Singham Again
Introduction
How dumb does Rohit Shetty think his audience to be, firstly trying to adapt an unparalleled epic like the Ramayana, trying to integrate the same in a random-ass cop film with zero depth and some brain rot of cameos, while consistently drawing parallels of the epic almost like a school teacher. How else would you explain a ridiculous sequence of a Ram-Leela playing out as a parallel track even as the mindless creative decision of switching between the two worlds takes place. You are introduced to the character of Bajirao Singham almost randomly staring at the snow-capped mountains of Kashmir, a supposed setting that transpires after the events from Sooryavanshi, the previous film in the Rohit Shetty Cop Universe. This is followed by a random slow-mo shot of Singham walking, a sequence so slow that it added atleast 2 minutes in the runtime after a 3 minute long caption at the start. In fact, if all the slow-mos were removed from the film, the entire film would hardly amount to an hour. Before I digress, I must say that the opening combat sequence in the film atleast had some purpose and was coherent to the events of Sooryavanshi that saw the arrest of a principal antagoniat from that film. The issue for Singham Again begins when it tries (and tries too bloody hard) to adapt from the Ramayana that not only costs the barter of traits that actually worked for Singham in the first place, but also leads to some unintentionally funny moments.
Story & Screenplay
It wouldn’t be wrong to say that I had already watched the whole film Singham Again, once I was done watching its 5 minute long trailer. Not only did the trailer reveal all the cameos in store along with their entries, it gave me a fair idea of the amount of spoon-feeding it was resorting to. I mean there could have been a case wherein the viewers would draw parallels themselves and discover the underlying theme of the Ramayana. But no, Mr Shetty thinks we are dumb! One of the worst aspects of the drama has got to be its lazy characterization that absolutely is laughable in many ways. Singham (Ajay Devgn) is now a God of sorts, being equated to Lord Ram (oh the audacity) even as you see a couple of characters coming and touching his feet. Danger Lanka aka Zubair (a terrific Arjun Kapoor, yes you read that right) is a character with roots in Pakistan but randomly stationed in Sri Lanka because how else would you adapt the Ramayana. The other characters are so poorly sketched that there is nothing to mention about them.
The drama has such a wafer thin plot that I was appalled at the runtime of 140 odd minutes. After the opening scene, there are random fun moments integrated in the plot even as Singham comes to terms with the Gen Z lingo that has no relevance to the film. In fact, the writing also doesn’t fully justify its 2 year leap, besides being just so random with the character of Avani (Kareena Kapoor) working in a programme to showcase Ram-Leela. Elsewhere, the non-existential subordinates of the antagonist are randomly arrested amidst a cameo entry of Shakti Shetty (a terrible Deepika Padukone) that was unintentionally funny. Here I must admit that the best buildup and entry was reserved for Arjun Kapoor in a nicely choreographed sequence at a local police station that added layers of intimidation to his character while giving a fair account of his potential deeds. And that was it, the slide post this scene was inexplicable.
One of the most hilarious sequence has to be the abduction of Avani because for some random-ass reason she has to go to another city only for her to be abducted from there. I mean why not in the city where she resides given how powerful the villain is told to be? Even that entire sequence that is staged is so random that the characters just appear out of nowhere only to land blows before going the Ramayana path. But the most hilarious appearance was of ACP Satya (Tiger Shroff) who appears out of nowhere, gets randomly shot and still walks like a regulae guy. In fact, we are told he was found in a jungle as a child and has stayed there since – but I had a burning question – how did he attain that Bandra accent even as I burst out laughing while uttering the words ‘Kuch Bhiiiii’ in what was an unintentionally funny interval block.
I couldn’t comprehend on how bad the film is even as it consistently switches between the Ram Leela portions that are randomly integrated as fillers. So while the wait is on for Simmba, you get to listen to an entire history of Lord Hanuman before continuing the journey in Sri Lanka once he arrives (after being late). How ridiculous is the writing that caters to a section below the lowest common denominator while absolutely going off track in the second hour. In fact, the second hour seemed like a collection of scenes simply put together that literally made me go in the words of Simmba – ‘Tell Me Something I Don’t Know’. You know exactly where this is headed, even though predictability is hardly one of the concerns of Mr Shetty. You come, sit, watch cr*p and supposedly enjoy, being the mantra.
