Movies: Singham
Rating: 2.5/5
Banner: Prince Pictures
Cast: Surya, Anuskha, Hansika, Rehman, Mukesh Rishi, Nazar and others
Music: Devi Sri Prasad
Editor: V T Vijayan
Cinematographer: Priyan
Story, direction: Hari
Producer: S Laxman Kumar
Release date: 05/07/2013
Story
The first time around Surya played the cop Narasimham in Singam, who is posted in a police station in Rajolu, his home town. There he tackles the extortionist and kidnapper Purushottam who has his base in Vizag. Following a confrontation, Purushotam gets Narasimham transferred to Vizag. From here on, the battle between Narasimham and Purushottam begins. After an interesting climax the film ends with Narasimham being promoted as the Assistant Commissioner of Police by the Home Minister.
Cut to present time, in the second installment of the 2010 hit film, Narasimham (Surya) has resigned from the police force and works in a school as the NCC teacher. Due to turn of events, Narasimham goes about collecting info about a drug cartel jointly run by Tyagaraju (Rahman) and Bhai (Mukesh RIshi) in association with international smuggler Danny (Danny). What happens from there forms the rest of the story.
Performance
Suriya shoulders the film big time. The sincerity and dedication of this artist is something that needs to be lauded. So, the entire onus falls on Surya, and he does his best to pull the film along.
As for the leading ladies, Anushka has nothing much to do barring a couple of songs. While Hansika plays a student and carries off her role well. Poor Anushka has to suffice with an inconsequential role. Santhanam comedy is just ok. Vivek is waste.
Highlight:
- Surya’s performance
Drawback:
- Music, screenplay
Analysis
Like in the first film, Singam (Yamudu 2) is a thorough masala entertainer which has loads of action and some romance, with two leading ladies. But one is bound to make comparisons with the first outing as Prakash Raj played a powerful opponent to Surya and their interaction was worth a watch. This time around, the villains dole out the usual share of threats, but are no match to Purushottam (Prakash Raj).
In all, the movie is an action thriller that revolves around Surya, beginning to end. Director Hari handles the ‘Operation D’ sequences superbly. Though the film starts off on a sluggish note, it picks pace during the last 20 minutes of the first half and raises the bar for the second half. But Hari fails in keeping the audience enticed for the entire length.
For one, the comedy track falls flat. Hari also goes overboard with lengthy dialogues that tend to get boring after a point. There are some hard-to-digest scenes like the chase scenes shot in India and South Africa. Looks like Hari forgot chopping off some bits at the editing table. The climax too is rather tame with run-of-the-mill confrontation between the hero and the villains and one only ends up waiting for the film to end.
Another major dampener is the music provided the Devi Sri Prasad. While some songs are still fresh in the memory from Yamudu, this time around, he has failed to have at least one hit number.
In Hari’s inimitable style, there is lots of action and enough masala elements, but somehow Singam (Yamudu 2) fails to connect to the audience.
Bottomline: Noise pollution
(Venkat can be reached at [email protected] or https://twitter.com/greatandhranews)
