SINGHAM RETURNS

Reliance Entertainment, Ajay Devgn Ffilms and Rohit Shetty Productions’ Singham Returns (UA) is the sequel to Singham. This film tackles the problem of black money being hoarded by the rich people and by politicians even as the poor in the country continue to become poorer. It also shows the nexus between evil politicians and Godmen.

Police officer Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgan) is posted in Bombay and goes about his job of cleansing society diligently. He has a team of like-minded and honest police officers who support him. One day, his trusted subordinate, Mahesh Jadhav (Ganesh Yadav), is found killed in an ambulance stacked with crores of rupees. The media blows up the accident issue and casts aspersions on the honesty of the deceased policeman, much to the horror of his mother (Sarita Joshi) and wife, Usha (Smita Tambe). Bajirao Singham, who used to have immense faith in Mahesh’s honesty, is convinced, there is foul play involved in the accidental death of his deputy.

The needle of suspicion points to Satyaraj Baba (Amole Gupte), a wily Godman who loots people and is known for the crores of rupees he has in black money, and also to Prakash Rao (Zakir Hussain), an alliance partner of the chief minister, Adhikari (Mahesh Manjrekar). However, Singham and his team as also the principled police commissioner, Shiv Rat­hod (Sharat Saxena), can do little without strong evidence to prove that Satyaraj Baba and Prakash Rao are involved in the crime. Bajirao Singham is confident, he would find evidence to nail them. He is also sure, the evidence would expose their other criminal activities too.

Even as Singham is trying hard to nail the culprits, Guruji (Anupam Kher), a principled politician and leader of a rising political party, is attacked and killed in cross-firing between policemen and goons. Singham is distraught and resigns from the police force, owning responsibility for the death as he was unsuccessful in saving Guruji. Singham and his girlfriend, Avni (Kareena Kapoor Khan), now go to their home­ town to meet their parents.

Singham and his team get lucky when they learn that the black money of the Godman and the evil politician are stacked at Vadhavpur. Singham catches hold of Altaf Khan (Pankaj Tri­pathi), who is the paid stooge of Satyaraj Baba, and arrests him. He is confident of nailing the duo with confessions from Altaf Khan. But Altaf is injured grievously and he slips into coma. Will he come out of the coma? Will Satyaraj Baba and Prakash Rao let him remain alive? Will Bajirao Singham be able to prove to the court that Satyaraj Baba and Prakash Rao are criminals? Or will the two use their influential positions and the power of money to go scot-free? What is the truth about Mahesh Jadhav’s death? Why was he driving an ambulance stacked with black money? Who killed Guruji? Are the perpetrators of crime exposed before the public? Does the court punish them? Or does Bajirao Singham have to bite the dust?

Rohit Shetty’s story tackles a problem which is relevant to every citizen of India. The story may not have much novelty but he has selected one which the audience can easily identify with and has penned incidents which are fresh. Yunus Sajawal’s screenplay is replete with mass-appealing scenes and he, too, concentrates on giving the audience high-voltage drama with a number of fresh scenes. There are many scenes and sequences in which the audience will be excited enough to clap, whistle and scream in sheer delight. Why, viewers will also cheer for the good characters in the film! The entire sequence in which police officers take off their uniform and march in vests and trousers is outstanding and will meet with a thunderous round of applause. The scene in which a poor woman incessantly fires Bajirao Singham for beating up her son who has accepted money from politicians is outstanding and shakes the audience. A number of scenes between Bajirao Singham and Satyaraj Baba are highly entertaining and the same can be said of the scenes between Singham and Prakash Rao, the best being the one in which Avni slaps Prakash Rao in front of the public even as Singham is on duty and refuses to arrest her, quoting sections of a relevant Act. These and several other sequences ensure that the masses get their full quota of entertainment. Even the light and comic scenes are interesting and entertaining and engage the viewers, making them smile and laugh. A couple of scenes will make the weak-hearted cry too. All in all, the story and screenplay may not be as shocking as Singham because that film had immense shock value but, having said that, it must be added that the story and screenplay of the sequel are hugely entertaining despite not being as novel. Farhad-Sajid’s dialogues deserve the highest praise because they are extraordinary and will evoke deafening rounds of applause. Their lighter dialogues are cute and funny.