The final act has to be one of the worst in the cop universe despite all the ‘Avenger-Cops’ assembling. One of the reasons why Avengers had worked is because there was a backstory of each character told through an individual film. Here, when you see Satya and Shakti randomly shooting and hanging in the car, with Sooryavanshi (who has another lame entry) along with Simmba flying in the air and shooting without any individual purpose, you know that you have hit rock bottom. The ending of driving home a particular narrative in the most laughable manner has to be equivalent to the opening sequence of the Hindi film Gunda. It isn’t bad, it is very bad! And and and….the cameo by Salman Khan will go down as the worst post credit scene in the history of cinema, wherein I can tell even while penning this review that they don’t have any effing idea on where this universe would go from here. But I can tell you, this is rock bottom!
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues are massy and while some lines land, most of them are woefully misplaced and rather unfunny. This would also go down to the staging of the drama – ever seen Tony Stark randomly joke with Captain America in the climax of Avengers Endgames? There was a random-ass sequence featuring the desi-avengers here that came out of nowhere. The BGM did run into a copyright issue which is why a fresh score needed to be composed here, something that didn’t make even an iota of impact. In fact, the BGM further distanced its viewers from the already terrible drama while lacking the bite of the original score. The cinematography is definitely found wanting in so many action sequences that aren’t well choreographed too. The choppy editing further adds to its woes wherein there isn’t even a seven beat sequence while often shifting POVs that further diluted the drama. Director Rohit Shetty has officially lost it because he just doesn’t want to adapt to the current times. Here is a director stuck in the mid 2000s with the same ol’ stunts involving flying scorpios and boleros that are not woefully outdated. There is a dash of overconfidence visible in his craft here, not trusting his viewers one bit while literally spoon-feeding the concept of the Ramayana at regular junctures in the screenplay. Ramayana is one scripture that you cannot go wrong with, if you choose to understand its nuances. But how would you expect nuances in a commercial entertainer that comprises of broad strokes? ‘Humaare Yahaan Aise Hi Hota Hai’ (you can only expect such things from us) because why not? Right? Right?
Performances
The performances are just so mid in this film that I am at a loss for words. Shweta Tiwari, Ravi Kishan, Jackie Shroff and Daya Shetty are barely there in the film. Tiger Shroff simply refuses to grow as an actor while being tiringly repetitive in his action sequences. This, while his character stays in the jungle (or appears in the jungle) with a typical Bandra accent. Deepika Padukone has successfully given the worst performance of her career with a dialogue delivery that is as flat as a pancake and evokes no sentiments of applause. Akshay Kumar is just there, and well to be fair makes a mark. Ranveer Singh as Simmba does tickle yiyr funny bone but this is the most he has hammed in any film till date. Kareena Kapoor Khan as Avani just sleep walks through the film here while having very little to do apart from looking demure. Ajay Devgn as Bajirao Singham is pretty good and he does steady the ship pretty well even while mouthing some sharp one-liners. And if Arjun Kapoor is the best actor in a film then you do know that the film is in trouble. But on a serious note, Arjun Kapoor has understood his assignment here really well while putting forth a rather menacing act that definitely leaves a mark. He is terrific here and here is hoping that we see an ascendency from him going forward.
Conclusion
Singham Again marks the death of the cop universe that once entertained well but now can be best termed as ‘Garbage Again’. There is no other words in expressing this woefully bad adaptation of the Ramayana that marks another miss by the Hindi Film Industry. It is painful and deeply embarrassing. ‘Never Again’ please even as I would like to paraphrase a saying from the brilliant show Panchayat – ‘Do Installments Meethi Kheer, Usse Zyaada Bawasir’ (Two Installments are like a dreamy sweet, anything more is absolute sh*t). Available in a theatre near you.