So there is a revival of the masala action entertainers where the hero single-handedly bashes up dozens of goons at one go. Fine but such films are hardly able to give you an adrenaline rush when the good guy takes on the baddie. Wanted suffered from it and so did Dabangg (till the pre-climax). Fortunately, Singham is a true-blue desi entertainer that sets your heart beat pumping with some terrific moments, action scenes and background score. You feel the anger that the protagonist feels towards the corrupt system. You want him to succeed and punish the villains and while he’s doing so, you can’t help but hoot, cheer, whistle and clap! That’s the kind of impact Singham generates which rarely happens nowadays in our cinema!
The story of the movie: Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgn) is an honest police officer stationed in his hometown Shivgad, a small town in Maharashtra. Known for his novel ways of delivering justice sans prejudice, the whole town respects him. He comes across Kavya (Kajal Aggarwal) and both fall in love. Everything’s going fine until Singham one day gets into the wrong books of Jaykant Shikre (Prakash Raj), a businessman-cum-criminal of Goa. Wanting to take revenge, Jaykant transfers Singham to Goa in his very city and turns life hell for him. How Singham fights Jaykant forms the crux of the story.
Singham begins very unexpectedly in the sense that you predict the plot to take a certain course. However, that doesn’t happen and with Ajay Devgn’s entry, the film gets on a high. The film is a remake (2010 Tamil film Singam) but it’s only the basic plot and characters that are similar. Almost half of the story and most of second half is drastically different from the original Singam. Also, even the action scenes are altered and due to all these changes, Singham doesn’t have any South Indian feel to it and seems much more desi.
The first half has some terrific moments, chief of which is the villagers attacking Shikre’s car and the intermission point. However, if you felt that this was the best the film can deliver, you are wrong! The film gets much better in the 2nd half. Watch out for the scene where Singham decides “Enough is enough…let me deal with it in my way”. From this point till the climax, the film is one helluva ride as our hero amazingly teaches the villain a lesson. The climax though powerful was immensely (and intentionally) hilarious and you sure to leave the theatre with smiles and satisfaction!
With Singham, Ajay Devgn proves why he’s still the real action hero. The impact he creates through his eyes and dialogue delivery, no Khan or Kumar has been able to achieve in recent years! In fact, it’s due to Devgn’s terrific performance that you are able to sympathize completely with the plight of the protagonist. Also, with a film titled Singham, there was a need of an actor who can put up a brave front like a lion and Ajay undoubtedly and perfectly fits the bill!
Kajal Aggarwal doesn’t have much to do in the film. In fact the Ajay-Kajal romantic track, though not boring, acts as a roadblock to the terrific drama. However, she looks pretty and performance wise, she was decent. Prakash Raj comes up with his finest villainous act in Bollywood. His performance oozes evil and he seems justified when he tells Singham “Agar tu sher hai, to mein shikari hoon”! He gets it totally right in the climax where he was at his best! Another fine performance from a fine actor!
Sudhanshu Pandey (Inspector Kadam) leaves a huge mark. So does Sonali Kulkarni and Agasthya Dhanorkar (Sonali’s son). Ashok Saraf was too good and great to see him after ages in a Hindi film. Anant Jog (minister) was excellent and loved the way he said ‘nonsense’! Sachin Khedekar (Gautam aka Gotya) provides ample laughter! Pradeep Welankar (DGP) was damn funny in the climax. Murli Sharma (DSP) shines in the scene where he’s confronted by Ajay. Vijay Patkar (sub-inspector in Shivgad), Ashok Samarth (Shiva) and all others do a nice job as well.
Popular Marathi film music director, duo Ajay-Atul composed the songs which sadly don’t work except the title song. Fortunately, there were only 3 songs in the film. However, Amar Mohile’s background score was powerful and enhances the impact in several scenes.
Dudley’s cinematography was brilliant especially in the action sequences. Jai Singh Nijjar’s action was more refined than his previous films. Art direction (Narendra Rahurikar) was authentic and the film has been shot in beautiful locations (esp Ajay’s hometown).
Now to the real winners of the film! This is the probably the first time Yunus Sajawal, otherwise known for his comedy flicks, has written screenplay for an action film. And without a shred of doubt, he’s done a fabulous job. Likewise dialogue writers Farhad-Sajid, known for comedy films, come up with some excellent dialogues that are sure to be received with claps and whistles. The duo always comes up with novel dialogues that contribute immensely to the film. My favourite one was: Aur dekho, Pappu PASS ho gaya! Great work!
And lastly, Rohit Shetty comes with yet another winning film! He proves that he’s as good in action as in comedy. He ensures that the film keeps everyone hooked though everyone knows that the good guy is gonna ultimately win in the end! He himself has even conceptualized the action scenes. Most of them are a treat to watch and this time thankfully, cars don’t unnecessarily explode (a regular in all Shetty films)! If only the romantic track was better and had some role to play with the main plot, Singham would have been an outstanding film. But thankfully, the romantic scene is not given much footage and also kudos to him for not adding an item number, as is the trend nowadays!
Some of the best scenes:
Inspector Rakesh Kadam’s track
Gotya’s entry
Singham bashes goons outside movie theatre
Shikre coems to Singham’s village (terrific scene!)
The intermission point
Goon throws beer bottle at Singham
Singham confront the DSP and minister
Shikre scares out of his wit in the rally
Singham at the police function
The climax
On the whole, Singham is a true blue masala entertainer that pays a perfect ode to the action flicks and good v/s bad dramas of 70s, 80s and 90s! It’s a rare 21st century film that makes you feel angry when you see the wrongdoings committed by the goons and which makes you break into claps, whistle and hoot when the hero teaches them a lesson! Without any doubt, Singham is much better than Ready, Wanted and all recent Southern remakes and would be remembered for years as Rohit Shetty and Ajay Devgn’s one of the most accomplished works! Though having a Maharashtrian flavor, the film has a pan-India appeal and is a definite success at the box office! Go and enjoy Singham’s roar!