As a seasoned gamer who’s navigated countless virtual worlds and epic battles, I find myself drawn to the grandeur of Rohit Shetty’s Cop Universe in “Singham Again”. The scale is reminiscent of an open-world game, with its expansive cast, action sequences, and a story that seems designed for sensory overload.
In the movie “Singham Again,” scale plays a significant role. This Hindi-language action film boasts eight main actors, six screenwriters, and three more working on dialogue, with Rohit Shetty as the director. The equipment used is equally impressive – there are battleships, helicopters, numerous cars that get destroyed, along with a variety of weapons ranging from missiles to guns, even machetes.
At some point, Tiger Shroff wields the Urumi, a unique Indian sword resembling a whip that hails from contemporary Kerala. To capture all the action, wide-angle shots are frequently used, and Ravi Basrur’s music intensifies and emphasizes each moment, creating an effect of sensory saturation.
In this gaming realm, I find myself immersed in Shetty’s Cop Universe, a thrilling saga where cops are the superheroes. My comrades, Ajay Devgn’s Singham, Ranveer Singh’s Simmba, and Akshay Kumar’s Sooryavanshi, are steadfast protectors of justice, rooted in their soil. In this latest chapter, Singham Again, we welcome a new character to the team – Deepika Padukone’s Shakti Shetty. Initially corrupted, Simmba has now transformed into an honorable officer, standing tall beside Singham in our crusade for righteousness.
These are brave law enforcement officials who act as their own judges, often portrayed in films where encounters resulting in death are not merely depicted as commonplace, but glorified.
In “Singham Again,” the police are given divine status, a concept that was initially introduced in 2011’s “Singham.” Here, Singham transforms into a deity after emerging from a temple tank. This time around, the story delves deeper into this idea. The narrative is loosely based on the “Ramayana,” with a dramatic staging of the ancient Hindu epic serving as a backdrop. The events portrayed on stage mirror those that unfold in reality.
Singham is a personification of Lord Ram, and his wife Avni (Kareena Kapoor Khan) of Sita. Simmba represents Lord Hanuman, ACP Satya (Shroff) is Lakshman, Sooryavanshi embodies Garuda, and so on. While Jackie Shroff is back as Omar Hafeez, the terrorist chief, the main agent of mischief this time is Arjun Kapoor’s Danger Lanka — who, naturally, describes himself as a modern-day Raavan.
As a devoted admirer, I can’t help but notice how the settings mirroring those from the epic tale of the Ramayana are repeatedly emphasized in our journey. It seems subtlety isn’t quite in Shetty’s repertoire.
As a gamer, diving into the world of “Singham Again” isn’t about subtlety or political progression. Instead, you’re bracing for boisterous nationalism, sermons on heritage, and a dash of illogical action sequences that often involve explosive vehicles. In one particular scene, a character gets shot, to which another responds with a reassurance that they’ll be fine – a statement that rings true given the divine characters in this story may experience wounds but it holds little weight.
I’d be willing to make peace with all of it, but what rankles is the lack of entertainment. This film spends so much effort juggling star appearances, action sequences and Ramayana parallels that it forgets to deliver a cinematic high — a requisite for a larger-than-life, designed-for-whistles feature like this. Singh is the most playful and inventive of this gargantuan star cast, and just as he did in 2021’s Sooryavanshi, he brings in some buoyancy as Simmba. But Padukone gets a smashing entry and little else, as does Tiger Shroff. Avni is a damsel in distress — a pretty prop, like Katrina Kaif in Sooryavanshi. It’s a far cry from Kareena Kapoor Khan’s recent searing turn as a cop in The Buckingham Murders.
Devgn, however, is back in his element as the man of granite. In my review of 2014’s Singham Returns, I described the character as Amitabh Bachchan’s Angry Young Man crossed with Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry, and Devgn works Singham’s supersized masculinity well. What Singham Again lacks, though, is a villain who can rival that. Arjun Kapoor works hard to summon menace, and he shows some spark, especially when he puts on a malevolent smile. But he is unable to evoke the same dread as Suriya’s Rolex in Vikram or Vijay Sethupathi’s Bhavani in Master.
Despite some thrilling action sequences skillfully crafted by Rohit and Mayyank Taandon, managing the numerous characters becomes quite a task, particularly during the finale.
It’s interesting to note that some of the top movies in the Cop Universe are remakes. For instance, Shetty’s first “Singham” was a re-imagining of the 2010 Tamil action film “Singam,” starring Suriya. The sequel, “Singham Returns,” had loose influences from the 1993 Malayalam movie “Ekalavyan.” “Simmba” was a remake of the Telugu-language film “Temper,” featuring N. T. Rama Rao Jr. In contrast, the original films, such as “Sooryavanshi” and “Singham Again,” tend to be less strong compared to their reworked counterparts.
It might be time for Shetty to seek inspiration in South Indian cinema again.
Read More
Sorry. No data so far.
2024-11-12 01:54