The new pot-boiler from Rohit Shetty is the latest to join the list of pure masala entertainers. With Simmba, we see an adorable homage to the lion king while Ranvir Singh, the lead seems more concerned about the feel of his character than the way he looks and portrays it. The extremely energetic Singh makes for a good lead actor as we have come to realise, embraces the trashy 80s-remake madness and creates an immoral and wayward wise cracker more who is more Reynolds of Deadpool than Devgn of Singham. You could book your tickets online to win thrilling movie offers and jaw-dropping deals on your next purchase. After tragedy strikes too close to home than he would like, Sangram “Simmba” Bhalerao, a dishonest police officer and the movie’s lead is forced to take action and mend his ways to take on the bad guys.
This is a derivative nay spinoff of Rohit Shetty’s worryingly successful Singham movies. Some might have had high expectations from the last release of the year but I for one can say with all honesty that it falls quite short.
MOVIE | SIMMBA |
GENRE | ACTION AND ENTERTAINMENT, DRAMA, KIDS AND FAMILY |
DIRECTOR | ROHIT SHETTY |
PRODUCED BY | ROHIT SHETTY
KARAN JOHAR HIROO YASH JOHAR APOORVA MEHTA |
STORY BY | YUNUS SAJAWAL
SAJID-FARHAD |
MOVIE BASED ON | ORIGINAL PLOT WITH ACTION SEQUENCES BASED ON TELUGU- LANGUAGE FILM TEMPER |
MUSIC BY | SONGS:
TANISHK BAGCHI LIJO GEORGE – DJ CHETAS S. THAMAN SCORE: AMAR MOHILE CHANDAN SAXENA S. THAMAN |
LYRICS BY | SHABBIR AHMED, RASHMI VIRAG, KUMAAR AND KUNAAL VERMA. |
STARRING | RANVIR SINGH
SARA ALI KHAN AJAY DEVGN SONU SOOD AKSHAY KUMAR ASHUTOSH RANA SUCHITA BANDEKAR SIDDHARTHA JADHAV ASHWINI KALSEKAR |
PRODUCTION COMPANIES | DHARMA PRODUCTIONS
ROHIT SHETTY PICTUREZ |
DISTRIBUTION | RELIANCE ENTERTAINMENT |
RUNNING TIME | 159 MINUTES |
LANGUAGE | HINDI |
Simmba, our typical protagonist is a police officer who hails from the same town as the upstanding and righteous Singham, but shares none of the latter’s morally upright and impartial qualities. He is our typical street-smart orphan turned cop with decent comic timing. This antihero is an ACP no less, who shows up in a police station in Goa to do the following:
- ogle at pretty ladies
- mouth some really weird dialogues
- play around with crooks and outlaws before ridding them for good
Familiar set-pieces and lack of an exciting plot give a sense of “and we’ve seen it all before” – The deadbeat cop sheds his old corrupt ways and emerges as the saviour of the submissive and poor. The clashes between the bad guys and the cops, overtly coated with cheesy overused one-liners seem tiresome. The background score is loud and dolefully drowns everything out.
The movie comes with plenty of dramatic moments and has Ranvir Singh struggling to make the most of what little was handed to him. Many of the moments occur in between scenes full of action. Overall a below average pre-visited plot with numerous not-so-subtle reminders. In one particular scene, the original cop (Singham) appears, just to show the rookie exactly how it’s done.
The actress Sara Ali Khan is good here, attractive and atypical. Making you wish she had more to do, than just repeatedly bring up her late father, some ‘encounter cop’ with legendary qualities in a dreamy way. Her role is to lovingly build up and romanticise staged brutality. Khan once again makes an impression albeit a small one and takes charge as the one to initiate romance making our vociferous hero utterly tongue-tied.
CHARACTERS
RANVIR SINGH | ACP SANGRAM “SIMMBA” BHALERAO |
SARA ALI KHAN | SHAGUN SATHE |
AJAY DEVGN | DCP BAJIRAO SINGHAM |
SONU SOOD | DURVA RANADE |
AKSHAY KUMAR | VEER SOORYAVANSHI |
ASHUTOSH RANA | NITYANAND MOHILE |
SUCHITA BANDEKAR | MRS MOHILE |
SIDDHARTHA JADHAV | SANTOSH TAVDE |
ASHWINI KALSEKAR | JUDGE SMITA PALUKAR |
VIJAY PATKAR | ALOK BORKAR |
SAURABH GOKHALE | GAURAV RANADE |
ASHOK SAMARTHA | LAWYER JOSHI |
VAIDEHI PARSHURAMI | AAKRUTI DAVE |
VRAJESH HIRJEE | |
NEHA MAHAJAN | KAVYA |
NANDU MADHAV | AAKRUT’S FATHER |
ARUN NALAWADE | VAMAN RAO |
UDAY TIKEKAR | HOME MINISTER |
ANIL MANGE | PURAB |
ULKA GUPTA | NANDINI |
VIPIN SHARMA | CORPORATOR CAMERON |
GANESH YADAV | LAWYER SAVALKAR |
AARTI KULKARNI | GOOD FOOD LADY |
SAHIL JOSHI | CHOTU |
AMRIT SINGH | SADASHIV RANADE |
SHRI SWARA DUBEY | DURVA’S WIFE |
SARITA JOSHI | DURVA’S MOTHER |
SNEHA JAMES | LADY COP GAURI |
DHEERAJ | RAVJEET SINGH |
TUSSHAR KAPOOR | CAMEO |
KUNAL KHEMU | CAMEO |
SHREYAS TALPADE | CAMEO |
ARSHAD WARSI | CAMEO |
KARAN JOHAR | CAMEO IN “AANKH MAREY” |
THE VERDICT
Simmba makes the rational Indian audience wonder at what point will a mainstream “star” like Shahrukh or Salman or our latest entrant Ranvir Singh would be a part of something more memorable. The laughs quickly dry up when the plot takes an inevitable turn for the serious. This could have been disastrous, given that there’s an off chance to predict the tragic fate awaiting a local girl once Simmba starts calling her a sister and we’re all familiar to the concept of how the “hero” will kick the doors open at the precise time or when he’ll earn respect from the honest cops. Ranvir Singh dials up the intensity with his passionate declarations and earnest acting, which allows the show to stay compelling.
The film has a good tempo and the presence of with a genuinely charismatic lead helps. While the actual story — about a bad cop who suddenly changes tactics and starts avenging rapes — is neither interesting nor original. Shetty keeps it somewhat entertaining, even if the film is longer – with 159 minutes of running time than was actually necessary.
CONCLUSION
Although the need for these throwback films is still open to debate, and it is unquestionably problematic to see the way something violent and brutal like rape used as a mere trigger for the leading man to turn good, but, as it positions, Simmba means well and is not only ahead of the Singham genre of films, but much superior to the plots of the genre blockbusters, Dabanng as well. Overall on a strictly personal level — a below average pre-visited plot with some amount of reprieve solely due to the presence of the hilarious Singh who walks lives and breathes Simmba. A pure one time watch with family and friends, Ranvir Singh fans might still want to catch this one. A word for the wise, leave your thinking caps outside before you enter the multiplexes so you could enjoy the entertaining drama on offer.