Rating:
3.5/5
Star
Cast:
Sunny
Deol,
Amrita
Rao,
Urvashi
Rautela,
Prakash
Raj,
Johnny
Lever
Director:
Anil
Sharma
There
is
something
to
be
said
about
that
'dhaai
kilo
ka
haath'
which
Sunny
Deol
patented
in
well-made
action
films
like
Ghatak,
Ghayal
and
Gadar
-
Ek
Prem
Katha.
Lately,
his
career
was
eclipsed
by
wrong
choices.
Maybe,
the
'haath'
(hand)
was
not
in
the
right
place.
Back
in
form
with
a
bang
in
Singh
Saab
The
Great,
Sunny
delivers
a
wallop.
Looking
every
inch
the
Sardar
in-charge,
he
furnishes
the
film
with
a
flair
that
is
quite
engaging.
No,
he
doesn't
wrench
off
a
hand-pump
to
thrash
the
goon.
But
yes,
he
does
turn
a
static
jeep
from
back
to
the
front
with
his
bare
hands.
And
guess
what?
He
looks
every
bit
convincing
doing
the
heroic
hijinks
in
a
country
certainly
not
meant
for
the
weak
and
the
infirm.
When
we
first
meet
Singh
Saab
(The
Great)
in
this
non-stop
actioner,
we
are
told
by
his
on-screen
aides
that
Singh
has
formed
a
political
party
called
Aam
People's
Party.
Now,
if
that
reminds
you
of
a
certain
Kejriwal's
Aam
Aadmi
Party,
then
I
am
sure
the
resemblance
is
not
coincidental.
God
knows,
we
do
need
a
change
in
governance
and
in
the
rampant
corruption
in
the
country.
Anil
Sharma's
over-zealous
though
never-misplaced
passion
to
put
across
Sunny
in
a
messianic
mould
works
to
a
large
extent.
The
film
is
an
old-fashioned,
very
simply
written
morality
tale
between
an
idealistic
hero
and
a
villain
who
rules
a
backwater
town
with
an
arrogant
ruthlessness
that
romances
decadence
and
debauchery.
What
works
well
for
the
film
are
the
powerfully
executed
confrontational
sequences
between
Sunny
and
the
arch-villain
Prakash
Raj.
While
Sunny
shows
exemplary
control
in
the
inherently
melodramatic
milieu,
Prakash
Raj
tries
a
variation
on
his
stereotypical
villainy.
He
comes
up
with
a
character
who's
a
Bihari
goon
who
can
at
the
drop
of
a
hat,
break
into
a
song
and
dance
while
executing
the
sleaziest
of
deeds
and
dialogues.
God
knows,
we
need
a
bit
of
humour
in
the
decadence.
It's
a
murky
world
of
compromised
morals
out
there
made
bearable
by
larger-than-life
heroes
who
know
they
are
up
against
impossible
odds,
and
yet
find
a
kind
of
subverted
comfort
in
making
their
unbelievable
hero-giri
credible
by
dint
of
their
powerful
screen
images.
Performance
Sunny
Deol
has
that
kind
of
a
presence.
While
romancing
the
mean,
he
is
also
capable
of
infusing
moments
of
goofy
tenderness
in
his
scenes
with
his
screen
wife,
played
by
a
pretty
and
reasonably
watchable
debutante
Urvashi
Rautela.
Their
glaring
age
difference
is
also
brought
to
chuckling
notice
by
a
script
whose
USP
is
its
determination
to
not
act
over-clever
while
executing
an
old-fashioned
revenge
tale.
Amrita
Rao
struggles
to
give
substance
to
an
under-written
role
of
the
narrator
and
journalist
who
seems
to
have
only
one
assignment,
to
trail
Singh
Saab
(The
Great)
through
his
crusade
against
corruption.
Clearly,
she's
ready
to
fall
in
love
with
the
Missionary
Man,
if
only
the
script
would
allow
her.
You've
seen
the
noble
bureaucratic
hero
in
different
uniforms,
take
on
the
corrupt
villain
in
numerous
films.
What
works
in
"Singh
Saab..." is
the
way
the
action
scenes
flow
in
motions
of
choreographed
contemplation.
Action
directors
Tinu
Verma
and
Kanal
Kannan
lend
a
rigour
to
the
narrative.
While
the
plot
tends
to
sag
under
the
weight
of
italicized
cliches,
the
twists
and
turns
are
negotiated
by
the
technicians
with
ample
aplomb.
The
sound
design
is
deliberately
exaggerated
and
meant
to
manipulate
moments
of
machismo.
S.
Gopinath's
cinematography
captures
the
feverish
flourish
of
men
on
a
rampage
with
gusto.
The
art
director
makes
innovative
use
of
rusty-brown
colours
that
lend
a
bronzed
hue
to
the
brawn
festival.
It
would
be
the
easiest
thing
in
the
world
to
dismiss
Sunny's
pronounced
heroism
as
archaic
and
'loud'.
But
don't
be
hasty
in
your
judgement.
Anil
Sharma
and
Sunny
Deol's
combustive
force
earlier
yielded
the
powerful
Gadar.
This
time,
they
aspire
to
the
same
level
of
dramatic
velocity,
and
succeed
to
an
extent.
There
is
a
virility
and
fluency
to
the
storytelling.
Singh
Saab
The
Great
is
an
apt
homage
to
the
cinema
of
the
1980s
when
the
hero
was
a
daredevil
determined
to
bring
on
a
social
reform.
Somewhere,
that
hero
lost
his
way.
It's
good
to
have
him
back.
Actors:
Sunny
Deol,
Urvashi
Rautela,
Amrita
Rao
and
Prakash
Raj
Director:
Anil
Sharma
IANS