Given the stupendous success of Dabangg, it won’t take the filmmakers long to turn
the good-bad cop into a formula and dish out Chulbul Pandey clones. Deepa Karmalkar
digs out some more such Bollywood cops, who struck a chord with the viewers

EVER since Bollywood cops stopped being either too upright and honest or terribly corrupt and decadent, they became more acceptable to viewers. This is precisely the reason why Salman’s corrupt cop act as Chulbul Pandey in Dabangg outscores his earlier police avatars in Garv and Wanted. Dabangg, which was released at more than 1,000 screens in India, garnered Rs 14 crore on the opening day. That makes it the highest grosser hitherto! Chulbul is corrupt yet cute. He may have his shortcomings, but he’s ready to get redeemed. Chulbul is almost human, never mind the super-fighting powers cinema endows him with — his heroics are totally engaging. Like the common man — he’s dirty, he’s flirty, he’s funny and he just can’t resist shaking his body to an item song. This quasi-realistic cop has won hearts with his Dabangg dynamism.

Decades ago, Dev Anand had wondered, "How can a hero be a policeman? He can’t sing and dance, he can’t wear fashionable clothes." Well, Dev Saab would be happy to note that the filmy cop has the cinematic licence to do all that and even have his shirt automatically ripped off his back to reveal his rippling muscles. Bollywood has indeed got on with times. But Chulbul is by no means the pioneer, he has many predecessors. The funny and quirky mannerisms were first adopted by Amjad Khan way back in the 1970s while playing a cop. Remember this wise-cracking, paan-chewing inspector in Feroz Khan’s Qurbaani? Feroz Khan proudly called Amjad’s comic act as his big discovery, Amjad’s staggering gait and paan-chewing in intense fight scenes added a new dimension to the persona of screen cop.

Thereafter, Amjad’s sympathetic Haryanvi cop in Love Story fondly referring to the eloped couple as ‘ludka-ludki’ changed the stereotype for ever. The on-screen persona of a policeman was becoming less starchy and less distant — he was like one of them.

"Prior to this, the filmy policeman was either too idealistic and opinionated or he was a complete buffoon. As comedy king, Dada Kondke turned the cop virtually into a joker with his Pandu havildar. Even in Raj Kapoor’s Do Jasoos, the cop represented the comic element of society," observes Rauf Ahmed, veteran film journalist and archivist. Amjad Khan lent another amusing and endearing facet to the filmy cop — he made the cop approachable. Just what the real police aim to achieve these days.

The cop character was undergoing a radical change as Amitabh Bachchan played almost a schizophrenic double role in Shehenshah, at daytime inspector Vijay was the cowardly paan-spewing cop and like the werewolf — he would transform into the whip-cracking Shehenshah sporting an iron arm and a silvery grey mop of hair. Inspector Vijay was more of a contrived contrast to the superhero, he wasn’t even posing to be realistic. But soon after Bachchan teamed up with Govinda as a senior cop in Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan inspired by Shakespearean comedy, The Comedy of Errors. Bachchan’s advanced years were often the butt of jokes about his lacking female company. The other set of Amitabh-Govinda added to the confusion as they played petty thieves. This funny cop duo, along with the small time thieves, rocked the box office. Bachchan’s cop was funny and quirky this time as opposed to his stern and strict inspector in Zanjeer. He, too, was opening up.

In the recent times, Bachchan’s moody cachinnating cop in Bunty Aur Babli took to the dance floor swinging to the raunchy beats of ‘Kajra re...’ alongside Aishwarya Rai and he turned out to be quite a scene-stealer. The quirkiness paid rich dividends in the film.

In the comic caper Dhamaal, Sanjay Dutt played the inspector hot-on-trail of Rs 10 crore worth treasure. He had a cliff-hanging scene with a busload of schoolchildren dangling literally by his arm. He also pulled off some smart one-liners at the good-for-nothing foursome of Arshad Warsi, Riteish Deshmukh, Javed Jaffery and Ashish Chowdhary in the film. Dhamaal made a clean sweep at the booking window, encouraged by its success; the makers have launched a sequel — Double Dhamaal loaded with some more gags and spoofs this time. Dutt’ will replay his smart Alec inspector once more.

Ajay Devgn may have donned the khakee in several films as the honest, conscientious policeman in films like Gangajal earlier but when he played ice-cream cone-licking ACP Rajveer in Rohit Shetty’s Sunday; he just broke out of the mould. He merged with the common man and lent a human touch to his character. This easy-going cop avatar of his may not have worked wonders at the boxoffice but the loosening up of the tightly knotted cop mannerisms helped. It made for a refreshing and entertaining change.

Given the stupendous success of Dabangg, it won’t take the makers to turn the quirky cop into a formula and dish out Chulbul Pandey clones. Ah, just watch out.

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