Singam Review

The level of intelligence of characters in a film depends on the level of intelligence of its director.  Depending on who the director is, villains are cerebral or foolish or comical (a bit of two or more things sometimes, panning out in an inconsistent fashion, depending on whether it is first hour or second half or the last 15 minutes).  So as to escape critique, directors whose international dons behave as if they have no brains after the hero enters their life, very cleverly ask us not to look at the logic.  Proving that a commercial entertainer need not be a no-brainer, director Hari presents a realistic screenplay.  The investigations/operations carried out by ACP Narasimham are so credible that one wonders whether Hari grew up listening to cop stories from accomplished investigators since the time he was a child!

Hari is a director known to indulge in some pot boiling commercial film making, and nothing less. The movie shoots off right from where `Yamudu' was left off, the die hard Narasimham avenging his pride, only to be delegated as an undercover agent to unearth the venal events that take place on the coastline. He moonlights his secret mission by posing as an NCC officer of a school, and yet Hari makes him look powerful.

And as you may have predicted, Hansika is the beautiful damsel whose one sided love story shoots off, and elsewhere is Anushka aka Kavya still waiting for Narasimham.  There are three antagonists who are armed to kill anyone who interrupts their smuggling.

Santhanam is the office boy giving us jolts of giggles also playing as the sidekick for a while.  Lines like Bodhidharma giving a bouquet to Narasimham for his intelligence is one such example.

Now with all the fiasco in the first half, second half is about Suriya's schemes to bring the baddies to justice, including the international smuggler Danny.

So what leads up is quite predictable, yet enjoyable.  Here is an example: Danny's arrest by Suriya who doesn't know his identity, several politicians and police biggies going into a tizzy to make Suriya release him before he comes to know Danny's real identity.. it is marvellous.

Singam 2 is everything you would look for, love, masala, sentiment, raw action and so on, however adding a slight overdose to every single element mentioned, as a whole it almost topples over. Hari's justification to Narasimham's character deserves a special mention as yet again this will also be a tribute to the cops, such is the power the role delivers.

Suriya carries the octane energy from the first part intact and if the intro scene was viola unleashed, then the scene when he resumes DSP command is MASS undoubtedly.

Hari could've given some more power to the antagonists, to make it look evenly matched. Given the space for baddies, it just adds to the endless list of outwitting and action sequences. Priyan's camera work is pretty laudable for the scenes in South Africa, however back here it's a lot of tilts and zooms.

Hari deserves praise for the way he handles the Suriya-Anushka love story.  It is just for a few scenes and an equal number of songs that they are seen together.  Yet if the love story registers in our mind it is because of the scene where Suriya emotionally explains to Hansika how much he loves her. 

Santhanam steals the show with his USP of one liners and witty jokes, however Vivek's character has been sized down. Yet another big crater size hole in this movie is DSP's BGM and music, which does not offer anything new and is monotonous.

There does seem to be an overdose of fights.  In fact, the second half is almost full of operations and fights.  One may have to jot down Suriya's manoeouvrs, the villains' moves so as to follow the movie better!

However the intentions of the director are pretty clear, a mass pot boiling commercial cinema that will surely entertain you, if not for its arguable length.

Verdict:  It is one of the most impactful performance by Suriya in a long time.  Watch it to have a feel of police patriotism.  To speak in a light-veined fashion, all wannabe saviours of the motherland should watch Singham-2 before getting into the police department!

Rating: 3.25 / 5