There is not a single subtle bone in Singham Again’s action-packed, slo-mo-loving body. While over-the-top has always been the signature of not only the Singham films but also of director Rohit Shetty’s cinema as a whole, Singham Again takes it to level next. Which really isn’t a good thing from the point of view of the art and craft of cinema but perhaps works in giving fans of this kind of filmmaking ample bang for their buck.

Shetty’s films have often been (rightly) accused of having little or no plot, of sacrificing flights of storytelling for flying cars, of nuance for excessiveness. The Singham franchise is no different. The existence of these films has primarily been to showcase its leading man as an ethically strong, no-nonsense super cop, one who wears his Maharashtrian identity proudly on his sleeve and keeps his emotions for Hindustan close to the heart that beats under his lion-tattooed chest.

Singham Again, however, does have a semblance of a plot. One that is as old as the Ramayan itself. In fact, it is the Ramayan that forms the nucleus of Singham Again. All the players in the film — led by Ajay Devgn’s Bajirao Singham as Ram, his wife Avni, played by Kareena Kapoor Khan, as Sita, and Arjun Kapoor’s Raavan — are modelled on characters of Valmiki’s historical epic written between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE.

Shetty, well aware of the nationalistic wave sweeping across large parts of the country, fashions a film that draws parallels between the story of Lord Ram and Bajirao Singham’s latest mission, the common link between the two being that they are both accounts of good triumphing over evil.

In these times of knee-jerk outrage, the makers tread with caution right from the beginning, with the almost mile-long opening disclaimer claiming, among other things, that: ‘Although the film is inspired by the story of Lord Ram, neither its narrative nor its characters should be viewed as revered deities.’ That such a disclaimer needs to be put in doesn’t speak highly of the IQ of our audiences. The Singham films, anyway, have always been low on IQ.

There is, predictably, nothing new in this story. The attempt to link the daredevilry of a group of larger-than-life, death-defying (and consistently gravity-defying) cops with Ram’s army of loyal aides, chief among them being Hanuman, Garuda, Sugreev and so on, starts weak and remains so, often coming across as a force-fit exercise.

In Singham Again, there is none of the nuance and hence little of the impact that one witnessed in a similar narrative device in Rang De Basanti, in which, almost 20 years ago, director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, drew a parallel between the rebellion of a group of angst-ridden youngsters revolting against a corrupt political system to the uprising against the British many decades before, led by freedom-fighter brave hearts Chandra Shekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Ashfaqulla Khan and Shivaram Rajguru.

Returning a decade after Singham Returns, Singham Again kicks off, true to tradition, with a dhamakedaar entry for Devgn. Posted in Kashmir, Singham takes on a gang of terrorists and after an action-packed encounter complete with a signature-Singham car chase, he nabs terrorist outfit leader Omar Hafeez (Jackie Shroff), who vows revenge in more ways than one and warns of a lethal adversary who is counting down to Singham’s destruction.

Post this operation, Singham is made the head of a special anti-terrorism unit called ‘Shiva Squad’. His wife Avni, who works for the culture ministry, spearheads an initiative called the ‘Ram-Leela Project’, which aims to enlighten, specifically youngsters, that Ramayan has its roots in our subcontinental history and is not merely a fictional story.

Shetty, employing the style and scale he is known for, goes all out in Singham Again. Every actor, whether an indelible part of ‘Rohit Shetty’s Cop Universe’ or a new entrant, gets a banger entry, a few catchy lines and a chance to refer to Singham as their ‘lifelong hero’.

Deepika Padukone’s Shakti Shetty aka ‘Lady Singham’ is a colourful and slightly demented version of Singham, while Satya (Tiger Shroff) shows off his peak action skills in his introduction scene. Their screen time, surprisingly, is pretty limited.

With the film named after him, it is not a surprise that it is Devgn who dominates almost every frame. The overall sentiment of the film enables Singham Again to rehash and rework some lines that Bollywood first discovered in Vicky Kaushal’s Uri. These include been there-heard-that ones like “Yeh naya India hain, hum ghus ke maarte hain” and “India doesn’t negotiate with terrorists”. In the film’s initial moments, a Kashmiri youth steps forward to tell Singham: “Patthar phekna old-fashioned hain. Hum naye Bharat ke naye Kashmir hain.”

The action in Singham Again, as one would expect, stands out. But then again, it offers little of what is new. A lot of it involves sprinting in slow motion, launching oneself in the air and staying there in a state of suspended motion and most often than not resulting in a nonchalant slitting of throats. An ambush of a police station is well executed, marking Arjun Kapoor’s entry as a terrorist named ‘Danger Lanka’. Arjun has more screen time compared to many other actors in the film and while there was the danger that his character could have veered into comical-meets-crazy territory, Arjun — who has rarely won praise for his acting — does a good job reining it in.

A primary, and rather unwelcome, ‘character’ in Singham Again is Ravi Basrur’s grating background score. Loud chants of ‘Singhaaaaaaam’ and ‘Raavaaaaaaan’ play out every time the specific players make their way to the screen. Granted that this film is as subtle as a sledgehammer, but why endanger our ears, especially when a large part of the film is anyway an assault on the other senses?

The good thing about Singham Again is that it runs at a crisp 144 minutes. The protracted climax, which brings in Akshay Kumar’s Sooryavanshi, along with Simmba, played by Ranveer Singh, has Rohit Shetty tapping into his kid-at-the-videogame-arcade sensibility, with flying cars, flying helicopters and, of course, a car flying over a helicopter. It is also a long advertisement for sando ganjis and Ray-Ban aviators.

Singham Again is partly rescued by some of its humour, most of which is courtesy Ranveer’s Simmba. Armed with some sparkling lines, Ranveer plays Simmba in the way only he can. At one point, he tells Singham: “You are the super cop. I am the robocop. Together we are lethal weapon”. Shetty and dialogue writer Milap Milan Zaveri also throw in some Easter eggs and real-life references. When Simmba is ‘accused’ of wearing “sharafat ke kapde”, he retorts with: “Kapde pehnu toh problem, na pehnu toh problem,” addressing the well-known criticism of Ranveer’s off-screen sartorial choices.

However, some interesting casting choices are woefully wasted. These include Dayanand Shetty, CID’s Daya known for his predilection to kick open doors, as a cop as well as The Family Man’s Chellam sir (played by Uday Mahesh), in the part of a secret agent.

Singham Again ends with a much-talked-about cameo and directly spells out what the next film in the franchise will be about. The question that remains: have we permanently signed up to watch more crossovers, star cameos and universes or will we, for once, demand more (better and different) out of big-budget, star-studded Bollywood?