A beast on an overdrive...

Director Hari has over the years earned a reputation for being a safe bet for his producers. Riding confidently on a combo of recycled storylines and racy sequencing of his storytelling, this craftsman has remained successful both in Tamil and Telugu film industries.

The ‘Singam’ franchise which began in 2010 is now seeing its third round, having garnered considerable support over the seven years it has been deployed as a formula. The lead pair – Suriya and Anushka, with Shruti Haasan thrown in for no real reason– stay on for this version too.

With the film having had a deferred release after having been scheduled four times in as many months, a lot of news about it had been floating on media platforms, with the audience curiosity having been sated, by and large.

Taking up the unethical dumping of killer waste material from Australia, the villain’s main business as shown, and building up a chase story around it, Hari packs in a watchable fare in which Suriya is his hyper, moustachioed self, all brawn and reeking of raw machismo.

Handpicked for solving a murder case of a top cop, which is a sidelight of the actual crime drama, our Narasimha, on a visit to Mangalore, is fury personified against the bad boys. Of course, he delights his juvenile fans as his face morphs into a golden, roaring lion during the fight sequences and even when he mimics the king of the jungle in its moves now and then.

No prizes for guessing that it leaves no real screen time or acting potential for the two ladies in the film, with Kamal’s daughter getting more footage, playing a scatter-brained journalist and also the martyr slot. Anushka is the assured of the two, content being the docile partner and doing her bit in a duet sequence.

Taking real life illustrations from the lives of the infamous mining baron Janardhana Reddy and the steel magnate, Lakshmi Mittal (the villain, Thakur Anoop Singh is named Vittal), Hari’s cocktail is a please-all formula which brings in dollops of patriotism, small-town ambience to cater to the B and C centres and above all, breakneck speed to the proceedings, which is around two-and-a-half hours.

The audience may not feel anything novel with the flick as they walk out, but manage to remain engrossed as it plays out on the screen, which is the only plus this latest dubbed venture from Tamil Nadu has.

Film Name : Singam 3

Cast : Suriya, Anushka and Shruti Haasan
Direction : Hari
Genre : Action
Likes : Total dependence on action and thrills
Dislikes : Same old format

By K Naresh Kumar