Singham roars loud...as a winner
Director : Rohit Shetty
Cast : Ajay Devgn, Prakash Raj, Kajal Aggarwal, Sonali Kulkarni, Sachin Khedekar, Ashok Samarth, Govind Namdev, Anant Jog, Murli Sharma and Sudhanshu Pandey.
In a car chase sequence when the protagonist comes out of a high speed Scorpio and shoots the SUV of thugs, the hero is greeted with seetis and taalis and believe me the reaction of spectators marks a stamp on the fact that Ajay Devgn has no less star power or fan following than his industry counterparts...the Khans. Though Devgn has been always consistent with his work and has delivered a hit per year in his career of 20 years except for 2 times, he was always refrained from the number one title. But time's changed now since Devgn has earned a lot of respect within the hearts of both audience and critics by doing some of the notable work in past few years. Eight out of his last eleven projects have been successful. Even his part received positive reviews in those three which did not worked on the box office. The Khans have their share of recognition. If Aamir is the actor of classes, both Salman and Shah Rukh are loved by the masses. But Devgn has emerged to be the only actor in this league who has both the respect of classes and the love of masses. Even fellow action stars like Akshay Kumar and Suniel Shetty have been facing hiccups in their career graph in past few years. Devgn on the contrary stands tall with some consistent quality work with a lot of variety, and Singham is another milestone for the Topgun of Indian cinema. But Singham is not the victory of only Ajay Devgn but also celebrates the contribution of two under rated champions Rohit Shetty and Prakash Raj.
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| Singham *ing Ajay Devgn, Prakash Raj and Kajal Aggarwal |
The plot revolves around honest Sub-Inspector Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgn) who lives in Shivgad, a small village near Goa-Maharashtra border and deals with the cases in his very own and unique ways. On the other side is Jaikant Shikre (Prakash Raj), an extortionist and powerful lawbreaker of Goa who can forego anythig except a person who hurts his ego. The twist in the tale comes when these two men come into contact and Shikre is insulted by Singham in Shivgad. The furious Shikre swears revenge and with his political connecection gets Singham promoted and transferred to Goa and makes every possible attempt that makes his living miserable. Singham on the other hand does not give up fighting against corruption and the system that supports Shikre and how he combats all the bad men and bring honour to his preceeding police officer's name who was another victim of Shikre is what the rest of the film is all about.
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| Ajay Devgn |
Singham is the remake of the 2010 Tamil hit film Singam that featured south sensation Suriya in the title role and Prakash Raj played the antagonist. But its not a frame by frame copy of the Tamil version, rather Rohit Shetty has changed the entire second half of the film. After making a mark in the comedy genre Rohit Shetty returns to his first love action cinema and excels in the stunts which are designed by Shetty himself. Devgn has performed these death defying stunts himself and a couple of them need special mention including the scene where Devgn comes out of a running Scorpio and pulls a thug out of an SUV thats rolling over his head or the scene where Devgn climbs over a thug to beat up another one on the head in lion style. Apart from the action the humour that Rohit Shetty manages to create in the film is really amazing. The story again is old wine in a new bottle and the credit goes to the ace director. While most of the recent films fail in presenting a meaningful end, Rohit Shetty comes up with an excellent climax and as correctly said all's well that end's well. Singham roars loud... as a winner.
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| Ajay Devgn and Prakash Raj |
Performance wise also Singham is a worth watch. Ajay Devgn as Bajirao Singham excels in action scenes and Rohit Shetty showcases the flesh and six packs of his hero in great style. Though Singham lacks drama from Devgn's perspective in comparison to his previous works like Gangaajal or more recently Once Upon a time in Mumbaai, still the actor has emerged to be a big crowd puller in recent times. The show stealer is undoubtedly Prakash Raj as Jaikant Shikre who thankfully is a part of this film and gives Devgn a tough fight. To be very frank Singham without Prakash Raj is unimaginable since with his absence the film would have restrained itself to just an action flick. Prakash Raj's powerful performance creates new dimensions in the film and the result is the high voltage dramatic confrontations between Devgn and Prakash. Kajal Aggarwal as Kavya makes it a beautiful debut within her character's limits. Sonali Kulkarni as wife of Inspector Rakesh Kadam has done a fair job. Sudhanshu Pandey does a cameo as Inspector Rakesh Kadam. Of the supporting cast Ashok Samarth as Shiva Naik and Anant Jog as minister put up a good show. Sachin Khedekar's intentional funny scenes shape up the other way.
The songs except the title track do not work and form the only avoidable element in this film. The background score by Amar Mohile supports the story. The biggest strenghts still remain the trio of Ajay Devgn, Prakash Raj and Rohit Shetty. My rating for Singham is a handsome 3.5/5. Its a complete entertainer and watchable with family. Expect little and you will savor the most of it.
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| Official Poster |
