There was a time, not long ago, when Hindi blockbuster cinema could stand on its own — distinguishable, say, from mythological soap operas and tacky non-fiction programming on satellite TV. But the laziness and opportunism of the last few years have all but vaporized that distinction. It leaves the theatre-going audience in two minds. Adipurush (2023) was laughably inept yet insistently pious and grim. The same applies to Singham Again, ostensibly an action potboiler and an Avengers-like ‘team-up’ movie but playing like an ad for the tourism ministry’s Ramayana trail.

2011 की ‘सिंहम’ तो ज़रूर याद होगी आपको। 2010 में आई इसी नाम की एक कामयाब तमिल फिल्म के इस रीमेक में स्टार के नाम पर कोई था तो सिर्फ अजय देवगन। लेकिन इसके साथ थी एक शानदार ढंग से कही गई कहानी जिसे निर्देशक रोहित शैट्टी ने अपने कसे हुए निर्देशन और ज़बर्दस्त एक्शन दृश्यों से ऐसा बना दिया था कि अब उस फिल्म की गिनती हिन्दी सिनेमा की कल्ट फिल्मों में होती है। लेकिन जैसा कि अपने यहां भेड़चाल है कि एक फिल्म हिट हो जाए तो उसका सीक्वेल ले आओ, सीक्वेल न बनता हो तो फ्रेंचाइज़ी ले आओ, ज़रूरत हो या न हो, उसमें ठूंस-ठूंस कर मसाले डाल दो, फिर अगल-बगल की फिल्मों के किरदार पकड़ लाओ और अपना खुद का एक ‘मसाला यूनिवर्स’ बना दो। रोहित शैट्टी तो वैसे भी इस काम में माहिर रहे हैं। एक तरफ ‘गोलमाल’ की कॉमेडी और दूसरी तरफ ‘सिंहम’, ‘सिंबा’, ‘सूर्यवंशी’ की मारधाड़ वाले दो यूनिवर्स खड़े कर चुके रोहित इस जन्म में कुछ नया न भी करें तो ये दोनों यूनिवर्स ही उन्हें और उनके कलाकारों को ब्रेड-बटर खिलाने के लिए काफी रहेंगे।

Rohit Shetty’s cop universe has gone for the jugular this time. Following the lukewarm reception of Simmba (2018) and Sooryavanshi (2021), he has reintroduced his flagship character, Singham, while also incorporating other familiar figures in Singham Again.

Can we let the epics be? Rohit Shetty’s latest film Singham Again - a part of his elaborate cop universe essembles some of the biggest stars of Bollywood to narrate an unoriginal story and borrows the full plot from Hindu epic mythology Ramayan. But at a time when films like Adipurush and the anime Ramayan are already available in the digital space, how good an idea is it to again refurbish a known story and force-feed it through Shetty’s larger-than-life, over-the-top cop universe? Questions such as this and a few more remain unanswered throughout the runtime of the film.

They say that the fount of all Indian fiction are the two epics, Ramayan and Mahabharat. Rohit Shetty seems to have taken this old saying to heart because Ajay Devgn’s eponymous Bajirao Singham is none other than a latter-day Maryada Purushottam Ram, his wife Avni (Kareena Kapoor Khan) is the faithful Sita, and all the other characters play their parallels in this version of Kalyug-ke-Ram Ki Katha. The result is loud and tedious, and instantly forgettable.

Of all the improbable things in Rohit Shetty’s Singham Again, like a car flying over a helicopter, like the same car landing without a scratch, like gifted actors dialling down their craft to match the trite script, like six people writing that script, like Ajay Devgn mistaking walking for acting, like the film mistaking walking for acting, the one that sticks out the most is Shetty assembling half the Hindi film industry (an exaggeration but you get the drift) to combat Arjun Kapoor.

There is not a single subtle bone in Singham Again’s action-packed, slo-mo loving body. While over-the-top has always been the signature of not only the Singham films but also of director Rohit Shetty’s cinema as a whole, Singham Again takes it to level next. Which really isn’t a good thing from the point of view of the art and craft of cinema but perhaps works in giving fans of this kind of filmmaking ample bang for their buck.