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Tara Singh of Gadar. Kuldip Singh of Border. Nihaal Singh of Jo Bole So Nihaal. Saranjit Singh aka Singh Saab of Singh Saab The Great. #Same guy.
But, the dhai kilo ka haath has now become desi haath. The side effects are the same, though — kisi pe padhta hai toh aadmi uthta nahin, uthh jaata hai. If those biceps uprooted a water pump in Gadar, then here they yank electric poles out of the ground, send sacks of rice spiralling in the air and bring trucks to a halt at the slightest touch. “Yeh desi haath jab kisi pe padhta hai toh ball boundary tak nahin seedha stadium se baahar ho jaata hai!”
The desi haath belongs to Saranjit Singh Talwar (Sunny Deol), a district collector whose posting in the notorious town of Bhadori signals a direct face-off with local don Bhudev Singh (Prakash Raj). Bhudev poisons Saranjit’s wife Minnie (Urvashi Rautela) and frames him in a bribery case. Out of prison years later, Saranjit becomes Singh Saab, a messiah of the poor and helpless. He’s also called ‘Sachchai ka Superman’.
And boy, does he live up to his Superman tag. Singh Saab defies every rule in the gravity book. He yanks a goon off a moving bike and keeps him suspended horizontally in the air for five minutes; he flicks his wrist and sends adversaries flying into space; he jumps high enough to fly right over a truck!
And all the while, director Anil Sharma chooses to show our Superman in slo-mo. The head shakes in slo-mo; the eyes crinkle up in slo-mo; the hand rises in slo-mo; drops of sweat and blood pitter-patter on the ground below in slo-mo. You die in your plex seat… yes, slo-mo.
Sunny does all that he did way back in the ’80s and the only thing that’s marginally improved here (surprise! surprise!) are his dancing skills. Prakash Raj hams through yet another bad man role and all newcomer Urvashi is asked to do is show off her flat abs and bare back before she is bumped off. Amrita Rao fails to pack a punch in her TV reporter act while Johnny Lever, as Sunny’s buddy, gives over-acting a whole new definition.
Singh Saab... will probably run to houseful shows in the remote villages of Punjab. For entertainment, the rest of us will have to rely only on this Twitter joke doing the rounds: ‘Considering Sunny Deol’s current career graph, this film should have been called ‘Singh Saab Degrade’. LOL!
P.S.: If you are brave enough to walk into Singh Saab… this weekend, just watch out for the Sholay in 3D trailer. The biggest Bolly story in a bigger dimension. Coming this January!
ANIL SHARMA ON WORKING BEST WITH BUDDY SUNNY DEOL
Anil Sharma, the director of Singh Saab The Great, was in Calcutta recently. A t2 chat...
Gadar, Hero, Apne... this is your fourth film with Sunny Deol...
Yes, we have done three films together. In between, I made Veer with Salman Khan. After Veer, I was thinking about my next film. Generally my stories originate from the heart. I didn’t want to make a big-budget film, but one with a good story. Singh Saab The Great is a story about a collector who fights against corruption. It is a love story and one about change. It is packed with entertainment and will make the audience laugh and cry.
What’s the secret of your partnership with Sunny?
We both are very honest with our work. We understand each other even without speaking a word. We work best with each other.
Your film releases on the same day as Gori Tere Pyaar Mein with Bullett Raja and R…Rajkumar up next. Not scared of the competition?
The day my first film, Shradhanjali, starring Rakhee Gulzar released, six other big films had hit the screens. Nobody knew me at that time. Toofan and Jaadugar (both starring Amitabh Bachchan) released at the same time with my film Elaan-e-Jung. Gadar released on the same day as Lagaan. There are 100 crore people in India and 50 crore want to watch films! If an entertaining film hits the screens, people will definitely watch it.
The buzz is that you will launch Sunny’s son Karan soon…
It’s too early to talk about it. He is still a kid, so let him grow. There is no point in discussing something that will take place two-three years later.
