Singham Again Movie Review: Rohit Shetty’s cop universe goes all out, of ideas

Lately, it seems like Hindi cinema is going through a creative dud. Like a political party eager to fill a rally ground, filmmakers seem desperate to stuff theatres and for that, they are willing to lure audiences with anything and everything: religion, nationalism, regional pride, meta commentary and cameos. And if it’s a Rohit Shetty release, topple a car on top of that. Singham Again is a disjointed amalgamation of Shetty’s rickety cop universe and the revered tale of the Ramayana. Its threadbare storytelling jumps from one starry cameo to another, with some dull gunfights thrown in. Ultimately sidelining even the most basic plot structure. Narratively speaking, less cop, more cop-out universe.

Starring: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff and Jackie Shroff

Directed by: Rohit Shetty

When we meet Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgn), he seems to have left behind the western ghats for the icy hills of Kashmir. He now heads the Jammu and Kashmir police. Before the first action sequence kicks in, merely to advertise the country’s defence prowess, we are shown SOG (Special Operations Group) commandos slowly jump off police vans in full gear, as Singham describes their might to a reporter. Going forward, as he drives a car, we are treated with bird’s-eye view shots of a scenic, peaceful Kashmir, which seems to be a showreel to promote tourism in the northernmost state. However, a helmeted guy on a dirt bike (they are always bad news in films) is tailing our hero. In yet another Pulwama attack reminder, an SUV blocks Singham’s way and he is soon ambushed. As AK 47 bullets batter his vehicle, he smoothly exits from the door and guns down every single assailant without even registering a scratch. Duh.

After a redundant chase sequence and a subsequent sermon on “Naya” (new) Kashmir, the mysterious biker is revealed to be Omar Hafiz (Jackie Shroff), a wanted terrorist and the bad guy from Sooryavanshi (2021). For some reason he has left terrorism for the greener pastures of selling drugs in Sri Lanka. His heir is the main antagonist of the film, the unimaginatively named “Danger Lanka” aka Zubair. “Woh aag ka gola hai (he is a ball of fire),” Omar warns Singham. But it’s just Arjun Kapoor.

To fight him, Singham gets his own task force, the Shiva Squad, which will have cops from all states. Parallelly, his wife Avni (Kareena Kapoor Khan) seems to have left the salon life (she was a hairdresser in Singham Returns (2014)) and has now levelled up to a government job at the Culture Ministry. She is organising a nine-day Ram Leela and this plot point solely exists to draw parallels between Singham’s journey and the tale of the Ramayana. Avni is soon abducted by Zubair and we are assaulted with unnecessary match cuts of the Ram Leela with the events of the film. Now it’s up to supercop Singham to rescue her. With some ‘starry’ aide, of course.

There is less character, more cameo in Singham Again. Deepika Padukone gets a skidding-Scorpio entry as Shakti Shetty, aka ‘Lady Singham’, but it’s a brief appearance. She does a Ranveer as she tries her hand at being chaotic and quirky but is soon forgotten, only to return for the final showdown. Tiger Shroff is Sathya, the Lakshman to Singham’s Ram. He gets more flying kicks than dialogues. The only livewire in this otherwise dull affair is Ranveer Singh’s Simmba. He brings a much-needed irony and the few non-mocking chuckles into this overly serious film. Akshay Kumar makes the grandest appearance but it doesn’t have any purpose, except for fan servicing. All characters in the film (for no established reason, except maybe watching the other cop universe films) consider Singham as the OG. “Woh toh humare guruji hai (He is our mentor),” says Shakti, but then he doesn’t do anything exemplary to remind us of his heroics. “Google kar lena tera baap cheez kya hain (Google me and you’ll know what your daddy is),” he tells his son. Noted.

Singham Again leaves no stone unturned to rev up its viewers. There is relentless religious iconography. A Shiva statue or portrait makes its way in the background of every other scene; Simmba is introduced with a towering Hanuman statue behind; the BGM irritatingly blares with chants of ‘Raavan!’ every time Arjun Kapoor is on screen. The action set pieces are grand but uninspired. The film feels like a string of cameos tied together to fill in for the lack of a screenplay. It’s bland and often times I zoned out because nothing that happened felt like it could alter the outcome of the film. Singham Again feels preachy, eager to speak to a younger audience, to teach them how the Ramayana is not just “culture” but also “history.” Even when scenes are adding up to become a snoozefest, Ravi Kishan’s minister sums it perfectly: “Chahe kuch bhi ho jayein, ye Ram Leela nahi rukegi (Whatever happens, this Ram Leela won’t stop)”.