People wait outside a theatre to catch a show of Dabangg on Friday and (below) a still from the film. Telegraph pictures

Patna, Sept.10: Chulbul Pandey and Rajo are capital’s new sweethearts.

Salman Khan’s fan following was never doubted, but the way cine-goers went crazy about Sonakshi Sinha, daughter of Shatrughan Sinha, it was difficult to decide who had greater appeal.

Maximum Patnaites liked Dabangg for the action scenes of Salman Khan and beauty of Sonakshi Sinha. All theatres screening the movie ran houseful shows in the afternoon.

A group of youngsters coming out of Veena cinema hall after watching the first-day first show said they loved the film, especially its music.

They reached the theatre braving the heavy rains and were happy to have made the effort for the film.

Some youths liked the movie so much that they wanted to watch the second show too. Their wish, however, could not be fulfilled as all the tickets were already sold out.

A few people, however, were disappointed with Sonakshi’s role, as they thought she did not get a chance to do much.

Even then, she managed to impress the audience with her performance. Her rural look and costumes were also appreciated a lot.

Sanjeev Kumar Singh, a student from BN College, said: “Sonakshi is looking gorgeous but she did not get much of a chance to act though as her scenes did not demand much. Maybe in the next movie she would get a better role to perform. Salman is fabulous. His action scenes, his dialogues are superb. In my opinion, the best scene in the movie was fight in the climax when Salman’s (Chulbul Pandey) shirt is torn apart by the villian’s goons. Sonakshi is lucky to have made her debut with Salman. Her first film has set her up among big stars. In future, she will get more roles.”

Lucky to get the ticket of the second show too, Sanjeev was all excited to revisit the theatre.

He even went on to say that Salman should soon propose to Sonakshi as they make a good couple.

Rohit Roy from Sir GD Patliputra Interstariya Vidyalaya liked Sonakshi’s acting. He said: “Salman Khan is great in the movie. Not only his acting but also his action scenes are extraordinary. I like the item number Munni badnaam hui in which Malaika Arora Khan has performed.” Prakash, a student from Patna University, said he liked the acting of Salman and Sonakshi but pointed out some negative points about the movie.

“The movie lacks the elements to balance it. Some scenes are put in without need. Leaving some songs, music by Sajid-Wajid is not extraor-dinary. Certain dialo-gues are senseless,” he said. Prakash felt that the romantic scenes were good. However, part of the song and dance drama, comedy and some scenes were unnecessary and annoying, Prakash added.The crowd had swelled again outside the theatre by the time this reporter left for work.