Singham returns roaring like before. The Singham franchise is something like James
Bond movies...you know what to expect; the story is mostly predictable and yet
you can enjoy them thoroughly.
Singham Returns
has almost the same story as Singham.
An honest cop dies and is under a cloud of corruption. His family is
long-suffering and pitiable. A corrupt politician is at the root of all evil.
In this one he is joined by a fake, god-awful Baba (God man).
However, this time round Bajirao SIngham (Ajay Devgan) does
not have to deal with lackadaisical underlings and subordinates. In part 2,
SIngham is already established as an honest, fearless leader of his dedicated
team of cops right from the beginning. So much so that he is almost like a don.
He even has the trust of his seniors in hierarchy without having to undergo the
whole nine yards of proving himself.
In Sngham Returns, Bajirao SIngham is posted in Mumbai. This movie
is a dedication to the Mumbai Police Force – and truly this beleaguered outfit
has had no better advertisement than this movie. The kudos that the movie gives
them is very, very well-deserved by the Force. At the start, the movie lays out
some facts: Mumbai has a population of almost two crores. The police force is
47,000 strong. The numbers highlight the odds.
In typical Rohit Shetty style there are plenty of fights
with cars and people flying, cars overturning, cars jumping and crashing, cars
bursting into flames, incredible strength in people et al. The novelty in the fight
sequences is the introduction of two fights that have only gunfire exchange
without any fisticuffs. That is a departure from Shetty’s norm – but mindless
entertainment as always. Shetty has never claimed to make deep films or claimed
to be anything but an entertainer out here to make masala movies that will bring in big moolah. He plays to the gallery and the gallery responds – and how!
Singham Returns should easily touch
or cross the 100-crore mark in the weekend itself. But despite himself, Shetty
manages to convey a message of honesty in Singham
Returns.
As in Singham, SIngham
Returns also has a climactic scene where the entire police force unites to
mete out justice on the wrong-doers. (However, the villains in SIngham Returns are more caricatures
than menacing. Shetty seems to be a little stuck in his Chennai Express period. That is unfortunate because Singham is an entirely different genre.)
Singham Returns delivers
the expected. Ajay Devgan is perfect as Bajirao SIngham. In the three-an-a-half
scenes that she has, Kareena Kapoor as his lady love, Avni, is funny and fine.
All others fit their roles well. This is a good choice of sheer mind-free
entertainment.
Image: By Deepak Mehta 6699 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons