[DVD] Dabangg (2010)

So Soon?

I'm surprised at the speed at which the DVD for Dabangg got released, because it usually takes quite a while but I suppose with piracy rampant this wait window gets necessarily shortened for one of the most popular films this year, which broke countless of records at the box office. I'm not complaining since I can now get my hands on my copy to watch the film all over again, and hey, the songs rock too! Among the three Khans of Bollywood I have yet to find a Salman Khan film that I like, until Dabangg came along and made me a fan. If all things go right, we should see the sequel being made pretty soon since this film had set it up nicely, so I'm really looking forward to that happening!

You can read my review of Dabangg here.

The 2-Disc Region Free DVD edition of Dabanng by Reliance BIG Home Video comes presented in its original Hindi audio track with options available in Dolby Digital 5.1 or 2.0 Stereo and subtitles in the English language only, which is only applicable to Disc One.

Disc One contains the feature in a pristine anamorphic widescreen format transfer, and scene selection is over 20 chapters. Unfortunately you're forced to watch two advertising clips by Ambuja Cement before you can access the DVD menu, and thankfully they are comedic. The staple of any Hindi film release on DVD is the special section that features all the songs in the film. Here that includes Hud Dabangg (2:40) and Tere Mast Mast (3:36), two of my favourites from the movie, with the rest being Humka Peeni Hai (2:48), Sachi Sachi (2:32) and the item number Munni Badnaam (4:52). A play all function is available as well.

Disc Two is the Special Features disc, presented in letterbox format and contains only two major features. The major bugbear for non Hindi speakers is that this disc contains no subtitles, so you can't fully get to understand what's being transpired other than to guess, and make out from whatever smattering of English that gets spoken.

The first feature is The Making of Dabangg (40:52), which is presented in a talk show format hosted by Shatrughan Sinha, with the panelists of director Abhinav Kashyap who was quite muted here, female lead Sonakshi Sinha in her debut feature film, Salman Khan as the titular dabangg policeman, and Salman's real life brother Arbaaz Khan who serves as producer of the film, and also plays his screen brother Makhanchan Pandey. Some of the topics discussed included how Sonakshi Sinha got shortlisted and selected to play Rajo, the action choreography, the usual outtakes and clips from behind the scenes, and the making of the songs Munni Badnaam which was the item number choreographed by Farah Khan and starring Malaika Arora Khan (wife of Arbaaz) and Jumka Peeni Hai, before ending with the Hud Dabangg music video.

The other feature was the Making of the Songs (27:42) of which Munni Badnaam and Jumka Peeni Hai were included in the previous extra feature, and the rest being a behind the scenes look at how the other songs were made, with Sachi Sachi being shot in Dubai, Tere Mast Mast which is one of two of my favourites, and how Salman had improvised for Hud Dabangg. The best bits in this section is the split screen presentation between the final product, and the behind the scenes put side by side for comparison. Comes with a play all function to watch all the segments in one go.

If only the extra disc was subtitled, it will make a pretty nifty release besides the slip case the DVD was packaged in.