| Singham | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Rohit Shetty |
| Produced by | Reliance Entertainment |
| Screenplay by | Yunus Sajawal |
| Starring | Ajay Devgn Kajal Aggarwal Prakash Raj Ashok Saraf Sachin Khedekar Sonali Kulkarni |
| Music by | Ajay-Atul |
| Cinematography | Dudley |
| Editing by | Steven H. Bernard |
| Distributed by | Reliance Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | 22 July 2011 |
| Running time | 138 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
| Budget | 20 crore (US$3.8 million)[1] |
| Box office | 139 crore (US$26.41 million)[2] |
Singham (Hindi: सिंघम ; English: Lion) is a 2011 Indian Hindi action film directed by Rohit Shetty starring Ajay Devgn, Kajal Aggarwal and Prakash Raj in lead roles. It is a remake of the 2010 Tamil film Singam featuring Suriya. The film is produced by Reliance Entertainment, which also co-produced the original Tamil movie. The theatrical trailer of the film was released along with Ready on 3 June 2011. The film, released on 22 July 2011, went on to become one of the highest grossing movies of 2011. The Delhi High Court, upon Reliance Entertainment's request, issued an order to all Indian ISPs to block filesharing sites to prevent piracy of Singham.[3]
Contents |
The film opens with an honest police officer, Rakesh Kadam (Sudhanshu Pandey), committing suicide because of false accusations of corruption by Jaikant Shikre (Prakash Raj), a don and politician in Goa running a kidnapping racket. Kadam's wife Megha Kadam (Sonali Kulkarni) vows revenge.
The film moves to Shivgarh where Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgn), an honest police Inspector like Kadam, is in charge of the town. He resolves most of the problems in his town with non-violence and mutual counseling. He uses force only when the situation demands it, thereby gaining much reputation and love from the villagers. Gautam Bhosle Gotya (Sachin Khedekar) is an industrialist and a friend of Singham’s father Manikrao Singham (Govind Namdeo). He comes to town with his beautiful daughter Kavya (Kajal Aggarwal). Eventually Singham and Kavya falls in love with each other. Everything seems to run smoothly until Jaikant, who is given a conditional bail for a murder he committed earlier, is required to travel to Shivgarh to sign the bail every fortnight. He, instead, sends one of his allies to do the formalities, much to the anger and rage of Singham who demands Jaikant to come and sign the bail in person. Humiliated Jaikant reaches Shivgarh but is unable to take any revenge on Singham fearing the immense love and devotion of the entire village towards Singham. Using his political contacts, he gets Singham transferred to Goa to teach him a lesson.
Singham, unaware of Jaikant’s hand behind his transfer, joins Colva Police Station. His co-workers, Sub-Inspector Phadnis (Vineet Sharma), Sub-Inspector Abbas (Ankur Nayyar), Head Constable Savalkar (Ashok Saraf) and Havaldar Kelkar (Vijay Patkar), hate Jaikant for his crimes but are unable to take any action because of Jaikant’s political powers. On the contrary, DSP Patkar (Murli Sharma), Singham's senior, is on a pay-roll of Jaikant and takes care in concealing and eliminating all of the evidences of Jaikant’s crime from the eyes of the law. Singham tries to take this to the notice of DGP Vikram Pawar (Pradeep Velankar) but it turns out to be of no use as there are no evidences against Jaikant and Patkar. The local minister Anant Narvekar (Anant Jog) too does not help Singham and in turn he warns him to stay away from Jaikant's case. Defeated Singham wants to return to his hometown but is stopped by Kavya who encourages him to fight against the evil and not run like a coward.
Being mentally tortured by Jaikant, Singham arrests Jaikant’s henchman Shiva (Ashok Samarth) in a fake case of illegally smuggling alcohol. He thwarts off DSP Patkar in full view of public when Patkar, bounded by his duties to Jaikant, tries to protect Shiva. Meanwhile, Megha Kadam, after being ridiculed by DGP Pawar and minister Narvekar for her corrupt husband’s death, seeks help from Singham to abolish the corruption charges against her husband, to which he obliges. On the other hand, Jaikant kidnaps Kavya’s younger sister for ransom. Rescuing her, Singham successfully traces the origins of the kidnapping racket to Jaikant but is unable to arrest him as he finally wins a political election to become a minister.
Jaikant, on becoming a minister, manages to send transfer orders to Singham to go back to Shivgarh. That night at a Police Function organized for the officers with their family, Singham confronts the officers for not abiding to their duties and being dishonest and unfaithful to their profession by protecting Jaikant. Filled with guilt, the officers decide to help Singham fight Jaikant. They reach Jaikant’s home to kill him, along with DGP Pawar and DSP Patkar, now in support with Singham. Jaikant eventually escapes from his house but after running throughout the city, he is arrested by the police the next morning. They bring him to the Police Station and shoot him dead on the same chair where Inspector Rakesh Kadam shot himself. At a media conference, DGP Pawar and Singham clear Kadam of all corruption charges.
The film ends with Singham and other police officers saluting Mrs. Kadam.
After the success of the Tamil film Singam, directed by Hari in 2010, the film's remake rights were sold by the producers for Hindi and Kannada versions. The co-producers of the Tamil version, Reliance Big Pictures also purchased the Hindi remake rights and announced in November 2010 that the version would feature Rohit Shetty as director and Ajay Devgn in the lead role.[5] Prakash Raj was signed on to reprise his role as the antagonist from the original, whilst reports emerged that Asin and Anushka Shetty were being considered for the female lead role.[6] Anushka was replaced by Kajal Aggarwal, another actress who had predominantly featured in South Indian films in her career.[7][8]
Singham went on floors in November 2010, with its scheduled cast. The first schedule began in early March 2011 with action sequences shot in Goa featuring technicians from South India.[9][10]
A scene with Prakash Raj and Ajay Devgn was shot in Goregaon in Mumbai with around 500 junior artists as villagers. Another scene was shot at Vagator in Goa for which 100 police jeeps were called.[11] The shooting of the film was stalled by the Federation Of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) members who demanded 45 lakh to be paid to the workers when it was being shot in Film City in Mumbai.[12]
Reliance Entertainment released the film on July 22, 2011 in 2000 screens worldwide with 1500 prints excluding overseas.[13] The film's DVD was released on 23 August 2011.
Singham had its television premiere on 10 September 2011 on STAR Gold at 9 PM.
The film received above average reviews from critics. Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India gave it four out of five stars and stated "Singham is over-the-top retro kitsch, spilling over with high-voltage stunts, slow-motion action cuts and fiery dialogues delivered in high decibels. It is meant for all those action buffs interested in time travel to the angry young 1970s and 1980s when cinema was larger-than-life and totally unrealistic. But then, retro is currently chic, isn't it?"[14] Komal Nahta of Koimoi gave it four and a half stars out of five stars and said "On the whole, Singham is a powerful action-emotional drama which boasts of equally powerful dialogues and absolutely power-packed performances. It’s a super-hit and will be loved by the masses and the classes, the men and the women, the young and the old, the rich and the poor. It is the kind of film which consumes the viewer and gives him the feeling that he was part of the fight against corruption! The film has immense repeat-value. Its business in Maharashtra will get a further boost because of the liberal use of Marathi in the dialogues. Kaajal Aggarwal may not be very beautiful but she acts with effortless ease. Her performance is good."[15] Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film four and a half stars out of five and said "Singham pays homage to the action films of 1970s, which was known for the heroism, death-defying action sequences and pulse pounding thrills. It's an acknowledgement to one of the most successful genres of Bollywood – action movies – known for the trademark good versus evil themes and well choreographed stunts."[16] Saibal Chatterjee from NDTV also gave four out of five stars and said "Singham is an old-fashioned but rousing Hindi commercial film that pretty much restores one’s faith in this often-maligned brand of cinema. It has super-duper hit written all over it. No matter how dismissive you might be of films that have no space for shades of grey, chances are that Singham will disarm you, if only for a bit."[17] Shivesh Kumar of IndiaWeekly awarded the movie 4 out of 5 stars.[18] Nikita Kapoor of FilmiTadka rated it with three out of five stars and wrote in her review – "Singham will do very well in single screen theatres and lovers of commercial potpourri will definitely get their money's worth, though it looks tacky at some points, excessive Marathi usage is also incomprehensible, has a typical south Indian film feel, and a scene by scene copy of original, still it entertains. Kajal looked pretty, and delivers her city-based yet traditional girl character confidently."[19] Dailybhaskar gave a score of three stars out of five and said "The action takes over the romance in the film. Go for it, if you want to catch one hell of an action flick! "[20] Pratim D. Gupta from The Telegraph said "Thanks to Salman ‘bhaijaan’, big Bolly has found a hit formula and there’s a lot of money to be made here over the first weekends. There will be many similar roars, but you’ve got just one pair of ears."[21]
The film also received mixed to negative reviews. Subhash K. Jha (film critic and author of The Essential Guide to Bollywood) gave two and a half stars out of five and explained that "The homilies on a need for integrity in the civil services seem like unwanted concessions to self-importance in a film that seems to revel in a kind of free-floating message on how to stay clean in a cesspool of corruption. Yup, Rohit Shetty packs in a punch.[22] Sukanya Venkatraghavan from Filmfare gave two stars out of five and said "Singham is a film that will invoke wolf whistles and applause from its audience. It is gloriously massy. The movie knows its job and does it well. It does nothing out of the box to grab your attention and yet it does. Pretty easily. Watch it for its robust potboiler personality. With extra masala as garnish. Ajay Devgn pulls out all stops for this one. He is fierce and impactful. This is his show all the way. His quirky forte for comedy too comes forth in the ubiquitous ha ha sequences with leading lady Kajal Aggarwal who looks pretty and has done what she has been told to, but probably deserved a meatier debut."[23] Kaveree Bamzai from India Today also gave three out of five stars and deemed that "Mr Devgn tries hard, growling like a singham, and acting like a superman, but I was more interested in Prakash Raj's two tone Al Capone shoes."[24] Mayank Shekhar from Hindustan Times gave the film one out of five stars and said "Devgn walks to beats similar to Salman’s Dabanng. He beats the crap out of ruffians outside a village cinema. He restores his woman's honour. Besotted, she chases him. Audiences think even more highly of the hero. He beats the crap some more."[25] Shakti Salgaokar from Daily News and Analysis also gave a score of two out of five stars and said "If you’re looking for an action film to entertain you this weekend, Singham isn’t that film. This wannabe Dabangg is at best a comic film but there are so many other options that could do the job much better. Give this one a miss."[26] Raja Sen from Rediff gave one and a half stars out of five and said "All I can personally say about this trend of remaking one-note Southern hits as a viewer is that it's an exhausting one. It is in the tiny victories that we must seek refuge after a film like this: I'm just glad the hero, so eager to peel off his uniform, left his pants on."[27] Sudhish Kamath from The Hindu said "The original wasn't the best film around but it had a few smarts, pace and fury, and worked despite its cheesy visual effects purely because of Suriya who made the corniest lines sound good. Devgn does exactly the opposite. He takes some half-decent lines (by Farhad and Sajid) and makes them sound cheesy."[28] Shubha Shetty Saha from MiD DAY gave the film a score of two stars and deemed that "Nothing turns director Rohit Shetty on more than cars meeting mid air. We all know that by now. And this film has some breath taking action sequences, too. That's about it is."[29] Meenakshi Rao from The Pioneer describes the film as "the David Dhawan of action, or for that matter the Golmaal of fights. To keep the audience engaged all through such unending babble needs some kind of acumen which normal people do not always have and through which people like Rohit Shetty get to make a whole lot of money, if not sense." giving it seven out of ten stars.[30] Kunal Guha from Yahoo! Movies also gives the film two stars and says that "The film's assumption that mispronunciation is funny makes us endure words like honest (with a loud 'h'), clean cheet (clean chit), noun-saans (nonsense) and sooocide (suicide). The dialogues are spouted with immense enthusiasm but the words defuse the intensity and make them seem trivial. Devgn does a fair job and conveys sufficient conviction and humility through his character. Kajal Aggarwal makes an unobjectionable debut and her eyes would surely inspire a few compliments."[31] Shubhra Gupta from The Indian Express gave a rating of two stars out of five and said "What you require from a film that’s thus set up is very little --fast and furious action, a brawny hero who kicks butt in novel ways, and a villain who’s vile enough to be quashed minus mercy. As Bajirao Singham, Devgn roars satisfactorily, even if there are places you feel he’s trying too hard to scowl-and-growl, and the effort is making him come off a tad tired."[32] The Sunday Guardian gave a rating of one and a half stars out of five and said "The film wants to be that currently fashionable thing: a 'retro' 80s style potboiler, in which there is no apology made for holes in the plot or paper-thin characters, as long as there are a few clapworthy dialogues and it can be described as "larger than life". But really, all that's larger than life inSingham is Devgn's muscles."[33]
