Simmba Movie Rating
Director: Rohit Shetty
Duration: 160 minutes
Language: Hindi
When a crooked cop is transferred to Goa, he continues with his old ways, accepting bribes from the rich, until tragedy strikes him and makes him mend his ways. The corrupt cop realizes there is more to life than just minting money and he sets out to avenge those who have wronged his sister.
While the three Khans’ magic waned at the box office with Salman’s ‘Race 3’, ‘Aamir’s ‘Thugs Of Hindostan’ and Shah Rukh’s ‘Zero’ bombing at the box office this year, it only seemed like Ranveer Singh would be the film industry’s last hope. The year started off with his power-packed performance in ‘Padmaavat’ and it now ends with him playing the lead in ‘Simmba’. But does the Rohit Shetty-directorial work in favour of the stars in particular or Bollywood of 2018 in general, we need to find out.
‘Simmba’ starts off in Shivgadh, with Sangram Bhalerao aka Simmba (Ranveer Singh) chasing down a few gundas across a dhobi ghat and it doesn’t take us long to figure out that Simmba is no Mr. Goody Two Shoes. A street-smart, orphan-turned-policeman, Simmba is a corrupt cop but with a little difference. No Robinhood this, he accepts bribe from the people who come to seek his help and also from the thieves he is out to arrest. He also doesn’t shy away from the fact that he is crooked in his ways.
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Soon Simmba is transferred to Miramar in Goa, where he is up to his old ways with ‘business’ now booming. He starts to work for the local don Durva (Sonu Sood), kicking people out of their properties for a few bucks, bullying the rich, turning a blind eye towards his benefactor’s ‘side businesses’. A little later, Shagun (Sara Ali Khan) walks into his life. She is a bubbly café owner, who supplies meals to Simmba’s police station. Simmba continues to rob the rich to keep the money for himself, while also romancing the pretty lass every now and then.
A medical student Aakruti (Vaidehi Parshurami), who teaches underprivileged children during her free time, becomes Simmba’s mooh-boli sister. When a few of her students go missing, she begins investigating, which lead her to Durva’s brothers. She ‘pays the price’ for being snoopy and while she is on her death bed in the hospital Simmba realizes it’s now time to stand up for what is right. The corrupt cop then changes over a new leaf and brings the baddies to the book.
This is not the first time we are watching a movie with a similar premise. There have been films with ‘policewala-gunda’ themes before and ‘Simmba’ is just an addition to the already long list. The movie has all the trappings of a Rohit Shetty film, with flashy backgrounds, saucy one-liners and a host of action sequences that are not just gravity and logic defying but also very over-the-top. The potboiler, with a new bankable star (read Ranveer Singh) in town, is totally massy, with catcalls, hoots, seetis and taalis reverberating in the theatre at regular intervals when Singh makes a hero wali entry.
Ranveer Singh is the life of the film and Simmba rides entirely on his square shoulders. The cop, speaking English in a Marathi-Hindi accent, mouthing dialogues that pack quite a punch at places is what makes the film watch-worthy. Sara Ali Khan is refreshing, though she doesn’t have much to do except look pretty and appear on the screen mostly during songs. With a second film in the same month itself and a performance that is strong, Sara is surely here to stay. Rest of the cast is only to provide support. Not one character stands out in this potpourri. Only a quick cameo by the original Singham adds a little to the story.
With Rohit Shetty’s trademark style written all over the film, and some doses of humour, some preachy lines, rehashed versions of old songs and a lot of other things that need explanation, ‘Simmba’ is not a movie that is league se hatke. It is a run-of-the-mill premise that has been tried and tested loads of times before, only this time it falls in line with the current scenario of women across the country.
Not much to write home about, ‘Simmba’, which belongs entirely to Ranveer Singh, who leaves no stone unturned to cash in on the opportunity, is entertaining, though it is strictly a one-time watch.
Eventznu Rates Simmba: * *
