- Nikhil Bhagwat
Singham Returns: Mala Raag Ala aahe!
Cast: Ajay Devgan, Amole Gupte, Zhakir Hussain, Anupam Kher and others
Language: Hindi
Runtime: 145 Minutes (2 Hours 23 Minutes)
Nikhil’s Rating: **1/2
As the title of the review suggests, Singham Returns, a sequel to the applauded Singham had me saying exactly this by the end of the tiresome length. Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgan) is now promoted to the higher post of DCP, and has to face an even bigger problem of corruption and black money. He has to somehow clean up the system. Pitted against a politician (Zhakir Hussain) and a fake Godman (Amole Gupte) responsible for the murder of Guruji (Anupam Kher), who wanted to introduce the youth into politics to clean the mess. It’s a nice thought-provoking signal but a bit dangerous at the same time.
Coming to the technicalities, Singham Returns is great on this front. Some of the action scenes are really clap- worthy and entertaining but the screenplay and story are clichéd and super- thin, which Rohit Shetty had mastered right from the Golmaal Series to all his other films! His only agenda is to entertain audiences with ear splitting sound – effects and background score tracks. Yet again he has flying cars but thankfully not many this time around. A romantic track with Avni (Kareena Kapoor) has been included to spice up the movie but frankly it was not required. On the plus side though, there are a few genuinely grand shots of Mumbai that according to me have not heretofore been executed in a Hindi Movie. The editing could have been a lot better considering the film has been stretched far too much. The songs in this film are downright forgettable. There is this one song Atta Majhi Satakli that has become popular, but for reasons known best to Rohit Shetty and the Music Directors group which includes Yo Yo Honey Singh!
Ajay Devgan yet again looks the confident Bajirao Singham and does complete justice to his role. He is the only character in the movie that saves it from falling apart! Amole Gupte as the Godman is very disappointing. Anupam Kher acts ably in a short role. All the others are okay in their respective roles.
On the whole, Singham Returns is a disappointing film, which makes the attempt to narrate an ambitious message for today’s youth. As the dialogue in the movie goes: “Teri gati pe break lagao”, I will say this to Mr. Rohit Shetty: “aur agli baar film banana ho, toh kuch toh naya socho!”