‘Hanuman Da Damdaar’ movie review: A nice enjoyable film, but could have been better

Directed By: Ruchi Narain
Produced By: R.A.T Films, Ashustosh Shah, Taher Shabbir, Ruchi Narain
Cast: Salman Khan, Raveena Tandon, Kunal Kemmu, Chunky Panday, Javed Akhtar, Vinay Pathak, Makrand Deshpande, Saurabh Shukla
Duration: 1 hour 44 minutes
Bollywood Bubble Rating: 2.5/5

Hanuman, our Indian superhero has been explored a lot in films, especially in animated movies. There have been several films that have shown us the journey of Maruti, and here’s one more film that is going to give us an insight into the life of Hanuman. Well, we are talking about the movie ‘Hanuman Da Damdaar’ which is all set to hit the screens on June 2. When the trailer was out, we really wondered what this film will offer us that we haven’t seen before. But, let us tell you this film has a totally different story which we haven’t witnessed much.

As the title suggests, the movie is about Hanuman, an innocent child who is also scared of a bee, and it is his journey of discovering his powers and as Salman Khan (elder version of Hanuman) says ‘Woh kahani ke kaise bana yeh bhola bhala Bajrangi, Hanuman Da Damdaar’. The movie tells us a few things that not many people would be aware of, and that’s the biggest strength of the film, its story line.

The movie starts on a very interesting note, and there are sequences that will make you ROFL. However, as it proceeds the movie gets a bit drag and a bit boring too. We know that animated films are made to entertain kids, but pre-interval portions here will also bore the kids. We are not saying that the sequences shown are not important, but they could have easily used some other technique to show that. Even after interval when you think that the film will pick up, unfortunately it doesn’t happen soon. However, pre-climax portions and the climax win our hearts. While you start thinking that the movie is just made without any proper storyline, the climax proves us wrong, and we properly understand the story of ‘kaise bana yeh bhola bhala Bajrangi, Hanuman Da Damdaar’.

We might have seen many films on Hanuman, but this one will connect with us the most, thanks to the casual language used in it. Like Anjali (Raveena Tandon) telling Kesari (Saurabh Shukla) ‘main kehti thi na darwaje pe double lock lagvane chahiye the’, or Hanuman and Garuda using the word ‘phatte’, such dialogues make the film very contemporary and enjoyable.

The biggest strength of the film is the voices of the actors used in it. Salman Khan as the elder Hanuman is the best thing in the film. His sequences are very well written and the dialogues are simply amazing. Raveena Tandon as Anjali is proper, Kunal Kemmu as Indra will make you laugh out loud, Chunky Panday as tour guide is hilarious, Javed Akhtar as Valmiki is too good, Vinay Pathak steals the show as the Popat Sharma, Makrand Deshpande as Vishrav is fantastic, Hussain Dalal as Garuda is amazing and Saurabh Shukla as Kesari is simply wow. Well, two people who are above all these actors are Arnav and Sneha Khanwalkar. Arnav as the younger Hanuman and Sneha as Seeti are outstanding.

While we said that the biggest strength is voices of the actors, the weakest point is the music. The songs could have been better. While they used dialogues that were contemporary, the songs are very outdated.

On the whole, ‘Hanuman Da Damdaar’ is a nice film, but could have been much better and more entertaining than what it is.

Check out the trailer here: