Singham 123 Review

Behind the Movie Singham 123: Social media gave birth to Burning Star of Tollywood that is Sampoornesh Babu who is here with second heroic acts after a hilarious debut ‘Hrudaya Kaleyam.’ Good thing is the association of big names Manchu Vishnu, Mohan Babu and 24 Frames made this spoof ‘Singham 123’ special. Let us see, how great is Sampoo in this?

In the Movie Singham 123: Story takes off introducing Lingam (Bhavani) as a cruel villain ruling the town of Singarayakonda. When Police Power cannot show any effect on Lingam, Government transfers their weapon of special officer Singham 123 (Sampoornesh Babu) to Singarayakonda for tackling Lingam. Here Singham123’s mother (Annapurna) also narrates a silly flashback on how Singarayakonda has an emotional family connect with Singham 123’s lost father Jangam (Prudhvi), yet one more sincere cop defeated in hands of Lingam. So, Singham 123 has one more reason to take revenge on Lingam. In parallel line, there is also a romantic track of Singham 123 with Chandini (Sanam Shetty). 

How attacking is the confrontation between Singham 123 and Bhavani? How many spoofs did director use in generating fun from here on is rest?

Values of the Movie Singham 123: In contemporary terms, ‘Sudigadu’ is the peak and best benchmark for any spoofing our directors and actors give a try at. So, ‘Singham 123’ is a spoof project initiated by Manchu Vishnu only meant to cash on craze of Sampoo achieved by ‘Hrudaya Kaleyam.’ Giving a hand at story and screenplay, Manchu Vishnu took plenty of references from last one decade’s Tollywood heroism in penning this project. However, neither this made any sense nor it had any real fun moments to oblige. Vishnu for sure is a multi talented personality but this isn’t his cup of tea. As a debutant director, Akshat Ajay Sharma showed no encouraging sign in dealing a lackluster script devoid of logics and common sense (Well, is this the definition of a Spoof?). Dialogues by Ratnam are a sort of big relief here and there generating serious fun with sappy imitations. Satish Muthyala’s camera work is apt for a film of this magnitude. Few of action episodes on Sampoo are well shot. Thanks MR Varma for crisp editing to close the film in less than 120 minutes. Music by Seshu is a boilerplate work. Production values of 24 Frames are pretty ordinary, may be in sync with the budget affordable on Sampoo.

About performances, Sampoornesh Babu extended his unusual touch by one more film. He is just passable in timing the comic punches or playful mannerisms. Sampoo still needs to develop a style of own to sustain for long. Heroine Sanam Shetty is a wasted stuff. The romantic track is also ridiculous. Prudhvi entertained in a short role and so is Annapurna. Among the rest Bhavani and Viva Harsha as son of Bhavani were just ok. 

Out of the Movie Singham 123: Having seen loads of spoofs as full length films and special sub plots in successful films, it needed lots of guts for Manchu Vishnu to get convinced in starting a project with Sampoornesh Babu. Ironically, one cannot find a fault in self and Vishnu had no barriers in believing his own story and script to exploit on Sampoo’s craze. Instead of a spineless story, Vishnu just made ‘Singham 123’ stand alone on shoulders of Sampoornesh. Despite presence of brownie points like Sampoo swimming it from a local well to Africa (satire on ‘Magadheera’) or Sampoo killing unrelated members in Bhavani’s family for no purpose (satire on ‘Legend’), the film lacked in riveting the audience. 

First half is a better work from entire team relative to a lousy second half. Any references taken from past hit movies for parody should be healthy enough to create the comedy. However, ‘Singham 123’ leaves an atrocious end mark which can be called as a failed attempt. On the whole, ‘Singham 123’ is a poorly made film with no quality treatment to be called as a comical spoof. By any standards, ‘Sudigadu’ is still a far superior spoof film our industry has ever seen.  

Commercially, ‘Singham 123’ should open to strong collections taking advantage of burning craze for Sampoo. In B and C class centers, it might be raining money for a while. However, metros and urban population are sure to reject.

Cinejosh Verdict of Singham 123: Foolish Spoofing.

Cinejosh Rating: 2.25/5.0

                                                                                                             Reviewed by Srivaas