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Singham

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For the 2010 original Tamil film, see Singam.
Singham
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRohit Shetty
Screenplay byYunus Sajawal
Produced byReliance Entertainment
StarringAjay Devgan
Kajal Aggarwal
Prakash Raj
Ashok Saraf
Sachin Khedekar
Sonali Kulkarni
CinematographyDudley
Edited bySteven H. Bernard
Music byAjay-Atul
Distributed byReliance Entertainment
Release date
July 22, 2011
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budget₹20 crore (US$2.4 million)[1]
Box office₹65.25 crore (US$7.8 million) (ten days)[2]

Singham is a 2011 Bollywood 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 and Anushka Shetty and directed by Hari. The film is produced by Reliance Entertainment, which also produced the original film. The theatrical trailer of the film was released along with Ready on 3 June 2011. The film was released on 22 July 2011 in 1500 prints excluding overseas.[3]

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.[4]

Plot

The story, set in the backdrop of Shivgarh, a small town on Goa - Maharashtra border, revolves around Sub-Inspector Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgn), a brave and honest policeman. Bajirao Singham settles every dispute in his town patiently with his words of wisdom and resorts to force only when the situation demands it. Kavya Bhosle (Kajal Aggarwal), a city girl who comes on vacation along with her father Gautam aka Goteya (Sachin Khedekar) to Shivgarh falls in love with Bajirao Singham after he beats up some goons who harass her in a movie theater.

Everything seems to be smooth-running until a Goa-based Jaikant Shikre (Prakash Raj), a big-time extortionist with shady mafia dealings, is required to travel to Shivgarh to sign a conditional bail. Jaikant sends one of his henchmen to sign in his place. An angry Bajirao Singham demands that Jaikant come in person for the signature and this starts tensions between them. Jaikant, unable to do anything because the town is under the control of Bajirao Singham and his supporters, leaves humiliated. When Singham gets promoted to an Inspector, Jaikant uses his political clout to get him transferred to Colva police station in Goa in order to extract revenge.

In Goa, Kavya's sister is kidnapped by Jaikant Shikre, and in the process Singham uncovers a scam run by Shikre in which he kidnaps children. Bajirao Singham, with unexpected help from the Director General of Police and entire police department, brings Jaikant Shikre to end. Also, Kavya's father who was hostile to Singham softens up and agrees to give him Kavya's hand for marriage.

Cast

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 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] The introduction scene was shot with 200 cars standing in the parking, in which 20 cars were blown up for the sequence, having Devgn in it.

Release

Protests in Karnataka

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 are raising 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 is a demand to remove such scenes from the film and the filmmakers are contemplating on the next course of action.

Singham commenced in Karnataka after the removal of some "objectionable" dialogues, a day after disruptions in its screening.[11]

Reception

The film released in 1500 theaters worldwide.[12]

Critical reception

The film garnered a few 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?"[13] 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."[14] 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."[15] 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."[16] 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."[17] Gurpreet Bhuller of Moviehattan rated the film with three out of five stars and said "Singham is bound to excite not only Devgn fans but even people who were not exactly Ajay admirers. However, if only Singham had something unique to tell along with the collaborative effort of superb screenplay and direction, it might have been a bigger hit than it is set to be."[18]

The film also received mixed to negative reviews. Harish from Behindwoods gave two stars out of five and said "Overall its a paisa vasool entertainer which has action aplenty and is a sure-shot success in the single screens. The remake takes all the positives from the original and adds few maratha flavour."[19] 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.[20] 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."[21] 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."[22] 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."[23] 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."[24] 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."[25] 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."[26] 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."[27] 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.[28] 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 Agarwal makes an unobjectionable debut and her eyes would surely inspire a few compliments."[29]

Box office

Singham started extremely well at in single screens with occupancy around 90% and was average at multiplexes with 50-60% occupancy,[30] collecting ₹31.07 crore (US$3.7 million) in the first three days of screening,[31] including ₹12 crore (US$1.4 million) in Mumbai area alone.[32] After four days, the film grossed ₹35 crore (US$4.2 million) including ₹5.25 crore (US$630,000) on the fourth day,[33][34] After five days, the earnings were around ₹40.75 crore (US$4.9 million) without any drop.[35] The opening week collections were ₹44.2 crore (US$5.3 million) in India and ₹3.5 crore (US$420,000) from overseas to fetch a total opening week gross of ₹47.7 crore (US$5.7 million),[36] though other credible sources put the opening week gross at ₹51.25 crore (US$6.1 million).[37] However, by both accounts it had the second highest opening of the year.therefore making it a superhit[38] In the second weekend, it collected ₹14.00 crore (US$1.7 million) nett to make the total ten day collections around ₹65.25 crore (US$7.8 million).[2]

Soundtrack

Untitled

The music of the film is composed by Ajay-Atul, with lyrics penned by Swanand Kirkire.

