‘Singham’ (Hindi)
Director: Rohit Shetty
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Prakash Raj, Kajal Agarwal, Ashok Saraf
The lion roars, so the hunter or the prey. Ajay Devgn, who plays Bajirao Singham, an honest police officer in a small hamlet in Goa, breathes fire, beating the hell out of the goons. He jumps in the air, does a somersault like a lion, and a slap from his palm has the enemies running for cover.
His dialogues, which mostly end with a Marathi punch, are backed by a lion’s roar in the background and have enough firepower to bring the screen alive. Probably, one of his finest performances, if not best, Ajay gives enough reason for the audience to stay glued to their seats.
All’s well until he comes face-to-face with the corrupt business tycoon Jaykant Shikre (Prakash Raj), who has been given unconditional bail to attend Singham’s police chowki for 15 days. The duo takes turns to play the hunter and prey.
Prakash Raj is adorable with his impressive performance as the extortionists, killer, in the guise of a hotel owner. Both Ajay and Prakash Raj share great on-screen chemistry. In a few scenes, Prakash steals the show with his quirky portrayal of the corrupt businessman-cum-wannabe politician.
Meanwhile, Ajay takes it upon himself to give justice to the wife of a police officer, who committed suicide on false charges of corruption that was plotted by Jaykant. The first 30 minutes of the film, however, is slow and revolves around a romantic angle with Kajal Aggarwal. The actress has given a confident debut but lacks the screen presence of a top Bollywood heroine.
The film comes alive only when the two main characters of the movie clash. When Singham talks about Jaykant being an ordinary goon, it elicits laughter among the audience. The duo’s witty reparte it keeps the mood sombre amid some hard-hitting action sequences.
The second half is particularly absorbing with the two stalwarts trying to outdo each other, until an unnecessary song and dance ruin the effect. The climax, however, walks away with the accolades, when the whole Goa police contrive ways to murder Jaykant and escape enquiry simultaneously.
But it’s the redundant and done-to-death story that is the biggest drawback of the film. Earlier, Sunny Doel’s hit, ‘Indian’, revolved around the same theme. Many such cop-based films featuring top actors such as Sanjay Dutt in ‘Kurukshetra’ have failed to live up the expectations.
Though ‘Singham’ tries to rise above par with its hard-hitting action and dialogue delivery, some vivid loopholes in the script, inconsistent screenplay, unnecessary songs and dances mar the flow of the movie. Why Jaykant, who hails from the city, had to report to Singham in a small village in Goa is unexplained, other than it being a convenient way to bring the two stalwarts together.
The hurried climax where the Goa police get moral policing from Singham looks contrived.
With some attention to detail, and a better editing, could have made ‘Singham’ much slicker and stylish, than the same usual dishum-dishum Bollywood mix.
But, for the fans of Ajay Devgn and Prakash Raj, they will get their money’s worth watching the two firepower clash on screen. The two shine in an otherwise passable fare.