Shriram Iyengar
Mumbai, 10 Feb 2017 15:48 IST
The latest upgrade of Hari's Singham franchise is a massy action flick that is every bit the hit that Suriya needed.
In the first Singham movie, Duraisingham (Suriya) appeared as a reticent small-town cop who deals with the growing politican-gangster nexus in the city of Chennai. In the second instalment, the threat level was scaled up, with Singham tackling international smuggling rackets. Now, he is tackling a remorseless corporation threatening India's environmental health. The actor has become such an integral part of this character that it is impossible to imagine anyone else in the role. He proves it again without doubt in this latest instalment, Hari's Singham III.
Si3 begins in Andhra Pradesh where an assistant commissioner of police has been murdered and goondas are ruling the roost. Enter Duraisingham IPS, brought in by an honest politician to tackle this growing menace.
In his third major adventure now, Singham has grown streetwise and tackles the politicial-criminal nexus by going rogue at first. As he sinks deeper and deeper into the e-waste and medical-waste corruption that he is tackling, a larger international threat looms. Vittal Prasad (Thakur Anoop Singh in an impressive role) is the brains behind the entire racket. Thus begins a battle of brains and brawns between the billionaire in Australia and the deputy commissioner of police in Andhra Pradesh.
The film undoubtedly belongs to Suriya who carries it from entry to explosive finish. The actor has morphed into the character of Duraisingham, with his expressions, fury and vehemence adding fire to his power. With every film, he manages to add another layer to the personality of Duraisingham.
Shruti Haasan has little to do other than look glamorous as the investigative journalist in love, but her character also brings a much-needed lightness to the story. Similarly, Anushka Shetty adds little to her character from the previous film.
The villains bring the required menace to the plot. Sharat Saxena, though diluted by the dubbed dialogues, looks threatening. Thakur Anoop Singh makes an impactful debut as the villain Vittal Prasad. His physique, raw violence and malevolence are the perfect negative to the overdosed fury of Singham.
Director Hari has established a template for the franchise and manages to upgrade it with every version. The action looks steroidal. Every punch packs a weight of 1.5 tons, one of which destroyed the concept of gravity as well.
The plot is engaging and swerves with the speed of the car chases in the film and holds your attention. From uber nationalism to Swacch Bharat, and the Tamil pride, there is enough sentimentality and currency in here to get the wolf whistles going. The issue of corporations importing e-waste and medical garbage into India will have an added impact in view of the recent oil spill at the Marina beach.
The flaw in the film is the presence of mediocre songs that hamper the pace of the narrative. Just when you think the story has begun to move, it segues into an unnecessary song. The presence of too many narrative explanations also becomes annoying after a while. The director could have used just a tad less physicality and a little more intrigue to get a far better storyline. But lest we forget, this isn't Kaakha Kaakha (2003).
Yet, Si3 belongs to Suriya completely. The actor fills every frame with his sense of justice and anger. While the action sequences might seem over the top, they are necessary for a massy commercial entertainer of the scale of Si3. After the failure of films like Massu Engira Maasilamani (2015) and 24 (2016), Suriya has returned in the role that only he can play. He is the heart and soul of Singham and Si3.
Reviewed by Shriram Iyengar