Track listing

No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Maula Maula"Kunal Ganjawala, Richa Sharma04:05
2."Saathiyaa"Shreya Ghoshal, Ajay Gogavale05:10
3."Singham"Sukhwinder Singh05:50
4."Maula Maula – Remix"Kunal Ganjawala, Richa Sharma03:44
5."Saathiyaa – Remix"Shreya Ghoshal, Ajay Gogavale05:00
6."Singham – Remix"Sukhwinder Singh03:22

Reception

The album received mixed reviews from 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."[39] In Musicaloud.com, the film was given a rating of six and a half stars out of ten.[40]

References

  1. ^ "Singham, a hit in single-screens". Indian Express. Retrieved Jul 29 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  2. ^ a b "Singham crosses 65 crore in 10 days". Bollywood Hungama. 1 August 2011. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  3. ^ "Huge expectations for Singham". Boxofficeindia.com. 21 July 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
  4. ^ "Singham effect: File sharing sites blocked". NDTV.com. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
  5. ^ "Rohit Shetty takes up Singam remake with Ajay Devgn". Indian Express. 4 November 2010. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  6. ^ "Prakash Raj to play villain in Hindi once again". Sify.com. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  7. ^ "Anushka not interested in Bollywood". Sify.com. 28 December 2010. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  8. ^ "Southern actress Kajal to romance Ajay Devgn". NDTV. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  9. ^ "Cut to the chase". Hindustan Times. India. 1 March 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  10. ^ "Rohit Shetty's Singham remake to go on floors from March 2nd". Bollywood Hungama. 1 March 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  11. ^ Shukla, Soumil (23 July 2011). "Ajay Devgan starrer Singham rakes up controversy in Karnataka". FilmiTadka. Retrieved 23 July 2011.
  12. ^ "Huge Expectations For Singham". Boxofficeindia. Retrieved July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  13. ^ Kazmi, Nikhat. "Singham". Times of India. Retrieved 23 July 2011.
  14. ^ Nahta, Komal. "Singham Review". Koimoi. Retrieved 23 July 2011.
  15. ^ Taran Adarsh. "Singham movie review". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  16. ^ Saibal Chatterjee. "Review: Singham". NDTV. Retrieved July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  17. ^ Nikita, Kapoor (23 July 2011). "Singham Movie Review". FilmiTadka. Retrieved 23 July 2011.
  18. ^ Gurpreet Bhuller. "SINGHAM – MOVIE REVIEW". Moviehattan.com. Retrieved July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  19. ^ Harish. V. "SINGHAM MOVIE REVIEW". Behindwoods. Retrieved July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  20. ^ Subhash K. Jha. "Singham Review". Nowrunning.com. Retrieved July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  21. ^ Sukanya Venkatraghavan. "Singham movie review". Filmfare. Retrieved July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  22. ^ Kaveree Bamzai. "Film review: Singham". Retrieved July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  23. ^ Mayank Shekhar. "Mayank Shekhar's review: Singham". Hindustan Times. India. Retrieved July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  24. ^ Shakti Salgaokar. "Review: Singham is funnier than Golmaal, and not in a good way". Daily News and Analysis. India. Retrieved July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  25. ^ Raja Sen. "Review: Singham is a tiresome film". Rediff. Retrieved July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  26. ^ Sudhish Kamath. "Roars to deceive". The Hindu. India. Retrieved July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  27. ^ Shubha Shetty Saha. "Singham – Movie review". MiD DAY. Retrieved July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  28. ^ Meenakshi Rao. "Rollicking fights". The Pioneer. Retrieved July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  29. ^ Kunal Guha. "Singham review". Retrieved July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  30. ^ "Singham Has Good Start". Boxofficeindia. Retrieved 23rd July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  31. ^ Taran Adarsh. "Midweek: 'Singham' is second biggest opener, after 'Ready'". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  32. ^ "Singham First Weekend Territorial Breakdown". Box office India. Retrieved July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  33. ^ "Singham Has Strong Monday". Box office India. Retrieved July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  34. ^ "Singham Monday Territorial Breakdown". Box office India. Retrieved July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  35. ^ "Singham Has Virtually No Drop On Tuesday". Box office India. Retrieved July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  36. ^ "Singham amongst the Top 10 openers of all time". Times Of India. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  37. ^ "Top 5: 'Singham' is No. 2 opener after 'Ready' in 2011". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  38. ^ "Singham, a hit in single-screens". Indian Express. Retrieved Jul 29 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  39. ^ Joginder Tuteja. "Singham". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  40. ^ "SINGHAM (HINDI MOVIE SOUNDTRACK) – MUSIC REVIEW". Musicaloud. Retrieved July 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
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