Of Singham Returns…the movie

Confessions first… I love the idea of Singham, the idea of an honest police officer using the system to beat the living daylights out of those abusing the law and duping the people!!!

That love must be a vestige of my innocent childhood dreams of riding a white steed, wielding a sword, putting the fear of hell and of the heavens in the hearts of abusers and oppressors of all shades and ilk’s!!!

I did grow up (though some would dispute that! ) and I do believe at most times, if not always that violence serves only the singular purpose of breeding more violence, that it perpetuates a vicious cycle that destroys everything, the good and the bad in its wake.

Mostly, but not always. As when I did grow up, I read Marx and understood where he came from when he advocated a bloody revolution to end the kind of oppression that the bourgeoisie bring to affect the lives of the proletariat and that class war was an essential condition to the realization of equity and the liberation of the masses.  I understood, as I understand the angst that fills the minds and hearts of the ordinary Indian, oppressed and helpless, with no one within the system to help, nay the conditions in which the ordinary Indian lives h/her life are so pathetic that the system beats h/her down rather than help in the realization of a life of dignity and fulfillment. Violence makes us uncomfortable; I have shut my eyes to it, looked away, and buried my head ostrich like in the sand. Is there however some place for it in addressing the wrongs of a social system? Is it essential at times when nothing else works? There is still a tiny part in me that must acknowledge the truth of that, how so ever politically incorrect that might be…and how so ever undesirable in ideal conditions.

Revolutions happen when there is nothing to lose but chains and a wise leader when able to tap into the tremendous energy of this angst, can move mountains and drain rivers, change the world as one knows it.

That is what Singham symbolizes, and is for me a visual representation of that ideal.

This is where the movie strikes a cord with the viewers, that's whats cogent. That connect is visible each time Devgn utters the one liners, he delivers to such tremendous effect, ' main leta nahin deta hoon', or 'ata majhe satakli'. The audience applauds on cue, for it is their sentiment that the protagonist is voicing. The genre is a throwback to the movies of the 80's, of the angry young man essayed by Amitabh Bacchan, of a generation fed up of the injustices of the world seeking redressal. Simple story-line, simplistic characterization, black and white world with nary a complexity, it all works, indeed it ties in with the mood of the nation. Therefore when Devgn walks up to a closed door and shouts to his underling ' Daya darwaza tod dey' it symbolizes the breaking down of the doors of inequity that prioritizes the few over the many, an ushering in of a new order. Super effective!
Ajay Devgn is the only Bollywood  actor who is a real action hero, not Salman, not Akshay. Devgn looks absolutely credible wielding a gun, shoots straight and true. Has the intensity and the phisique to carry it all off and delivers a performance that is reminiscent of a Bond film or of the Die Hard series.  He has the walk and the talk!! Loved the drum beats and the Shiva Tandav chants of the music score playing in the background as he walks and fights.
There is the journalist, urbane, chic, fashionably avant garde, the kind completely disconnected with the pulse of the masses,quick to criticize but seldom able to see the difficulties of those who work from within the system. That the fourth pillar of our democracy has failed to fulfill its role in the grand realization of a nation's destiny, is a sad fact. Journalism now figures prominently on the list of professions that have become the last refuge of the scoundrel. the protagonist runs the journalist down, repeatedly and teaches them a lesson or two about perspective and understanding the values that ones job represents, and in the process earns the applause of the audience.

Rohit Shetty is in his element and the film doesn't lose its flow, even though one must admit that this sequel, like most sequels, is decidedly second in terms of merit, to the first. The first film was so much better, this one is not bad, though one feels that it works also because, though not on that score alone, one connects it with the idea of the first.

There is but one song in the film, only one other than the mandatory Honey Singh number that rolls the credits in at the end, even that one song seems unnecessary. How I wish Devgn was not made to sing and dance, which is not to say that romance ought to be omitted. Perhaps we still need to learn how to project romance on the screen in ways other than song and dance!

One comes away charged, charged with hope and a spirit that says, ‘if only we were led by an honest man and did not abjure the importance of courage and had the valour to take a few knocks in the process…our lives would be better’, so much better!

Vinny

16/8/14