Copland Capers:
In keeping with the current mood of the people, Rohit Shetty’s modern-day retelling of the Ramayan makes it critic-proof. In any case, in his extravagant actioners, no rules of logic or gravity apply. By bunching his khaki hero films under the banner of “Cop Universe” he has ensured that they take on a comic book-like quality.
The first Singham film had introduced the ill-tempered, Chhatrapati Shivaji-inspired cop Bajirao Singam (Ajay Degn), and all bets were off when he uttered, “aata majhi satakli.” The second, Singham Returns, built on the hero’s fandom, and as if a contemporary cop cannot find suitable antagonists (after terrorists, politicians, fake godmen, who?), Shetty chose to go the Ram Leela way. Strangely, story credit goes to Kshitij Patwardhan, not Valmiki). Devgn, striding in slow motion, with chants extolling his many virtues, has started to take the character too seriously, though, to his credit, it fits him as snugly as the khaki uniform.
Singham Again opens in Kashmir, where Bajirao captures terrorist Omar Hafiz (Jackie Shroff, left over from the last film)— for this supercop, the streets of the city are clear of humans and vehicles, and even when he has a gun in is belt holster, Bajirao and Hafiz have a fist fight in the middle of an isolated bridge. After arresting him, Bajirao tells Hafiz that Kashmir is now peaceful and even Pakistan has learnt its lesson, because a new, aggressively no-nonsense India has risen.
Bajirao’s wife Avni (Kareena Kapoor), who works for the culture ministry, has created an grand stage and audio-visual version of the Ramayan, and what happens next on stage is mirrored in her reality. Avni is kidnapped by a grinning maniac, Zubair (Arjun Kapoor), grandson of Omar, who wants revenge for the killing of his family and the release of his grandfather.
He knows Singham will come to the rescue, possibly accompanied by Simba (Ranveer Singh) and Suryavanshi (Akshay Kumar). Daya Shetty (of CID “darwaza todo” fame) does his bit as Jatayu, who loses his life trying to prevent the kidnapping of Sita. Before leaving for Sri Lanka, where Zubair is holed up, two more cops are introduced to the universe—Shakti “Lady Singham” Shetty (Deepika Padukone) and Satya (Tiger Shroff).
The Ram Leela scenes run parallel to the grand action set pieces – cars somersaulting and exploding, a lot of burning buildings and snarling henchmen. Through the character of Bajirao and Avni’s son Shaurya (Viren Vazirani), the new generation’s indifference to Indian family values is established, maybe that’s why Rohit Shetty figured people would not get the Ramayan references without some spoonfeeding.
Like slow-release drugs, the director brings in a character when he feels the action needs a break—and it is Ranveer Singh as Simba, who manages to save the film from the air of torpor that stars permeating after a while. His loony act as the clownish cop reminds the viewer what Rohit Shetty films used to be like – entertaining, not heavy or preachy.
With such a strong phalanx of stars on the good side, the evil team needed more heft; Arjun Kapoor does not manage to be menacing, no matter how much bombast is written for him. There are so many allusions to earlier Rohit Shetty films, that the humour goes flat if a viewer has not seen or does not remember the old scenes. Singham Again is action-heavy, so limits its appeal to fans of the genre, unlike his other films that had the buoyancy and sense of fun that worked even with children.
Singham Again ends with Chulbul Pandey (Salman Khan) popping in, promising an addition to the cop universe. Maybe some Dabangg masala is just what Singham needs.
(This piece first appeared in rediff.com)
