Aniruddha Guha

Film: Singham
Director: Rohit Shetty
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Kajal Aggarwal, Prakash Raj and others
Rating: ***

I haven't watched the original Singham (Singam, in Tamil), but a promo on YouTube made it seem like a film that is loud, kitsch-filled and full of dialoguebaazi. That was what I was expecting from the Hindi Singham too. It was what I got. I wasn't disappointed.

Singham's story is as obvious as it can get. There's a good cop (fearless, upright, conscientious, can bash up to 20 goons at once etc). Pitted against him is an evil politician (he kills, steals, indulges in corruption etc).

The plot unfolds somewhat like this: Cop is introduced as Dabangg, oops, Singham (clap trap 1), he rubs politician the wrong way, politician makes life hell for cop, cop meets girl (who girl?), cop gets back at politician (clap trap 2), cop sings songs with girl (who girl?), politician gets back at cop, cop gets back at politician (clap trap 3), one final clash, cop wins (final round of seeti taali). Cop finally walks in sunset with girl (who girl, dammit!).

The Tamil version aside, there were at least three Hindi films that Singham distinctly reminded me of. The first was Mahesh Manjrekar's Kurukshetra, where Sanjay Dutt played an honest officer posted in a police station where most of his subordinates are corrupt. The second was Singham hero Ajay Devgn's earlier film, Gangaajal, directed by Prakash Jha, where a group of hapless cops, tired of having their hands tied down by the corrupt system, take a drastic step.

The third, and the most obvious inspiration for Singham, came from the Rajkumar Santoshi-directed Khakee. In fact, an entire scene in Khakee and much of the monologue delivered by Amitabh Bachchan to a corrupt cop - "agar policewaala chahe toh saala koi bache ke haath se ek khilona nahi chura sake" - is repeated, "bache ke haath se khilona" replaced with "mandir ke bahaar se ek chappal", followed by "yahaan toh system hi hamaari thokne main laga hua hai," the dialogue identical to the one in Khakee.

Singham, therefore, has almost nothing you haven't already watched before. There's also a love track thrown in which is in no way connected to the main story. Kajal Aggarwal doesn't mind debuting in a film where all she has to do is look cute and help the hero show his "soft side". She works given the framework. All the songs do, in the words of a trade analyst, is provide audiences with "loo breaks" every now and then.

So should you watch Singham then? Probably. A throwback to the kind of films you regularly witnessed in the '80s and '90s, Singham manages to pull all the right strings you expect from an escapist fare. Director Rohit Shetty goes all the way, some maudlin dialogues (by Farhad-Sajid) making you cringe, many others you enjoy thanks mainly to good actors.

In Prakash Raj, you get to see one of the best Hindi film villains in recent times. Known for his performances in south Indian films (he won a National award for Kanchivaram a couple of years ago), Raj fills the gap of the antagonist left by the likes of Amrish Puri and Prem Chopra. He also brings his own distinct touch of humour to his villainy.

Devgn is at home in a role that he can probably sleepwalk through. He lets himself go this time, having a blast playing the 'big-muscaled' social crusader. He struggles to get his Maharashtrian accent right, though, throwing in phrases like 'tujha aaicha' and 'cha maila' every now and then to make it seem authentic.

Shetty intelligently casts a number of Maharashtrian actors (Vijay Patkar, Anant Jog, Sonali Kulkarni, Sachin Khedekar, Govind Namdeo), a requirement given the story set in a small town on the Maharashtra-Goa border. An extended cameo by Ashok Saraf as a head constable on the verge of retirement is among the film's highlights.

Sadly, though, for a film banking so heavily on its action sequences, the choreography by Shetty doesn't go beyond flying cars and far-flung men. He shuns stylised action for the kind of maardhaad you saw in action films of yore, which jars. As director, he accomplishes what he aims for - playing to the gallery unabashedly.

Singham is kitsch at its best. If the idea of a bunch of cops kicking a politician on his backside till it gets sore amuses you, go for it. I particularly enjoyed that sequence.