Singham

About the film

Singham is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language action film directed by Rohit Shetty and produced by Reliance Entertainment, based on a script by writers Yunus Sajawal and Farhad-Sajid. A remake of the 2010 Tamil film Singam by Hari, the film stars Ajay Devgn as the titular character Bajirao, an honest police officer, while Kajal Aggarwal, who returns to Hindi films in her first full–fledged role, and Prakash Raj, who reprises his role from the original film, appear as leads.

Singham marked Devgn's and Shetty's return to the action genre after several years. It was theatrically released in India on 22 July 2011 with generally positive reviews from the critics towards praise for action-emotional drama, dialogues and homage to 70s masala films. It opened with strong box office response; the film earned ₹87.6 million in India on the first day and a worldwide total of ₹1.41 billion against a ₹410 million budget, becoming a box-office blockbuster.

Plot

Inspector Rakesh Kadam, an honest officer, is falsely accused of corruption by Jaikant Shikre, a powerful crime boss, politician, and businessman running illegal rackets in Goa. Unable to bear the disgrace, Kadam commits suicide. His widow, Megha, vows revenge, declaring that justice will prevail.

The story shifts to Shivgad, a village near the Goa-Maharashtra border, where Bajirao Singham, an upright Maratha police officer, commands the local station. Respected for his informal yet effective problem-solving methods, Singham wins the villagers' admiration. His father Manikrao's childhood friend, industrialist Gautam Bhosle, visits Shivgad with his family, including his daughter Kavya. A series of comedic incidents lead to Kavya falling in love with Singham, admiring his integrity and simplicity.

Everything runs smooth until Jaikant, out on conditional bail for murder, is required to report to Shivgad every 2 weeks but sends a proxy. Enraged, Singham demands Jaikant sign in person. Jaikant arrives with his army of goons and threatens Singham with his political and criminal connections, but backs off on being intimidated by the villagers, who warn to finish him off out of admiration for Singham after hearing his threats. Humiliated by Singham in front of the villagers, an egoistic Jaikant uses his political influence to transfer Singham to Goa, where he begins a campaign of harassment. In Goa, upon joining, Singham, through his colleagues Abbas, Phadnis and Savalkar, and Megha, discovers the extent of Jaikant's criminal empire, supported by corrupt officials like DSP Satyam Patkar, who is his senior, and home minister Narvekar, while also learning of Kadam's suicide.

Production

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 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.

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.

In mid-February 2011, Kajal Aggarwal, an actress who predominantly features in South Indian films was signed in as the female lead.

Release

Reliance Entertainment released Singham on 22 July 2011 in 2000 screens worldwide with 1500 prints excluding overseas.

The film's DVD was released on 23 August 2011. The Delhi High Court, upon Reliance Entertainment's request, issued an order to all Indian ISPs to block file sharing sites to prevent unauthorized sharing of Singham.

A promotional mobile video game was released the same year as a tie-in product for the film.

Reception

The film received mixed to positive 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?" Komal Nahta of Koimoi gave it four and a half stars out of five 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. Kajal Aggarwal acts with effortless ease. Her performance is good." Suparna Sharma of The Asian Age gave it two out of five stars and stated "Singham is a primitive, archetypal genre piece, and it is a hit. Rohit Shetty taps into the sentiment of the moment – emasculation, frustration – …

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