Ajay Devgan breathes fire into the character of Bajirao Singham. He looks the character, having worked hard on his physique, which makes his breathtaking action scenes seem real and believable. He performs like a master player and uses his eyes and body language to great advantage to convey his emotions. Kareena Kapoor Khan is cute and endearing and plays the loud Maharashtrian mulgi with conviction. Her penchant for eating is a lovely punch which will evoke laughter in several scenes. Amole Gupte shines as Satyaraj Baba. Although comparisons are bound to be made with Prakash Raj, the villain of Singham, and the audience would miss him, it must be said in all fairness that Amole Gupte is truly terrific. Zakir Hussain acts with admirable ease and leaves a fine impression. Anupam Kher is natural to the core and makes his character of an honest politician very believable. Sharat Saxena has his moments. Mahesh Manjrekar is suitably subdued as the chief minister. Pankaj Tripathi is supremely natural. Ganesh Yadav makes his presence felt in a brief role. Sarita Joshi, as his mother, and Smita Tambe, as his wife, are both first-rate. Dayanand Shetty (as Daya) plays to the gallery. The scene in which Singham asks him to break open the door will be met with a loud round of applause as he is similarly asked to open doors in TV serial C.I.D.. Govind Namdeo leaves a mark as Bajirao Singham’s father. Ashwini Kalsekar makes her presence beautifully felt as TV news reporter and reader Meera Shorey. Her transition is wonderfully portrayed by her. Chhaya Kadam shines as the slum-dweller who fires Singham for having beaten up her son. Uday Tikekar (as Avni’s father), Shubhangi Latkar (as Avni’s mother), Meghna Vaidya (as Bajirao Singham’s mother), Sonali Kulkarni (as Menaka), Jitender Joshi (as Menaka’s boyfriend), Vineet Sharma (as police officer Dev Phadnis), Deepraj Rana (as Sunil Prabhat), Nattasha Rana (as Sunil Prabhat’s wife), Amit Varma (as Mayank), Sameer Dharmadhikari (as Kishore), Shriswara (as Neeta Parmar), Rakesh Kukreti (as Neeta’s husband), Sunil Godse (as the RTO officer), Uday Nene (as the biker boy), Jiten Mukhi (as the biker boy’s dad), Sandhya (as the lady cop), Sunil Deo (as the dhaba owner) and master … Pawar (as the kid in the ‘Aata Majhi Satakli’ song) lend admirable support.

Rohit Shetty’s direction is extraordinary. He has extracted fantastic work out of his actors, made a fast-paced entertainer and given the film a big canvas. His shot takings are excellent and he makes use of aerial shots tremendously well. He has made a film which will keep audiences of all age groups and all classes very happy. In spite of tackling a serious issue like black money, he has made the film very entertaining with light moments galore. Although he has made liberal use of Marathi in the dialogues, it must be said to his credit that his treatment will ensure that even the audience which doesn’t understand Marathi will find itself applauding the dialogues where necessary.

Music is good but not hit. The ‘Aata majhi satakli’ song (composed and penned by Yo Yo Honey Singh, with additional Marathi lyrics by Sachin Pathak) is mass-appealing. ‘Kuchh toh hua hai’ (penned by Sandeep Nath and Abhendra Kumar Upadhyay, and composed by Ankit Tiwari) is melodious. ‘Sun le zara’ (music by Jeet Ganguli and penned by Sandeep Nath) will be loved by the Muslim audience. The ‘Singham’ song (music: Meet Bros. Anjjan, lyrics: Shabbir Ahmed) is appealing. Choreography of the ‘Aata majhi satakli’ song (by Ganesh Acharya) is lovely. The choreography of the other two songs (by Chinni Prakash and Raju Khan) is fair. Amar Mohile’s background music deserves distinction marks for heightening the impact of the scenes. His use of Sanskrit shlokas in dramatic and action sequences is superb. Rohit Shetty’s designing of the action sequences is outstanding; their execution by Jai Singh Nijjar and Sunil Rodrigues is equally brilliant. The action scenes are bound to evoke huge applause from the masses. Dudley’s camerawork is remarkable. Picturisation of the action scenes, in particular, deserves special mention. Narendra Rahurikar’s sets are appropriate. Steven Bernard’s editing is sharp.

On the whole, Singham Returns is entertainment to the fullest. It will turn out to be a huge hit. It may not be as memorable a film as Singham but it is, nevertheless, an immensely entertaining film and its business will be far, far more than that of Singham. It will definitely prove to be the highest-grossing film of Ajay Devgan’s career so far. Business in Maharashtra will be simply stupendous!