Singham Again: Rohit Shetty’s outdated action film looks down upon its target audience; no wonder the Cop Universe is imploding

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A still from Rohit Shetty’s Singham Again.

The latest instalment in Shetty’s Cop Universe, the movie borrows brazenly from the franchise model orchestrated by Marvel; the film’s action, for instance, owes a greater creative debt to Hollywood hits than the South Indian imports that are becoming so popular in Bollywood these days. Teenagers adore the Marvel movies, and it makes sense for Shetty and his team to speak to them in a language they understand, instead of alienating them with outdated Hindi film techniques. However, the tone that Shetty takes in Singham Again is that of an uncle whose siesta has been interrupted by a bunch of boys playing cricket in the street.

At numerous points in Singham Again, Avni gives TED talks about the Ramayana. She insists that the religious epic is a piece of history, and not mythology. She even mumbles something about electromagnetic fields in a corner of Sri Lanka, and declares that they are ‘proof’ that the Ramayana is rooted in reality. Her big gripe with her son, Shaurya, is that he doesn’t take her seriously. But not once does she pause to wonder why he doesn’t share her beliefs. Perhaps he has the ability to tell the difference between fact and fiction. Who knows? Instead of having a conversation as equals, she takes a position of superiority in her interactions with him. And so does the film with its audience.

In its attempts to woo the youth, the movie ends up disrespecting their intelligence. It doesn’t help that Shaurya, at least in the early scenes, is projected as a petulant and privileged brat, while his parents are basically shown to be saints. This reveals Shetty’s reluctance to gaze inwards as a storyteller — it’s obvious, for instance, that Singham and Avni are meant to reflect his own values — and contemplate his own flaws. No wonder he seems to be stuck in a creative rut. Even his fellow filmmaker Imtiaz Ali made an honest (if misguided) effort to understand people of his daughter’s generation in Love Aaj Kal 2, although it’s a shame that his interest in them seemed to peak at the idea of commitment.

More scenes in Singham Again are devoted to the concept of ‘situationships’ than explaining whether Tiger Shroff’s character actually has superpowers or not. They certainly imply that he does, but seem to forget all about it mere minutes later. After Avni is kidnapped by a vengeful villain played by Arjun Kapoor — the plot of Singham Again is basically identical to that of Taken 2 — Shetty takes the opportunity to present perhaps the most on-the-nose Ramayana metaphor ever devised. All of this, by the way, is contrived as an excuse to knock some sense into Shaurya, and, presumably, others his age. In Shetty’s mind, true love can exist only if the man goes on an epic quest to rescue the woman of his dreams from the clutches of another man.

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A still from Rohit Shetty’s Singham Again.

By focusing so narrowly on just one idea, Singham Again doesn’t even begin to peel back the layers of the Gen Z and Millennial psyche. Where are the moments of vulnerability? We couldn’t care less about posturing old men, well past their prime, peddling mumbo jumbo at everybody within earshot. This is a movie, not a neighbourhood park. And how does Shetty think that a generation brought up on liberal, inclusive values would react to the idea of a Muslim villain, or the tired plot trope of macho men rescuing a damsel in distress? Even Deepika Padukone’s thinly written token character has no identity of her own; she is literally the female version of Singham.

Singham Again is the work of a filmmaker (and star) stubbornly refusing to evolve with the times; it represents not only outdated values, but insists that it’s smarter than the people paying money to watch it. That’s a lethal combination, even though the words ‘smart’ and ‘Singham’ have no business sharing the same sentence. No wonder it couldn’t compete with a cringe three-quel directed by someone older.