Movie Review: Singham

A mediocre attempt by Rohit Shetty but still a good time pass and one time watch!

By Jyotsna Kumar

One thing I've never understood, why most Bollywood action film lack aesthetics? Why can't it be treated with superb production value? That's my basic issue with those directors who makes action packed film- their aspiration comes from Matrix but the moment high quality production value is in question they are no where close to their aspiration, totally unacceptable and that's what exactly happened with Singham.

We knew a full-fledged action film was coming out of Rohit Shetty's kitty going by his love for blowing- up cars phenomena, a trademark he uses in all his flicks. But such a mediocre attempt was certainly not expected.

Singham revives an age old Bollywood action- masala formula. The storyline is average and can easily be explained in a single line- one honest cop, Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgan) pitted against corruption or rather pitted against one extortionist-cum- politician Jaykant Shikre (Prakash Raj). Towards the second half of the film the battle of one-upmanship between the two begins.

Ajay Devgan is an earthy and honest cop who has a heart of gold, a chest of steel and fists of iron. The kind of persona he wears, it's easy to figure out that he's usually looking for trouble and needs just an excuse to flex his muscles and clench his claws. Like one man army he can take on zombie looking goons at the drop of the hat. No doubt Shetty scores as he manages to define his main protagonists- both Bajirao Singham and Jaykant Shikre well. But apart from these character's others are relegated to the back seat.

Kajal Aggarwal successfully delivers what most heroines do in an action packed film get molested so that the hero gets a chance to showcase his heroism only to fall in love later on, which by the way was totally uncalled for. The romantic track in the film was bleak. why do we have love angle in an action packed film? So that we get to see the softer of the macho guy or the romantic tracks are so beautifully composed that it needs justification. Here none was the case. The very fact that Bajirao was fighting against corruption and holds a soft corner for the entire village is good enough to showcase his softer side. As far as romantic tracks are concerned they were headache more than breather. Therefore, the romance could have easily been skipped.

But beyond all that the film is completely devoid of a believable screenplay and humour. Ashok Saraf's comic track, his typical expression are forced. Something we have seen zillion times, remember Gupt? Sachin Khandekar hams terribly. The only comic relief from him was his Dhinkachika ring tone that used to go off any time. So it was only left up to Prakash Raj to do the trick, imagine a villain to the comic rescue! And he delivers something similar to his caricature in Buddha Hoga. He did a splendid job barring one or two ham sequences.

Prakash Raj perhaps is the only villain who should be credited for his amazing sense of comedy timing. His unusual sense of comic confrontation with the cops during climax makes you laugh more than Rohit Shetty's entire Golmaal series. So if you like exaggerated action films, or if you are in love with Ajay Devgan's action image which he came out with after a very long time then go and sing- Singham!  And if you like none of these I would still suggest go and watch Singham, it's a good time pass!

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