Bollywood seems to have been enjoying the resurgence of ‘hero-worshipping’ films. Dabangg began it, Bhudda Hoga Tera Baap rode on it, and now Singham does it again, though this time the loudness is more visible. Inspired from Surya’s Tamil film with the same name, Singham has been localized neatly to suit the tastes of Noth Indian audiences.

What’s it about : Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgan) is an extremely honest cop, posted fortunately in his hometown – Shivgad. His intentions are noble, and when required he can be as fearsome as his surname. These qualities floor Kavya (Kajal Aggarwal), a city bred girl visiting Shivgad. In Goa, Jayakanth Shikre (Prakash Raj), an extortionist involved with few criminal cases, gets bail on the condition that he has to go to Shivgad daily to sign. When Shikre tries to use his influence over Singham, the latter gives the former a taste of his honesty, with unasked support from his villagers. Shikre returns, and uses his influence to get Singham transferred to Colva, where Shikre rules the roost. When Singham, with the support of Kavya, takes the issues head on with Shikre, things change. What started as an issue between two strong characters, spirals into a situation which mirrors corrupt system and police ineffeciency, finally leaving it to one man to fight against it.

What is Good : Ajay Devgan, in the title role, renders a terrific performance. He is gifted with a certain fraility in his eyes that makes him extremely believable as family loving man from a village, though he sports a six-pack. Prakash Raj uses his typical mannerisms to play a loud villain, and matches Ajay’s performance. However, both Ajay and Prakash Raj are beaten by the drama that unfolds between them – they both look intense and ready to pounce on each other all the time. While Prakash Raj never gets the chance to do so, Ajay does flex his muscles doing some breathtaking stunts.

Kajal Aggarwal has a limited role, though she strikes some chemistry with Ajay Devgan. Sonali Kulkarni, Sachin Khedkar, Govind Namdeo have interesting roles and they do fair jobs too, mostly thanks to interesting dialogue and a fairly tight screenplay.

What is bad: Singham doesn’t necessarily have huge problems. The main theme oversimplifies corrpution, politics and police dynamics with populist dialogue and it doesn’t get any simpler than this. The movie works more on elevating the hero character often, by hook or croo. The climax seems to have been too haphazard, and too ideal, even by the story’s standards. However, when the masses are cheering for every punch dialogue, laughing for every antic, and whistling for most action sequences, few other things matter.

Technical Departments : For someone who is known for his slapstick series Golmaal, director Rohit Shetty dispells any doubts regarding his ability to handle drama and action with Singham. He manages to get great support from cinematographer Dudley, editor Steven Bernard and a musician Amar Mohile, who keep the momentum up in Singham almost all the time. Their work gets even more noticable during the actions scenes, few of them designed by the director himself! It would have been even more thrilling if the fights were even more believable, having lesser ‘wire-removal’ work. Except for the minor disturbance in the form of two songs, both chartbusters, Yunus Sajawal’s screenplay sticks to the basics of an action-drama movie such as this. The result is a high-octane experience that manages to entertain you.

Bottomline : Singham may have some loud moments, but it has something for everyone, and even more for Ajay Devgan’s fans. Watch it.