Singham (2011)

Rating  - 6/10

The angry young man is back!! First there was Amitabh, then Sunny Deol and now Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan are making the retrosexual man chic again. After the success of Chulbul Pandey a.k.a Robin Hood Pandey we are now introduced to Bajirao Singham in this new masala entertainer by Rohit Shetty (Golmaal series).

Ajay Devgan plays Singham a police officer in a small village near Mumbai who is forced to take on Jaykant Shikre (Prakash Raj of Wanted fame) in his own backyard - Goa. The movie then becomes about Ajay Devgan's fight for his survival, his loved ones and his ideals.

The story line is simple but then this is not the kind of movie that you watch for its story. This is the kind of movie that you watch for its action, the larger than life hero, the menacing villain and simply to whistle and/or clap at the fight scenes and the dialogues. And Singham delivers a lot of that.

At the onset Singham seems like an imitation of Dabangg, especially the opening song and dance step which is nowhere as good as Dabangg. The movie seems to be taking itself too seriously which hampers it in the beginning. But it takes off to a different level when the confrontation between Singham and Shikre begins. This is where it gets better than Dabangg. While Dabangg seemed to be dragging at the end Singham manages to grab your attention throughout.

The direction, dialogues, action sequences all do a fine job of keeping you on the edge of your seat. Ajay Devgan puts in a decent performance though he cannot get the same ferocity / anger as Amitabh Bachchan in Zanjeer nor the larger than life persona and attitude  of Salman Khan.

The highlight of the film is Prakash Raj as Jaykant Shikre.Though at times a bit over the top, his performance is what will keep the audiences engaged throughout. After Wanted and Singham, Prakash Raj is quickly establishing himself as the top bad guy in Bollywood. In today's times when there is dearth of negative actors like those of yesteryear (Amrish Puri we miss you) Prakash Raj is sure to become a fan favourite.

So anyone looking for an all out masala potboiler go for Singham. Just one word of advise though - try and watch this movie in a group. You will enjoy it much more than watching it alone.