...
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 attacks, were a series of coordinated Islamic terrorism, Islamist terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based Islamist terrorist o ...
. She criticised it as "arrogance, ignorance and plain stupidity." This sparked off a fight with the producers via
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
, 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 four Filmfare Awards. For his contributions to films, the Government of France made him a Knight of the Ordre ...
, 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 ''Dabangg 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 ...
''." 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
National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment The National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the National Film Development Corporation of India, and was constituted in the year 1975. This is one of th ...
. It was given six awards at the
56th Filmfare Awards The 56th Filmfare Awards were held on 29 January 2011 at the Yash Raj Studios in Mumbai, honouring the best in film for the year 2010. The nominations were announced on 13 January. The date of the function was unusual because generally the awa ...
, including one for
Best Film The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Bes ...
, seven
Screen Awards The Screen Awards was an annual awards ceremony held in India, honouring professional excellence in Bollywood. The nomination and award selection was done by a panel of distinguished professionals from the industry. The awards were introduced ...
, nine
Zee Cine Awards The Zee Cine Award (ZCA) is an annual 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 w ...
, and ten IIFA Awards.


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 Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Limited was a film production and distribution company that produced and distributed Hindi films. The chief of the company was Dhilin Mehta. Television Ashtavinayak Cine Vision produced the serial ''Amrapali'' ...
at Bombay Stock Exchange 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'' a ...
said that "We promoted the character Chulbul Pandey instead of brand Salman Khan. Today, the character has become a national rave in the league of Gabbar Singh (character), Gabbar Singh from ''Sholay'' (1975) and Mogambo (Mr. India), Mogambo from ''Mr. India (1987 film), Mr. India'' (1987)". Film critic and trade analyst
Komal Nahta Komal Nahta (born 30 April 1964) is an Indian film trade analyst. Nahta is the publisher of "Film Information" and also a television show host. He is an anchor of the trade show ETC Bollywood Business on the Bollywood TV channels ETC and Zee Ci ...
also compared these campaign to the marketing gimmicks used by Rajkumar Hirani in ''Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.'' (2003), ''Lage Raho Munna Bhai'' (2006) and ''3 Idiots'' (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 tokens (NFT). It was headlined by
Salman Khan Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan (; born 27 December 1965) is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who predominantly works in Hindi films. In a career spanning over three decades, his awards include two National Film Awa ...
-backed BollyCoin in collaboration with the technology-backed marketplace creator NFTically. It was featured in Time Out (magazine), Time Out'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 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 ''Dabangg 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 ...
'' 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, who plays the main antagonist, while Kareena Kapoor 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 List of highest-grossing Indian films, highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time in India. Another sequel, ''
Dabangg 3 ''Dabangg 3'' () is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language action drama film directed by Prabhu Deva and jointly produced by Salman Khan Films, Arbaaz Khan Productions and Saffron Broadcast & Media Limited. The third installment in the ''Dabangg'' fi ...
'', 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 had planned for a potential inclusion of Chulbul Pandey, Khan's character in his Cop Universe franchise, and work on the film might commence only after completing Ranveer Singh's ''Cirkus (film), 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 was roped in to direct the film in late-December.


Remakes

''Dabangg'' was remade in
Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
as ''
Osthe ''Osthe'' (''The Best'') is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film directed by S. Dharani, a remake of the 2010 Bollywood film ''Dabangg''. It stars Silambarasan, Richa Gangopadhyay, Sonu Sood, Jithan Ramesh, Santhanam, VTV Ganesh ...
'' (2011) by Dharani (director), Dharani with Silambarasan 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 South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...
as '' Gabbar Singh'' (2012), starring Pawan Kalyan and was directed by Harish Shankar.


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. It premiered through Cartoon Network (Indian TV channel), Cartoon Network on 31 May 2021 and also through the Disney+ Hotstar streaming service.


References


External links

* * * {{Authority control 2010 action comedy films 2010 controversies 2010 directorial debut films 2010 films 2010 masala films 2010s controversies 2010s Hindi-language films 2010s Indian films Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment National Film Award winners Encounters in India Fictional portrayals of the Uttar Pradesh Police Films about brothers Films about organised crime in India Films about police brutality Films adapted into television shows Films set in Uttar Pradesh Films shot in Abu Dhabi Films shot in Dubai Films shot in Maharashtra Films shot in the United Arab Emirates Films shot in Wai, Maharashtra Hindi films remade in other languages Hindi-language action comedy films Indian action comedy films Indian films about revenge Indian intellectual property law Indian police films Obscenity controversies in film Robin Hood films Works subject to a lawsuit