Singham Again

SINGHAM AGAIN starts on an okay note. The chase sequence in Kashmir is engaging but could have been written better. The sequence on situationship works well individually but as part of the film, it also tests patience as one waits for some action. Thankfully, the film gets better once Shakti enters the narrative. Danger Lanka's entry is scary. Satya, meanwhile, enters with a bang. The intermission point is great. In the second half, Simmba rocks the show with his antics and action. The climax is a bit convenient but just to see all the actors together is sure to give viewers a high. The film ends with the much-awaited cameo of Chulbul Pandey (Salman Khan).

Like slow-release drugs, the director brings in a character when he feels the action needs a break, and it is Ranveer Singh as Simmba, 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 look menacing, no matter how much 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.

We all know how the story ends, so no point going there. What we do need to mention is how beautifully Rohit Shetty incorporated a mythological story into a contemporary setting. Other filmmakers (if you know, you know) could take a leaf from his vision of how you can tell these stories with a modern twist without making them ghastly. Be it the background score for each character or the references to the epic tale, it fascinates and entertains at the same time.

The result is loud and tedious, and instantly forgettable. It’s not as if the earlier cop flicks have been music to the ears. Rohit Shetty’s films embrace cacophony heartily, whether they are comedies, actioners, or a mix of both. But the one cardinal thing that this film seems to have forgotten is that your villains have to be, well, villainous. And if there’s one thing that Arjun Kapoor’s chief baddie doesn’t have is a single menacing bone in his body. Hacking heads off is so not his thing: why this piece of hopeless miscasting? It doesn’t help that he goes by the name Danger Lanka: he is dangerous, and his lair is literally in Sri Lanka, okay? Subtlety is not this director’s suit.