Here’s a heads up. This is not about how brainless or even forcefully nationalistic Singham Again (dir. Rohit Shetty), is. Masala movies are meant to be larger than life, have a simplified plot, defy logic and science in the favour of theatrics, have dialogues, walk, styles that we might not actually adopt in real life, unless to make a statement.
All this to say that walking out of Singham with a lot of head-shaking has nothing to do with the perfectly fun concept of the masala film and dramatic exaggerations.
The problem with Singham Again is that it falls absolutely flat (except for when Ranveer Singh is on the screen) as the genre that its director has heralded and upheld.
Ramayan as a narrative device
The first major problem is how absolutely useless and annoying the constant parallels to the Ramayan are. The movie takes a creative leap – treating the Cop Universe like a modern day Ramayan in the Kalyug. I have nothing against it. The use of national and community mythologies in modern retellings is a basis of our human endeavour of the arts itself and that’s a separate argument. But Singham Again does that to an annoying extreme. You just want to say, “Haan samjha bas kar abhi.”
At the beginning, we are introduced to a “The Ram Leela Project”, an edutainment theatre show anchored by Kareena Kapoor’s Avni, that wants to show people proof that the Ramayan is a real story of India’s true past.
At every point of the first half, the visuals, voice overs, and narrative shifts between that stage adaptation (versions of which we might have seen in light and sound shows at historic monuments) and Singham’s own story as Ram. If this was not enough, Shetty decided to dumb-proof this analogy even further, including Ramayan references in every second dialogues. This double-reminder that the Cop Universe is in fact the fellowship of Ram, breaks the flow of narrative. Arjun Kapoor’s Zubair is established as the Raavan, and we do not need that reminder at all steps.
In Kalki 2898 AD, one episode from the Mahabharata was used to set the narrative, and we see flashbacks to the battle of Kurukshetra only a few times. Because the Mahabharata is vast, episodes are less known, so these flashbacks were actually educative and fulfilled their intent.
The outline of the Ramayan on the other hand is a well known story. Unless we are seeing something new, a new angle, a new perspective, perhaps a lesser-discussed character even, most Indian audiences do not need these minute by minute reminders of who is who. Even my father, a far more religious person than myself, and he who even watches Ramayan daily on TV thought it so.
In the second half, they get a better grip, pairing a sutra-dhar type voiceover of the final battle with a wordless action scene between the Cops and enemies, with only a few last-lines on the glory of the police, and the nationalistic pride. But the damage has been done by then.
Slow-motion mein
Nothing screams heroic in Hindi cinema than the lead male stars walking in slow motion towards the camera, with a straight face and a stern gaze. Once, is an entry. Twice is drama, but when every actor is introduced in the same way, it loses its effect almost entirely.
A good story requires a hook, after which you immerse yourself in the flow of the film, until you need another hook, and the final climax.
Because every frame tries to look and feel like the introductory shot of the character, you never really get a chance to enjoy the ride. Like a roller coaster that climbs to the top, and then instead of a drop, you are taken back and climb to the top again, in endless anticipation of the eventual ride. That comes only in the last 20 minutes before the interval, and a few instances towards the end.
Did no one who saw the final cut feel this? I want to know.
Towards the end of the film, Ajay Devgn’s Singham tells Zubair, “Jab log Bajirao Singham ko dekhte hain toh ya toh seetiyan maarte hain, yah taaliyan, ya salaam karte hain.“
It’s a testament to the overuse of the image that not a single whistle was heard at anyone’s entry, though the theatre was in splits whenever Ranveer Singh’s Simba showed up. He is undoubtedly the star and highlight of this film, the difference between studying a myth for an exam and reading it for fun.
Milking the franchise
Characters you can dress and talk like. Iconic dialogues. Imitable moves (be it in dancing or fighting). A catch phrase that finds a place in the pop culture cult.
Franchises are built on these – so “Daya darvaza tod do” or “Tell me something I don’t know” are meant to be there in the film.
But Singham Again (like possibly many other films of the Cop Universe except Simba) gives us nothing new to take away. It’s stubbornness on borrowing from the Ramayan means it dilutes the franchise’s actors and characters for who they are. Singham was Singham and he was awesome at it. As today’s Ram, he pales as both Singham and as Ram.
Deepika Padukone, the first of the female cops of this universe, uses her height to good advantage, but in the one chance she had to make any impact, we got, “Main Singham nahin re, Lady Singham hoon.“
A lazier dialogue could not have been written, and an opportunity to set the foundation for future ‘Lady Singham’ films was lost in an instant.
This is not to say that I expect any character arc in a masala film, but I do expect characters to be distinctly crazy. Simba and Singham do fine, the rest just become part of the circus without adding anything of their own.
I love masala films. They bring the families together. They allow for escapism. They give us drama and dramatic flair, they give us our heroes; someone to cheer for, aspire to be like. It’s junk food but it’s worth the calories.
Singham Again is like the tasteless snack you eat to satisfy a craving and regret it instantly. Not because you snacked – that’s part of life. But because you chose THIS snack for that little indulgence you can afford.
I miss the days of Bunty and Babli, Chupke Chupke, Don, Dabanng before Salman Khan decided to make nothing else.
Skip this film. And someone in Bollywood, please make a more fun, less preachy masala film that creates more of an emotion, not less. This was certainly less of everything that the Cop Universe was so fun and alluring for.
What can we expect from Chulbul Singham now?
