Singham Again Movie Review — Sucharita Tyagi
As a movie star showed up at the end of this film, looked at the camera and said “ab aayega maza”, you can't help but wonder, ki abhi tak kya tha yeh phir?
We used to have cinema. We made movies! Kahaan bhatak gaye raaste se?
Mumbai ke police office Bajirao Singham Kashmir mein posted hain kyunki film ke 6 screenplay writers sehmat hain first act mein hi koi mauka nahi chhorna hai film ki politics saamne laane ka. As Bajirao stands atop Chaar Chinaar giving a TV interview, he says ab hamaare bache gumraah nahi honge. Shortly after a young Kashmiri man walks up to him to say “Yeh naye Bharat ka Kashmir hai, hum sab aapke saath hain”. Kyunki once Ramayan starts then Kashmir tak north waapas aa nahi paayenge, toh khatam kar ke south side chalo.
Rohit Shetty and his phalanx of writers care so little about the art of cinema, they 5 minute trailer is pretty much the entire film. There is no mystery to the writing, nothing to unveil, and the makers of this film truly, clearly do not care. If you haven’t watched any of th earlier Singhams but have a passing knowledge of the “cop universe” with Simba, Sooryavanshi etc, you’re good to go.
Deepika Padukone as Lady Singham is the one I cant wrap my head around. One is used to seeing actors like Disha Patani sadly saddled with these one note roles in big superstar movies where they show up looking good, partake in action sequences designed for the male gaze, and be on their way without any structure or arc. Deepika Padukone, Cannes Film Festival Jury member Deepika Padukone, if SHE choses to do this, what hope can one have? That Tiger Shroff, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar will show up in a Singham, and you know even Kareen Kapoor Khan, is a given. Ms Padukone’s presence however, is tragic. Lady Singham ke introduction scene mein ek-ek shot is intercut with a scene from an earlier Ajay Devgn moment. Every frame insists she’s great because she’s molded in his image. Shakti Shetty isn’t an individual, just part of the lore.
Once you’re over the brawn and bravado, there is the bizarre mix of mythology with modern-day memes to make peace with. Kareena Kapoor Khan as Avni insists that Ramayan isn’t myth, its history, and that today’s youth has no respect for Sanskar, which pretty much is her whole deal. A Ramayan mix media stage show she is seemingly directing claims to provide “proof’ for this claim, however no “proof” is forthcoming. You do hear a lot of “kahaa gaya hai”. All this is evidently directed at a much younger audience. You can almost hear the scriptwriters Googling, “What are the youth into these days?” with desperate mentions of “GOAT,” “ghosting,” and “benching” peppering the dialogue. It’s an awkward reach for relevance like an uncle trying to sound hip at a family get together.
When Ranveer Singh shows up in the second half, the film finds some flavor. Simba jokes mid-battle like a desi Deadpool , defies gravity during aerial stunts, a burst of chaotic energy. The kids around me seemed to be enjoying his antics a whole lot, laughing, clapping. Kids, who just a few moment earlier were subjected to Arjun Kapoor slashing people’s throats and other body parts as blod splattered his face. Seriously, movie theatres in India DO NOT CARE about age restrictions, I was sitting next to a 5 year old.
A film of this scale needs a compelling antagonist, but Singham Again chooses an old, worn-out trope. The Raavan of this saga? A Muslim baddie named Zubair spitting lines like, “Hamaare inteqaam ki fateh,” with all the subtlety of a hammer to the head. Arjun Kapoor laughs maniacally, kills freely and lets Simba get away with way too much yapping. The biggest mystery about this villain is just how long he’ll monologue before something actually happens.
Singham Again is what happens when Bollywood decides to just go with it. Akshay Kumar appears, laws of physics disappear. Who cares? Ajay Devgn is able to javelin a flag staff at a man so hard it pierces his body through, surrrrre. Film critics questioning life choices is really where this film has brought us all, and I suspect its by design.
So, on a scale of 1 to 10, Singham Again is….10 raavan ke siron ki tarah the film also has too many things going on, neither head knows what the other is thinking, no one cares.
