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REVIEW: Singh is Kinng

Shahid Khan
8/ 8/2008

'Very happy in my heart dil dance maare re...' Now that is one song (in Akshay Kumar's previous release, Tashan) that would have been right at home in Singh Is Kinng with Happy Singh (Akshay Kumar) grooving away to it. As you can tell, the film is all about being happy, happy, happy!

Director Anees Bazmee has perfected the knack over the years of creating that entertaining timepass comedy.

With Singh Is Kinng, he doesn't disappoint and wisely turns it into the Akshay Kumar show.

This is a helping that we have not been treated to for a while. Sure, you can say that he had his moments in Heyy Babyy, Welcome and Tashan but those films had other stars to consider and it never felt as if Akshay Kumar's heart was entirely in it. Here, he is given full reign and it is obvious that he is relishing it to the full.

Must we talk about the plot? The recent spate of lazily-written comedies have complicated plots that take about four paragraphs to write a synopsis for. And Singh Is Kinng no different with some vague plot about Happy Singh having to leave a village with his best friend Rangeela (Om Puri) to go to Australia to catch an infamous don, Lucky (Sonu Sood) and bring him back home to his suffering parents.

Somehow, Happy ends up in Lucky's shoes and is nicknamed the King. The second half goes in the route of the well-worn love triangle angle with the introduction of Ranvir Shorey, acting as Katrina's fiancee.

There is a strong Punjabi flavour to the humour displayed here. I have a weakness for such type of humour as I am familiar with the language. I do wonder though if somebody who does not know Punjabi would find it as funny.

The humour is all to do with the way the characters speak and Punjabi is a very 'phunny' language (as Amitabh Bachchan once said about a completely different language altogether). The village scenes are a delight to watch and it is a shame that these kind of sequences are always brief. Imtiaz Ali's Jab We Met displayed similar humour and also left the village behind through the travels of the main characters.

In the case of Singh Is Kinng, the characters leave the village to stop by in Egypt and then land in Australia. It's not a bad move as Egypt is a gorgeous country to look at, yet I wonder why the plot had to move overseas. It could just as easily have moved to the next village in the Punjab. Such a turn in the plot means that we are wrenched away from some genuinely funny characters such as the childlike dulha.

I can also sense a struggle on Bazmee's part to continue the village humour and filmi morality in Australia.

There is a vague commentary on the poverty in Australia with gangsters choosing to help out almost-homeless citizens by returning them their livelihoods.

As one of the gangsters comments, all you have to do is step out of the house in India and there are poor people all around you, and in Australia you have to go looking for them. A dubious comment like that shows just how misplaced this subplot is in the terrains of Australia. This is Munnabhai flipped over.

Akshay Kumar is one for memorable entries. After the Raavan-on-a-motorbike entry in his previous feature, here he chases a hen in a classic comical chase that destructs the rest of the village. It is a cracking sequence to watch.

The rest of the cast stick to what they usually do and they do it well. Kiron Kher plays the mother figure to the hilt and Ranvir Shorey is a delight as the obnoxious loser. Katrina Kaif is cute. Sonu Sood has a strong presence as the villainous figure, which unfortunately goes mute in the second half. Om Puri, Javed Jaffrey and Neha Dhupia also lend reliable support.

It's not perfect, it's silly and there are gaping holes in the plot. But is the summer movie of the year worth watching? Sure, go for it.

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