It is this dabangg characterization of Pandey that makes Dabangg a roller coaster ride without seat belts on. And only - I repeat - only Salman Khan could have played the character with such éclat. The style and swagger of Chulbul, the diffused grin on his thinly mustached lips, the occasional loft of his brow, the crass humour, the hardened expressions, hardy physique and a mellow heart beating therein - it's a character brought to life by Salman. Doubtlessly the best performance of his career.

The movie itself is an out and out adventure with all the masala and masti thrown in to thrill and entertain even the most jaded film buff. So grab your ticket and cola and corn, and laugh yourself silly with the antics and escapades of the most colorful, swashbuckling character seen on Indian screens in recent times, Robinhood Pandey, who guarantees you fun worth every penny of your ticket money.

At home Chulbul has an unloving stepfather (Vinod Khanna) and an equally unloving but dim-witted stepbrother Makhan (Arbaaz Khan) whom everyone lovingly calls Makkhi. The only one who loves and is loved by Chulbul is his mother (Dimple Kapadia).

And there is this village belle Rajo (Sonakshi Sinha) who is tethered to her alcoholic father. Chulbul's heart beats for her. But she can't marry him.

Debutant director and scriptwriter Abhinav Kashyap keeps the story easy, conventional and pretty ordinary. He throws in a bad guy in the formidable and beefed up shape of a local leader (Sonu Sood) who sees Chulbul as a hurdle in his political growth and uses the feuding Pandey brothers against each other to get rid of Chulbul.

There are fights, stunts and shootouts abundantly. The daredevil cop flings the bad guys in the air, hacks them, and guns them down. And no free tickets for guessing who wins the duel between the cop and the villain in the end. What stands out, however, is the action choreographed by S Vijayan .

Predictable to its core, the story of Dabangg is certainly not its strength. In fact, some sequences can be totally edited out. The sequences of Salman's marriage to Sonakshi, or the burning down of the factory stand out like sore thumbs and only slacken the pace of the film. The songs (Sajid-Wajid) are perky and one too many. But with Salman doing his pelvic thrusts and Malaika Arora shaking her booty, you don't mind one bit.

Salman Khan is the sole dynamo of Dabangg. Sonakshi Sinha's natural gift of acting is very obvious in this debut attempt of hers. Not only is she gorgeous, she brings out an interesting range of expressions, from dour and surly to shy and droll. Sonu Sood doesn't lend enough menace and dread to this character though he's doubtlessly more puffed up. Arbaaz Khan, also the producer, slips well into his unplanned character. In supporting roles Vinod Khanna and Dimple Kapadia are just satisfactory.

Dabangg is littered with one crackerjack of a dialogue after another. There are killer one-liners, fart jokes and even a shade of ribaldry in the dialogues by Kashyap and Dilip Shukla.

Watch Dabangg for Salman and his power packed performance. It is worthy to watch.