Movie Review: Singham Again

Many people, me included, would tell you that if a movie manages to entertain in the manner it is intended; it’s served a purpose. Since it’s met expectations, does it matter there are the parameters that’ve possibly not met the mark? Maybe not. Reviews exist to let us know if the movie is worth the price of admission, the 2+ hours we’d spend sitting in a darkened hall on a Friday night when we could’ve been doing something else, anything else.

But for some movies, the review doesn’t make much sense at all if they are part of a series that’s known to be solely focused on the trope of good triumphing over evil and said evil getting face planted in the dirt.

If that’s the case, then you’d better just sit back, adjust your seat and grab the popcorn because the narrative is OTT, flashy, loud and a not-so-bad way to spend 2+hours on a Friday night.

Over the years Rohit Shetty’s cop universe has amped up the machismo, the testosterone and the number of cars which get destroyed while Singham, Simmba and Suryavanshi go around and neutralize the bad guys; each in their own way but always with all guns blazing (the muscular and the weapons) and rarely coming out with a scratch on themselves.

And Singham Returns is no different. With constant allusions to the Ramayana, this movie sees the main characters (good and bad) spend a lot of their time doing power walks to get their groove on and that becomes old really quickly.

The pace is picked up a bit once Ranveer Singh enters the narrative but for the rest of the lot, it’s a hit and miss because they might as well have been walk-on parts for all the good it did them.

Deepika Padukone is utterly wasted as a prop (Lady Singham is a big yawn).

Tiger Shroff does what he does best- splits and kicks midair to the extent where he can’t dismount a car without it turning into a ballet move.

Akshay Kumar comes in looking pretty old and with fairly lame comic timing, dialogues and not much of the macho man stance we’ve come to expect of him in such movies over the years.

Jackie Shroff gets to don a pathan suit+eyeliner and is completely unconvincing as the erstwhile baddie who’s set upon revenge.

Arjun Kapoor looks like he’s hitting the gym and steroids big time or is wearing a body suit to show that he’s Mr. Muscles. His busy facial and head hair help him in being the modern day Ravana to Ajay Devgn’s Ram. His dialogues are stilted, he’s posturing throughout and brings zero menace to the screen.

Leaving Kareena Kapoor and Ajay Devgn.

She of the beaming face or wearing a “brave” expression and good sarees and the other is Mr.Game Face personified even when he’s gritting his teeth or punching bad guys till they fly into the air and collide with another unfortunate baddies.

So why go watch this movie if it so little to recommend itself? Well, Rohit Shetty movies are meant to evoke chuckles, oohs and hard-to-believe moments and this one fits the bill in toto.

If you have an extra large screen at home then hang on for a bit because it’ll be streaming on Amazon Prime soon enough. Else, go and chillax in a lounger while cars explode, patriotism oozes and the audience gets a crash course on the Ramayan. Jai ho!