Singham Again review: This Ajay Devgn actioner’s stellar second half alone is worth the ticket price | Bollywood

Time flies when you’re having fun.

Singham Again, the third installment in Rohit Shetty’s Singham franchise, leans heavily on the epic Ramayana to update the run-of-the-mill masala potboiler. Does it help though? (Also Read: Singham Again vs Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 review and release live updates)

Singham Again Review: The Story

I can summarize it in one sentence. A villain’s (Jackie Shroff) relative Danger Lanka (Arjun Kapoor) is back for revenge, and Bajirao Singham’s (Ajay Devgn) wife Avni (Kareena Kapoor Khan) is kidnapped, but he can’t save her alone, so he gets friends on board. .

This is where the curious case of Singham Again begins. A common complaint with many films is that while the first halves are always good, the dip comes in the second. Here it is the opposite. Six people are credited for the screenplay: Yunus Sajawal, Abhijeet Khuman, Kshitij Patwardhan, Sandeep Saket, Anusha Nandakumar and Rohit. I wonder what so many people did because the first half is chaotic. Actually, I get it now. Too many cooks spoil the broth. The attempt to connect Ramayana’s story with Singham’s universe is novel, but the execution goes haywire. It takes forever to generate the tension we are sitting for.

Singham Again review: the verdict

Rohit has a good concept in hand and then decides to use the entire first half to establish ‘look at the Ramayana, see the same scene, look at the symbolism’. What also doesn’t help is that we know what will happen next, as is the template of masala films. The ‘India ghuske maarta hai dushmanon ko’ is a story added to make the film seem in sync with real life. All it does is disconnect us as a viewer because we didn’t sign up for a political science class when we bought the ticket.

What doesn’t help is that the makers had shown almost everything in the trailer. I can only imagine the disbelief in the cinema if Deepika Padukone’s role in the film was kept secret. But everyone’s entry, which should be a highlight in multi-starrers, arrives cold, as we had already seen them in the trailer.

The break comes, pretty quickly. It can only go downhill from here, right? The second half begins and it’s a completely different movie. The one-liners, the jokes and seeing a few stars – Deepika, Tiger Shroff, Ranveer, Akshay Kumar and Ajay in one frame is worth the price of admission. Yes, cinematic universes are here to stay.

Worth mentioning is the decision to film the Kashmir portions in real locations. An over-reliance on VFX has led to a certain laziness in filmmaking lately, which is why films don’t feel visually grand. Rohit and his team have captured the valleys of Kashmir very well, and it certainly helps.

Singham Again review: actors’ report card

The performances in Singham Again are a mixed bag. Ajay is his brooding self, and you see the OG Singham, albeit occasionally. This is a subdued version of the super agent we first saw in 2011. Action scenes are his strongest point, but what’s missing is the anger that Singham is all about as a character. Akshay’s entry as Sooryavanshi invited hooting, the man still has it. When he wields a gun, you know he means business. Deepika, just like the trailer, just can’t convince us that she is a crazy cop in Rohit Shetty’s Cop Universe. Tiger is reasonable.

And Ranveer, you realize how much you’ve missed just seeing him having fun on screen in a well-written role. His presence adds some much-needed energy to Singham Again. Be it him telling Kareena in one scene that one’s wife always gets into trouble in the CopVerse: ‘Aur phir sabko aana padhta hai, sabka date milna mushkil hota hai’. I didn’t expect a Rohit Shetty film to turn meta! The same goes for when he looks at Deepika after the climax and says, ‘Dekho abhi family bhi badh raha hai’. Is it the CopVerse he’s referring to, or their own baby? Go figure!

Arjun Kapoor as Danger Lanka… he just can’t evoke terror as an antagonist. His look is striking, but when he opens his mouth, you know it’s Arjun. Beheading someone on screen isn’t enough to show invincibility. For someone as maniacal as Danger Lanka, the unhinged attitude would have to start with the crazy look in the eyes, which is nowhere to be found here. The guns and fistfights should come much later.

Overall, Singham Again delivers in parts. I’m all for masala films, as long as they are well made. Watch it for the second half. And Ranveer Singh. PS- One is missing OG Singham’s entrance music. If only art were placed above egos here. Enough said.