Can we let the epics be? Rohit Shetty’s latest film Singham Again – a part of his elaborate cop universe essembles some of the biggest stars of Bollywood to narrate an unoriginal story and borrows the full plot from Hindu epic mythology Ramayan . But at a time when films like Adipurush and the anime Ramayan are already available in the digital space, how good an idea is it to again refurbish a known story and force-feed it through Shetty’s larger-than-life, over-the-top cop universe?
Questions such as this and a few more remain unanswered throughout the runtime of the film.
The plot thanks to the makers and a very elaborate trailer (longest for a Hindi film, they claim) is already known. And so when you walk into the theatres, aware of the story, you expect the film to entertain you with its dialogue baazi, its action sequences and more. Yet Shetty’s film – the third in the Singham franchise – is formulaic and plays to gallery with predictable moves and lines.
The Plot of Singham Again
In Rohit Shetty’s modern-day Ramayan, Ajay Devgn aka Singham is Ram and Kareena Kapoor Khan is Sita who is abducted by Arjun, the Raavan. New entrants Deepika Padukone and Tiger Shroff join the cop universe along with old faces Ranveer Singh and Akshay Kumar and together Singham and his army of braveheart deshbakhts, they head to Sri Lanka to save and rescue Avni. Yes, exactly how it’s shown in the trailer- just an elaborate version of the 5 minute trailer where each character is given an extended introduction scene- a fight sequence and a Ramayan parallel, just so that no one ever gets confused as to who plays what.
What works and what does not
The last Shetty film that I had genuinely enjoyed was Simmba. Singh in his over-the-top cop avatar entertained and how! In Singham Again, I desperately waited for the actor’s appearance knowing that he would be getting the best lines. And writers Milap Zaveri, Shantanu Srivastava, Vidhi Ghodgaonkar and Shetty do reserve the best lines for Singh who alone uplifts the second half with his buffoonery. Sure it is over the top but it comes as a much-needed respite amid long drawn mythology lesson.
Singham’s first half is awfully slow. The action sequences, the picturesque locations of Kashmir, Devgn’s swagger and the SUVs do not do much to uplift the film’s first half. Deepika and Tiger Shroff’s introduction scenes seem straight out of other films that the actors have featured in. Deepika’s looks like a character from Shetty’s other blockbuster Chennai Express while Shroff seemed to have been recruited directly from the sets of Baaghi while learning Kalaripayattu. Arjun Kapoor grins too much and creates less mayhem for the evil character he is poised as. All black ensemble and an errie background score also don’t make this Raavan appear too dangerous.
The film salvages itself in the scenes where Singh uses his perfect comic timing to uplift a generic plot. There are references to Gangs Of Wasseypur, Gadar – all delivered by Singh that make you crack up. The last one hour, when the film is near its climax and all the characters assemble for a huddle much like Avengers, makes the film still worth your time.
Much like Shetty’s previous films, Singham Again is visually stunning with rich colours and lots of aerial shots to give the narrative a larger-than-life look. It also has Shetty’s quintessential action sequences.
I am all for Bollywood masala potboilers but I do wish the makers took some time out to think of an original plot. How long will they belt out the same story over and over again?
In a film that has formidable actors like Ajay Devgn and Kareena Kapoor Khan playing the lead, one expects the film to be so much more. Yet the two actors seem constricted due to shoddy writing.
Singham Again isn’t a bad film but it isn’t a great one either. It gets stuck in limbo- treading the tested waters with a story too well known. So many actors join in, yet none leave a defining mark.