Singham started extremely well at single screens with occupancy around 90% and was average at multiplexes with 50-60% occupancy,[34] In the first four days, the film collected 35 crore (US$6.65 million).[35][36] After five days, the earnings were around 40.75 crore (US$7.74 million) without any drop.[37] The opening week gross collections were 44.2 crore (US$8.4 million) in India and 3.5 crore (US$665,000) from overseas to fetch a total opening week gross of 47.7 crore (US$9.06 million), thus putting the nett weekend collections at 31.07 crore (US$5.9 million),[1][38] including 12 crore (US$2.28 million) in Mumbai area alone.[39] However, other credible sources put the opening week nett collections at 51.25 crore (US$9.74 million).[40] By both accounts it had the second highest opening of the year.[41] In the second week, it collected 26.34 crore (US$5 million) nett to take the total two week net collections at 77.74 crore (US$14.77 million).[42] The film is currently the sixth highest second week grosser.[43] The third weekend collections were estimated to be 8.20 crore (US$1.56 million).[44] After three weeks, the nett collections amounted to 86.17 crore (US$16.37 million).[45] It collected 6.50 crore (US$1.24 million) in its fourth week bringing its collections to 92.67 crore (US$17.61 million) in four weeks.[46] At the end of the sixth week, Singham earned 100 crore (US$19 million) nett in India. It is said to be the seventh Bollywood film of all time to have crossed the mark of Rs. 100 crore nett in collections.[47]
The film grossed over 139 crore (US$26.41 million) worldwide.[2] In Mumbai, the film remains among the top five in terms of distributor's share earning more than 20 crore.[48]
| Singham | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Ajay-Atul | |
| Released | 19 June 2011 |
| Genre | Film soundtrack |
| Label | T-Series |
The music of the film is composed by Ajay-Atul with lyrics penned by Swanand Kirkire.
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Maula Maula" | Kunal Ganjawala, Richa Sharma | 04:04 |
| 2. | "Saathiya" | Shreya Ghoshal, Ajay Gogavale | 05:10 |
| 3. | "Singham" | Sukhwinder Singh | 05:50 |
| 4. | "Maula Maula – Remix" | Kunal Ganjawala, Richa Sharma | 03:44 |
| 5. | "Saathiya – Remix" | Shreya Ghoshal, Ajay Gogavale | 05:00 |
| 6. | "Singham – Remix" | Sukhwinder Singh | 03:23 |
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Bollywood Hungama | [49] |
| Planet Bollywood | [50] |
The album was panned by music critics. Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama awarded the album two stars out of five and said "Singham turns out to be a fine album though one does feel that there could have been much more than just three songs here. While 'Saathiyaa' is the pick of the lot and has the potential to play on beyond the theatrical run of the film as well, title song 'Singham' brings in the right mood despite its setting. However given the fact that the film is not quite a musical and the focus would be primarily on pushing its action flavour, the album would find it tough to make much of a mark commercially."[49] Tanuj Manchanda of Planet Bollywood gave the album five and a half stars citing that "Ajay-Atul produces a satisfactory soundtrack, after their first attempt in Virudh and shows their versatility in a short span of 3 songs. One looks forward to their forthcoming venture My Friend Pinto which will be their second Bollywood film as composers. Overall, the songs are decent and have the ability in them to become a success. It will help in enhancing the film's narrative."[50]
Singham had been removed from cinemas in Karnataka while some cinemas have cancelled the shows following pressure from various groups protesting against derogatory statements against the Kannadigas. Various organisations raised voices against the anti-Kannadiga dialogues in Singham and the film which was released is facing problems in continuing with the shows in that part of the country. There was a demand to remove such scenes from the film and the filmmakers contemplated on the next course of action.
Singham commenced in Karnataka after the removal of some "objectionable" dialogues, a day after disruptions in its screening.[51]