Singh is Kinng Hindi Movie

Everything about Singh is Kinng is loud, over-the-top, spicy and downright outrageous- and understandably so- after all, this is a film about a community that embodies all these qualities and as a result, has unfortunately been reduced mostly to a sad cliché on screen. If only it had another quality that the balle-balle boys are well known for- humility, that is. Aug 8, 2008 By Jahan Singh Bakshi

I can already sense the brickbats. What's my problem? Why can't I just sit back and enjoy a no-holds-barred funfest that's sans logic?

Why can't a 'hard-nosed' critic like me take a chill pill and 'leave my brains at home' (I must confess I still haven't figured out how I'm supposed to perform that anatomical impossibility)?

Anyway, why am I cribbing about a film that's so obviously critic-proof?

Let me tell you why. Because, the truth is that I was, in fact looking forward to seeing some genuine balle-balle fun, to jump up from my seat and do the bhangra routine- and generally let my hair down in a way that only we Singhs perhaps can.

Because I don't wince while wholeheartedly declaring that I had thoroughly enjoyed Anees Bazmee's other recent slapstick caper No Entry- it was mostly light, breezy and had some genuinely sharp comic moments. Total paisa vasool- I thought. Unfortunately, I can hardly say the same for this indulgent, vain and messy film that is so full of itself that it can't help but burst from its seams.

Everything about Singh is Kinng is loud, over-the-top, spicy and downright outrageous- and understandably so- after all, this is a film about a community that embodies all these qualities and as a result, has unfortunately been reduced mostly to a sad cliché on screen. If only it had another quality that the balle-balle boys are well known for- humility, that is.

But Singh is Kinng is a film completely oblivious of how embarrassingly awful, unfunny and even racist it sometimes is (though coming from the man who produced and directed the thoroughly racially-offensive Namastey London, it isn't exactly surprising.) For a film that raises the bar for suspension of disbelief by several kilometers, Bazmee's film is mostly unpardonably boring.

What could have saved Singh is Kinng from being the colossal disaster it is, is undoubtedly the man of the moment- Akshay Kumar, and it is truly tragic that he falls way to short of the kind of trailblazing, larger-than-life and spectacular performance he should have delivered. After some twenty odd minutes of Sonu Sood, Javed Jaffery and a dozen others (including a painfully bad Neha Dhupia) fooling around, one was dying to see Kumar weave his hilarious magic, to give the film the adrenalin boost it so desperately needed. But the sheer energy of his performance hardly sustains, and by the time the first hour has passed, this has already ended up being yet another so-so act by the gifted comic actor.

I could go on but I guess it is only wise to stop- cause no matter how much I rant- the writing on the wall is- the cash registers are still going to inevitably rin(n)g.

Rating: *1/2