If Si 3 is anything to go by, the previous installments in the Singam franchise would have certainly been …chaotic. And, tedious. That really is why the movie series is brilliant – watch one of them, in a random order – and you really don’t have to bother with the rest. For instance, armed with little to negligible information about Singam‘s prequels, I still knew that:
a) Suriya is a righteous police officer with a menacing stare and a reverse-handlebar moustache.
b) He has punches (both verbal and fisty) for the men, and brotherly Thalapathi-like advice for the women.
c) He’s the eponymous pasichcha mattum thingara Singam (thanks to the trailer that has been playing just about everywhere).
Also, director Hari is quite meticulous that way; he fills the screenplay in Si 3 with a number of references to Singam I and II, in case – just in case – I need some.
I don’t.
Because, after all the footnotes to previous Singams, I come to know that:
a) Suriya is a righteous police officer with a menacing stare and a reverse-handlebar moustache.
b) He has punches for the men, and brotherly Thalapathi-like advice for the women.
c) He’s the eponymous Singam with fists of iron (ongi adicha ondra ton weight da!)
The other running theme?
Noise.
*****
Durai Singam is on yet another rescue mission to save the country in Si 3. A few children die, a woman is molested (almost), a man is killed. All the tragedy, muscle-power and loud violence notwithstanding, there are some rapid cuts. Mute the background score, and you’d still be able to feel the pace – high on energy, and very…spirited? As if that wasn’t enough, the screen splits into two – there’s mind-numbing action on either side of the screen. When Durai Singam version 3 isn’t screaming himself hoarse at villains – along with knock-out verbal punches, he’s shooting everyone in sight.
Of course I exaggerate, but you get the gist.
A car hits a truck, truck hits something else, everything explodes. Singam chases, veers stylishly in front of an airplane on the runway, intercepts it. He goes after villains, who in turn chase down Singam’s family. He’s married now, by the way, but still can’t seem to shake off all the female-fan following. Shruti Haasan (as Agni) stalks him – and Durai Singam lives the perfect Tamil-boy fantasy. He has all the money in the world (courtesy of father-in-law who’d rather bequeath his wealth on him than his daughter) but still chooses to work for the force. Of course, everything Singam does is not without those strong undercurrents of lamentable Tamil pride. For instance, nothing gets a Tamil’s blood up than seeing a woman molested, so the villain grabs a woman’s neck, threatens – he’d grab something else if Singam doesn’t give in. He doesn’t say what.
Because, villain’s probably Tamil too, you see.
*****
Recommended
Singam calls his wife Puli, morphs into a golden lion on screen amidst intense action. He also insults all the wolves and kangaroos in the world, because the villain is Australian. Right there is another popular theme in Tamil cinema. The fixation with big cats. There’s Puli, Paayum Puli, Singam, Mapla Singam – and all those references to singams in songs. Even when the song in question is part of a film called Murattu Kaalai.
But that, I can completely forgive.
*****
The Si 3 review is a Silverscreen original article. It was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the movie. Silverscreen.in and its writers do not have any commercial relationship with movies that are reviewed on the site.