Singham is an entertainer that can be enjoyed but sans logic. Ha ha, it’s a Rohit Shetty film.
It begins where Sooryavanshi left off with DCP Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgn) posted in Jammu and Kashmir, where he single-handedly takes out cars full of gun-toting goons and nabs terrorist Omar Hafeez (Jackie Shroff), putting into motion a revenge plot that endangers his wife Avni (Kareena Kapoor Khan).
Heading an elite task force, Singham recruits the help of other cops to rescue her and bring the new looming threat “Danger Lanka” (Arjun Kapoor) to justice.
Now don’t go looking for logic in the movie — the parallels drawn between a Ramayan enactment and the unfolding story, with Singham as Rama and Avni as Sita and Danger Lanka as Ravana is as stretched as the uniforms the cops in this universe wear — because there is nothing that can justify how one man can commandeer navy ships, army choppers, coast guard boats, and India’s top cops within minutes, all without any red tape, for a mission as personal as rescuing his wife.
But then logic is hardly what people go for when it’s a Rohit Shetty film, and what you go for is there in Singham in spades.
One good thing about Shetty is that he doesn’t waste much time in setting things up for the money moments.
Let’s talk about the seeti-taali slo-mo entries (of course they are ALL slo-mo entries!). First up is Singham himself, who has slo-mo entries worth ceeti and taali every time he appears on screen and boy, does he make it work. The only other person who gets that many slo-mo entries is Arjun Kapoor’s Danger Lanka, and he makes for a delicious unhinged villain.
Next up is Deepika Padukone as SP Shakti Shetty aka Lady Singham, who takes to task three of Danger Lanka’s top henchmen in Madurai amidst a lot of festivities and gulaal (one seeti for the spinning car entry, two taalis for the action).
The tamest entry, but coolest intro action (many taalis), belongs to Tiger Shroff’s ACP Satya Bali, who gets to do more maar-dhar at first entry than anyone else.
The funnest entry by far is Ranveer Singh’s ACP Sangram “Simmba” Bhalerao (seetis, taalis galore) who adds zing to the otherwise sombre mood with his antics.
The most stylish entry comes in the second half in the form of Akshay Kumar’s DCP Veer Sooryavanshi, on a rescue mission in a helicopter (so many seetis).
Just seeing so many big names raining fire on the big screen together is full paisa vasool. Never mind that Kareena Kapoor is reduced to a damsel in distress, which is a complete waste.
There is another surprising entry which deserves and gets all the seeti-taalis, and therefore a separate paragraph, and that is, of course, Salman Khan’s Chulbul Pandey. The possibility of a Chulbul Pandey-Rohit Shetty crossover is quite a dabangg thought!
Unfortunately for Singham fans, Ajay Devgn takes a back seat in the maar-dhaar department, possibly to make room for others.
But he looks cool entering each scene, so there’s that. The maar-dhaar itself is top notch, if nothing new.
Spinning cars, flipping cars, chasing cars are, of course, par for the course (not that there is any complaint), but there are well choreographed hand-to-hand combat sequences, sword fights and epic shootouts that should make every action film fan happy.
And there are no song-and-dance sequences to distract from the action though each actor gets their own entry music (which sometimes is deafening).
Dialoguebazi and maar-dhar aside, the film has a few comic moments, mostly thanks to Ranveer Singh, who adds much needed levity and makes the second half of the film that much more interesting.
Unfortunately, as the only female cop in an otherwise male-dominated universe, Deepika Padukone gets very little to do and somehow the action from her also feels stiff. Arjun Kapoor overdoes his villain laugh a bit but makes for an interesting baddie. His end though feels too tame for someone who lops off people’s heads without blinking.
All in all, apart from the Ramayan enactment and a strange GenZ lingo give-and-take that goes nowhere, Singham Again is a massive cracker of an entertainer that can be enjoyed by the full family.
