Leaving behind his successful comedy-formula, director Rohit Shetty makes a switch to the Action genre and shows that he can do well there, too. In this post-millennium era where Bollywood films are increasingly becoming partial to subtlety and grey shades, it was Aamir’s Ghajini, which had first shown that the action-packed Masala flicks still hold their own. Then Salman’s Wanted and Dabbang took this genre to the next level of popularity and now Ajay Devgan decides that it’s high time he too takes a dip in this behti Ganga!

Based on a Tamil hit by the same name, Singham (meaning ‘the Lion’) gives a Marathi makeover to its central characters and does a fair job of it. The story-line is as simple as it gets. An upright cop single-handedly takes on an unscrupulous Mafia don, while rubbing the ‘System’ of corrupt cops and politicians the wrong way!

Shetty keeps the proceedings crisp and mixes action, comedy, romance and melodrama in the right proportions. The only question I had in my mind before watching the film was whether Devgan has it in him to pull off such pot-boilers and he proves that he does have that in him! Right from his well-sculpted body to bone-crunching stunts to his already proven well-rounded acting skills, Devgan shows off everything he has got and more importantly makes the audiences lap it up. Kajal Agarwal as his heroine has a little to do except provide some light romance and good looks.

But half the success of such ‘Good versus Evil’ dramas is in its villain and there Prakash Raj works wonders. He has a great sense of dark humour and that gives his character tremendous appeal. The supporting actors (notably Ashok Saraf, Sachin Khedekar and Murli Sharma ) do well to add some memorable moments.

The end of the film is rather tame for the wonderful build-up but still we (the aam aadmi that is!) leave the theatre quite contented as the movie is indeed a full-on entertainer providing the ticket’s worth! Paisa vasool!