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Tuesday 26 July 2011

Film Singham

Movie: 'Singham';
Starring: Ajay Devgn,Prakash Raj, Kajal Aggarwal;
Directed by: Rohit Shetty;



After action film Zameen, duo Ajay Devgn and Rohit Shetty are team-up for another action drama based on last year's Suriya-starrer southern hit, Singam. Ajay Devgn is paying tribute to the actioners of the 70s and 80s through this film.

After macho man Salman Khan, only Ajay carries the role with lends the movie quite some reliability.

The comparisons predictable, Ajay Devgn's Inspector Bajirao Singham is just as muscled and six-packed as Salman's Chulbul Pandey, or perhaps even a tad more. The lionesque cop also happens to be the darling of his Goan village, Shivgad, resolving disputes in his own system, whether it requires paying off a crooked money lender out of his own pocket, or beating up goons in extended fights for eveteasing a girl, by taking her dupatta.

The action truly picks up, though, when Singham runs into the villainous Jaykant Shikre, who can tolerate anything but never tolerate if someone hurting his ego. Shikre, a builder based out of Goa, has made a business out of kidnapping, extortions and forcing honest police officers out of their work and life. When the duo meets towards the interval, it is a proverbial collision between a rock and a hard place. Shikre, humiliated by Singham's fame in Shivgad, has him transferred to Goa city, his home turf, so he can give him a 'proper welcome'. Singham finds himself victimized by Shikre and his politico friends, and almost decides to quit the police force, before a chubby five year old hugging his leg in pleading makes him realize that he is a quasi-superhero who can single-handedly end all crime in Goa. Cue an impassioned speech from Singham about a policewale ki aukaad, and pretty soon, he has the whole police force backing him in a night-time operation to put an end to Shikre, in an ironically utopian, yet strangely pleasing climax.

Where some might find issue with 'Singham' is in the pacing of the moving, with Bajirao's character taking almost half the film before coming into his own, instead being occupied by comic cut scenes and romantic subplots. Though Bajirao's character packs quite a punch, this isn't unboxed till the second half approaches. As an alternative, Shetty stocks the first half of the movie with some passable comic situations about police constables getting smacked on their heads with coconuts and industrialists with nicknames like 'Gotya'. The movie finds a honest pick-up in the action sequences towards the middle, as both Shetty and Devgn find themselves on home ground, what with both their action pedigrees.

Another painful point for the movie could be the setting that Shetty picks for it, setting it in the Goan Maharastrian heartland, and having Ajay carry off a Maratha character. Though Ajay does his best trying to mouth catchwords like 'aai cha gavat', he seems distinctly hesitant in those moments. But he surrounded by a host of Marathi veterans in major roles, including the likes of Ashok Saraf and Sachin Khedekar.

As Bajirao Singham, Ajay Devgn's act is equal parts bulk and magnificent and the fact remains that Ajay is one of the best leading men in Hindi cinema. It is also a clear delight to watch him beat the bad guys to pulp as he does here, returning to action after many, many years.

Prakash Raj also shines in his role as Jaykant, though it is more of the same he's played before. Though more talented actor seems to be content typecasting himself in roles such as these, the fact is that movies like Wanted and Singham require exactly the sort of over-the-top villains that Prakash has patented.

Kajal Aggarwal comes in as Kaavya in a love angle that is as needless as it is mismatched, put in here just to give Singham a few love songs to sing. The others, like Saraf and Murli Sharma, are could have been better used.

Ajay  and Atul are a bit of a dissatisfaction with their music for Singham here. Though the two have been responsible for some of the best in Marathi music over the past few years, the two don't quite hit the mark with this soundtrack and may have to wait for the forthcoming Agneepath remake to earn their chops. Except for the title track, Singham, neither of the other two tracks, really deserve a mention.

Overall, it is worthy to watch for Ajay Devgn’s honest act and Rohit Shetty’s action genre skills.

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