Simmba movie review: Ranveer Singh makes this jaded thing sing

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Simmba movie cast: Ranveer Singh, Sonu Sood, Ashutosh Rana, Sara Ali Khan, Nandu Madhav, Ashwini Kalsekar
Simmba movie director: Rohit Shetty
Simmba movie rating: 2 stars

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In Singham Returns Again, oops, sorry, Simmba, a police officer sloughs off his rough-and-ready skin and emerges as the savior of the poor and meek. Wait, havent we seen that before? Bad question, because this one could just as well have been called Singham part 3.

Except its Ranveer Singh, not Ajay Devgn, who plays Sangram Bhalerao aka Simmba, street-smart orphan turned cop, who shows up in a Goa police station to do the following: a) eye pretty lasses b) mouth taali-seeti dialogue c) play around with the baddies before thumping em good d) mouth taali-seeti dialogues. Wait, we said that before.

And weve seen it all before. The set-pieces are familiar. The clashes between the bad guys and the cops coated with the vardi-ki-aan-shaan-baan lines are the same. The background music which drowns out everything is right there. To remind us of before, actors who own popular hit songs are rustled up to shake a leg, and to top it all, the original cop-who-walks-slo-mo-like-a-panther comes on to tell the rookie how its done.

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The only reason to watch Simmba then, is Ranveer Singh. In his sharp moochh sticking up at both ends, shiny bronzed face, broad shoulders filling out, eventually, the khakee uniform, Singh is Simmba. Striding into cop stations, wading into goondas, losing his heart to the girl across the road Shagun (Ali Khan), Singh is fully alive to the moment, knowing that he is working in a template, aware that he has to keep breaking out.

A solid turn by Ashutosh Rana as a cynical weary old cop lifts the film as he shares significant screen space with Singh. Shetty slings in a rape-of-an-innocent as a tipping point, and we have no doubt which way our hero will swing. This makes the film turn mawkish: heavy-handed sentiment doesnt suit Shetty. We want our cars-tumbling-in-the-air back.

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Sara Ali Khans second appearance in the same month (after Kedarnath) proves that she is no fluke. She switches on the sparkle, and gets a few lines and a song or two, which is what female leads have to be content with in these testosterone-heavy muscle-bound movies. Now that shes got her mainstream chops, maybe she will be careful to retreat to films where she has more to do: masala-coated formula has a way of swallowing up freshness.

Finally, it is Singh that makes this jaded thing sing.

Original Article