Power-packed return

Name : Singham Returns
Cast : Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor and Amole Gupte
Direction : Rohit Shetty
Genre : Action
Rating : ***
Like : Rohit Shetty and Ajay Devgn
UnLike : Tiringly grotesque

Julian Barnes said: There is accumulation. There is responsibility. And beyond these, there is unrest. There is great unrest. This is perhaps the state of the creative mind of Rohit Shetty. He has surely garnered not just many films in the 100 crore club and proved that the underdog survives to tell the story with aplomb. After the accumulation, he has the challenge to live up to the expectations of his audience and in this context both the expectations and the perceptions could be bizarre and unrealistic. The resultant ‘unrest’ is physically visible in the text and content of the roar that returns.

‘Singham Returns’ and the roar is sure to bring home the moolah as is visible with the huge turnout at the long week-end theatres. Rohit Shetty functions under a very defined premise and we need to see his cinema in the context of his defined terms. It would be futile to talk rationality or finesse in the setting of his works.

At one level the film seeks to salute that disproportionate number of law and order watchdogs of Mumbai that keep Mumbaikars safe. The police are saluted in the manner and style that is so so associated with the Shetty style. A ticket to a Rohit Shetty film is about the celebration of violence: SUVs clashing midair, dust aplenty, gun shots in echoic abundance, mayhem, punch lines and stunts (in salutation to Sr Devgan and Shetty) etc.

Bajirao Singham is now in Mumbai as the DCP and takes on Swamiji (Amole Gupta) and his colleague Prakash Rao (Zakir Hussain). Our testosterone-filled protagonist is supported by a team which includes inspector Daya (Dayanand Shetty). Singham is inspired by the Anna Hazare like leader Guruji (Anupam Kher) who is the leader of the political party which is leading a coalition government through Vikram Adhikari (Mahesh Manjrekar). Prakash Rao and Swamiji are the corrupt elements who also manage to assassinate Guruji. The narration is about political intrigue in running a coalition government, the vice of religious postures in governance, the unholy alliance between the State and the Church. In the context of more serious cinema you may have walked the next step and asked as to where lies the filmmakers political stance: UPA or NDA but with this filmmaker, do not even ask the question. He is out to ‘entertain’ to induce a level of fun having and based upon his understanding of what his audience want or expect of him. In this context he does not go wrong.

The punch lines and the stunts are all in place and surely Shetty delivers in the field of his defined territory. It would be trite to tell that this is not a very intelligent film, much less a stylised film. This notwithstanding the film offers enough and more for the audience that comes with defined expectations to a Rohit Shetty film. He delivers with expected assuredness and if his cinema interests you, go for it. It is surely better than the Great Indian Failure in England or the Great Political Drama of brothers divided on water and power, fees and bank loans. Look up to this film for that defined entertainment. You will not be disappointed. It is packed with all the works. Few would have reason to say: Aata Majhi Satakli.