'S3' hits the screens today.  Here is our review of the Hari-directed cop actioner.

Story:

Narasimham (Suriya), the ferocious Telugu cop with a stellar track record, is posted in Karnataka, tasked as he is to crack the murder of the City Commissioner (Jayaprakash in a cameo).  As the upright, intelligent cop goes about his way, the investigation leads him to MS Reddy's (Sharat Saxena) shenanigans.

But this is not all.  It's an international racket with links traced to Australia, where Vittal Prasad (Thakur Anoop Singh), a richest businessman, who dumps hazardous medical waste in the outskirts of Bengaluru, even as his lapdogs in the police department and local mafia act as his domestic proxies.

It's up to Narasimham to draw a scheme to intelligently destroy Vittal's empire by gathering evidence/intelligence before submitting him to the long arm of the law.

Analysis:

The 'Singam' series movie is largely formulaic and it's big plus is Suriya himself.  With his intensity and verve intact, he goes about exuding pragmatism and trigger-happy attitude.  Like a Gautham Menon hero, he talks to the villain before 'dumping' the 'garbage' off in staged encounters.  Mainstream cop movies have this knack for making the audience revel in the inevitability and indispensability of getting rid of dangerous villains in cold-blooded encounters.  And 'S3' takes this glorification a step ahead.

The super cop is not just a law unto himself, but a philosopher unto himself.  Sample these: 'Evidence kanna emotions ni nammutha nenu', says Narasimham, turning the conventional conventions of conventional cops on its head!  In another scene, he rationalizes rule-breaking, something that most dutiful law enforcers must be doing to keep the country safe.  'Manam evarini blame cheyalsina avasaram ledu, kani anumaninchadam tappu ledu', so goes another line.

Hari's cop has a few distinctions: he is an activist, a motivational speaker, an ethicist, all rolled into one.  His earth-shattering patriotism is impressive.

But, be warned, there comes a point (it may be quite early on) when the film not only comes across as too formulaic but also as loudness-ridden, besides being riddled with more-of-the-same episodes.

The Shruti Haasan twist is interesting, but her body language is hardly convincing.  Does every second heroine have to be reduced to a caricature regardless of her profession?  Anushka as Suriya's wife does her job subtly and so well.

'S3' largely relies on the character of Narasimham, and if Hari is looking to take the franchise forward, he should probably work at bringing variety and abandoning the predictability factor. Suriya doesn’t look like he has aged a bit since the first part, his energy is intact and is ferocious in every take.

The franchise was built on a large star cast and 'S3' is no different (Soori, Sarath Babu, Roboshankar, Suman, Nasser, Radhika, Manorama).  The villains as usual are heavy in power, unreachable, loud, but also at the same time suffers badly in the dubbing.

Somehow the thumping masala music from DSP is missing and apart from WiWi song from Harris the music including the BGM is very ordinary. The action and stunt sequences are choreographed well, and in the age of heavy CGI it’s good to see some raw flying car sequences and racy chasing sequences, credits again to the director.

Verdict:

Suriya's fans could put up with the hardcore action.  For all its raciness, the screenplay lacks a gripping quality.  The run-time gets on the nerves, the loudness could have been safely avoided, the songs could have been better.  The less said about the non-native comedy, the better.

సింగం 3 తెలుగు వెర్షన్ మూవీ రివ్యూ