Movie: Singham Returns
Director: Rohit Shetty
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor, Amole Gupta, Dayanand Shetty, Anupam Kher, Zakir Hussain, Sharat Saxena
Rating: **
Singham Returns explains the frivolity of commercial films when parameters of a successful original don’t justify but defeat the purpose of the making itself. Not being an extension to the remake of the Tamil film by the same name in its 140 minute lifespan, the total drama surrounding Aata Maajhi Satakli, an over-the-top lady love, corrupt politicos and system-cleaning acts is an outdated, tiring wannabe of an engaging commercial potboiler.
Though the mild references to current political scenarios give it a bearable start, the lack of ideas, say even of a proper antagonist or a conflict jeopardises its minimal credibility at stake. A few action sequences that remind you of vintage Rohit Shetty is the biggest bargain you can afford out of this.
When you can foresee the path of the narrative within the first hour where a major character gets killed and bear the abuse of an actress of Kareena Kapoor’s calibre soon enough, the only thing that keeps you guessing is the decibel-level fest that Ajay Devgan and his crew desperately compete for.
It is a film where the romance is a torturous force-fit, to an extent that a murder is followed by slapstick humour, a so called Lady Singham parody, where Kareena works hard to do a Johnny Lever, to fill the spaces. Neither the masala action dose nor the romance, at best fabricated, feels a genuine addition.
There are two and a half villains in the movie inclusive of the assured duo of Amole Gupte and Zakir Hussain besides Mahesh Manjrekar who struggles to choose his court. But you guessed it right, the film doesn’t have a single Prakash Raj, like Singham to evoke the smallest of scares. The action sequences are crisp, multifarious in number and so are the warnings doled out moment after moment. They are screaming for some attention.
The CM of a state endorses the transformation of cops, who take up a shirt-less parade on the streets, into a mob that threatens the daylights out of the villains. A namesake happening journalist asks Ajay Devgan before the title credits, “Tum Kabhi Nahi Sudroge Kya ?” Was that a pun on the makers themselves ? As opposed to the film’s ‘give but not take’ policy, you neither want to take the tickets nor give yourself a glimpse of this imposter. Singham returns only to a jungle of unfavorable stereotypes.
Review by Srivathsan N. First published in Cinegoer.net