Film: Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Actors: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan
Rating: 1.5/5
Simmba truly works in Singham Again. And that’s because his are the only scenes, when this film doesn’t take itself too seriously. Besides Simmba, there are of course, far too many bona fide Bollywood lead characters in the picture, to ever fit into a 144-minute running time; let alone a vertical poster! I consciously avoided its five-minute trailer, being told that it’s complete enough to aim for a ‘short film’ nomination on its own! You could also see Singham Again, the movie itself, as a series of trailers. Consider the number of times Bajirao Singham, i.e. Ajay Devgn, walks towards the audience in slow-motion, upfront, sideways, or away from the screen, suitably announcing his coolness again, and again.
That apart, there’s Cop Simmba (Ranveer Singh), Cop Shakti ‘Ma’am’, for Female Shaktimaan (Deepika Padukone), Cop Satya (Tiger Shroff), Cop Sooryavanshi (Akshay Kumar), indeed the main villain, Danger Lanka (Arjun Kapoor), side-villain (Jackie Shroff)… All of whom belong to director Rohit Shetty’s cop-universe, as it were. Each deserve their own trailer/teaser-like entry, no? What fun!
Stars have evidently aligned for audiences to line up for Diwali. The corporates haven’t been left behind either, given this film is presented by Jio (Mukesh Ambani), co-produced by Reliance Entertainment (still owned by Anil Ambani)—must say, even if unplanned, a unique collaboration of sorts. Film is a collaborative medium, after all. But to what end, though? That’s the 100-crore question. Which, sadly, nine writers put together (as per IMDb) are unable to answer!
We know one thing, for sure—Singham will save the day. But that’s not the film, that takes itself too seriously, I referred to above. It’s that Singham is Lord Ram! And that Singham Again is Ramayan—merging images/scenes from the epic, with the wilfully silly, mad-actioner. Such that the super-cop Singham raids a dockyard, and that sequence cuts to the ‘swayamvar’ episode from Ramayan; ah, what?
The precise pravachan that carries on is essentially to preach to audiences, through a proper power-point presentation—along with geographical proofs (Janakpur, Unawatuna, etc), carbon-dating, the works—that the Ramayan is 100 per cent verifiable history. Rather than mythology.
Is that effectively the point of this entire picture—not that anybody was looking for any? Hmmm…Whether or not historians must weigh in on such matters of pop culture is, of course, furthest still from the point. Kareena Kapoor as Singham’s wife belongs to India’s culture ministry. She’s taken it upon herself to educate, especially the young, on the archival truths behind Ramayan. Did I see any of this coming? Well, sort of—in the usual ‘this is fiction; no offence meant’ disclaimer slate, that all movies begin with.
The one here oddly specifies that this film is inspired by Lord Ram. As if hundreds, if not thousands, of Indian movies haven’t been; whether or not they say so. I’m among few who’s seen Adipurush (2023). Which wasn’t half as bad as the world’s worst trash it was made out to be. But what’s all that gotta do with Singham Which starts off perfectly fine, set in Kashmir, with full access to Lal Chowk and other rich locations. What could be dull about a jeep-chase around Dal Lake? Singham as the top-cop is entrusted to lead similar ‘Singhams’ across India.
As a metaphor, this is true. Brave policemen regularly get referred to as ‘Singhams’ in news headlines. Or Lady Singham, if female. Such as Deepika’s character.
Real, or well, filmy Singham, the quietly deadly Devgn, is apparently tasked to curb the global drug-trade routed from Kanniyakumari to Kashmir. It’s a tough task, alright.
From this vantage point of valour to follow—the film somehow slips into Kashmiri youths sloganeering, “Naya Bharat ka naya Kashmir”; an altogether Hindi-speaking Tamil Nadu; “Jai Shri Ram” getting belted all through, for background score… As if this was some kind of a cultural-ideological project, instead of an entertaining, ‘proposal’ picture. Do I see any of that coming? No.
This isn’t to suggest there aren’t money-shots or paisa vasool moments in this multi-crore movie, that I took the front-row, first-day, second-show, for.
Perhaps many of you will, too. Beyond the customary blasts and chases, I suspect bigger crowds in the hall could totally enlivened the kalaripayattu action sequences, for instance.
Or the scene where Arjun Kapoor lifts Kareena Kapoor (in a red saree). I guess that’s a nod to RA.One (2011). Arjun plays ‘Ravan’—keeping it real, rather than going full Bollywood-bombast. Observe this coalition of super-stars for a cop-universe as the seemingly lopsided, Avengers, if you may. You really need a Thanos to take on, or balance, that many super-heroes, all at once—hardly a piddly terrorist, avenging his daddy’s death, in this dud plot.
You simply admire the villain’s mighty confidence in this movie then. Matched only by the filmmakers’ themselves—as a disinterested, bearded Salman Khan (apparently from Dabangg) appears after the end-credits roll. Onscreen announcement: Mission Chulbul Singham, coming soon! Oh. Singham, Again? Okay.
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