Singh Is Bliing: Nothing so Blingy, But Akshay Shines

Akshay Kumar just like Govinda in the 90’s has created a niche in his kind of comedy and “Singh Is Bling” is a step forward to the same.

Prabhu Deva & Akshay Kumar combo in their last outing “Rowdy Rathore” (2012) was a huge hit. This time Prabhu Deva takes the flavour of “Singh Is King” of an innocent Sardar, Raftaar Singh and mixes it with his kind of masala and presents “Singh Is Bling”. The premise primarily tells us the story of a good hearted but good for nothing Raftaar Singh (Akshay Kumar) who is sent to Goa by his father to work at his friend’s casino. Things change for him when he is given the task of taking care of Sarah (Amy Jackson), daughter of a don Rana (Kunal Kapoor) who comes to Goa from Romania in search of her mother. The comedy of errors which entails constitutes the rest of the movie….

Story & Screenplay by Shiraz Ahmed is like a series of events interwoven into a script, with lack of consistency and cohesiveness. Though the comic sequences does give you enough laughs and keeps you entertained. The first half is breezy and keeps you entertained; it is the second half when the script starts to slip when unnecessary characters are introduced and little bit of emotions is thrust on us. The emotional sequence fails to connect. Some of the sequences are put with no relevance to the overall story like Emily’s sleep walking sequence takes up screen time for no rhyme or reason, or the Punjab sequence when Raftaar takes Sarah to his home, which is stretched with unnecessary song sequence. The climax is a bit over the top what with a single man fighting with dozen men, too farfetched to be true. But overall Shiraz tries to keep the entertainment quotient intact and is successful partially.

It is Chintan Gandhi’s dialogues which are like the cherry on the cake, which complements the screenplay which is essential for a comic caper. Rather it is the dialogues which make a few mundane sequences in different light, especially the sequences when Emily is translating the English to Hindi for Raftaar Singh….

Akshay Kumar is the star of “Singh Is Bliing” and his portrayal of Raftaar Singh, is the reason to watch the movie, it is funny, it is witty and full of paisa vassol entertainment. Akshay again proves that amongst his contemporaries he is the best in comic timings. He yet again proves his verstatlity, whether it is the undercover agent in “Baby”, or an emotional man in “Brothers” or the crusader in “Gabbar Is Back”, or a naive Sardar in “Singh Is Bliing”, he is impressive in each and every role that he has done, kudos to Akshay Kumar for choosing such versatile roles and doing justice to them. Another good performance is by Lara Dutta as Emily the geeky translator; she yet again proves her penchant for comic timings and does an excellent job. Amy Jackson as Sarah has nothing much to do in histrionics department, she just looks good and does some amazing stunts, which is all that she does. Rati Agnihotri as Raftaar Singh’s mother does her bit well. Arfi Lamba & Anil Mange as Raftaar Singh’s friends is very good and they compliment Akshay’s act. Yograj Singh as Raftaar Singh’s father is very good and does complete justice. Kunal Kapoor who appears in Bollywood after a long hiatus as Sarah’s father is impressive but sounds too much like his grandfather Prithviraj Kapoor. Kay Kay Menon as Mark hams unnecessarily all throughout the movie and is one of the worst performances of movie. Rest of the cast like Murli Sharma & Pradeep Rawat do a good job…Overall it is the performance of the ensemble cast which makes the movie a worth watch…

Dudley’s cinematography captures Punjab, Goa and Romania beautifully and gives that glamour quotient to the movie.

Music is another highlight of the movie, but Sneha Khanwalkar’s “Tung Tung Baje” which has the feel of Punjab throughout the song and “Aaja Mahi” the love song by Manj Musik are the best tracks of the movie….

Prabhu Deva breaks his mould of south Indian masala Bollywood movie maker and tries it differently with a bit of more northern touch and it works to some extent, but it is Akshay Kumar who shines through and makes the movie his own with his sheer enthusiasm and dedication….I will go with 3 stars (One additional star for Akshay Kumar)

Movie Rating: (3 / 5)