Review of Punjabi film, Super Singh, starring Diljit Dosanjh and Sonam Bajwa, directed by Anurag Singh.

Star cast: Diljit Dosanjh, Sonam Bajwa, Rana Ranbir, Pawan Malhotra, Alexandra B?ndean

Director: Anurag Singh

Producer: Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor, Pawan Gill, Anurag Singh

Music: Jatinder Shah

Genre: Action, Comedy

Running Time: 155 minutes

Synopsis: Super Singh follows the chronicles of Sajjan Singh aka Sam aka Dadd Majri (Diljit Dosanjh) who loves Cathy (Alexandra B?ndean) but Twinkle aka Fattu Dhinga (Sonam Bajwa), his childhood friend loves him. In this love triangle, enters a Pagg (Turban) which possesses mysterious super powers and some politicians in India are after the Pagg. Somehow, the Pagg reaches Canada and falls in Sajjan Singh’s hands. Soon Sajjan realises the powers in him but is unaware of the Pagg for a while which gave him the powers. What follows next is a 2.5 hrs long origin story of the 1st Punjabi Superhero.

Review: Diljit Dosanjh & Anurag Singh once revolutionised Punjabi Cinema year after year for 3 years. And then, Anurag Singh decided to take a break from films. News came that he has now gone to Bollywood and has been signed by a leading production house to make a film with some big stars. Guess what, all of it was hoax and he returned to Punjabi Cinema after 3 long years to give it their 1st Punjabi Desi Super hero, which the fans can call their own. And whether it was a treat to watch or was I disappointed? Read further to know more.

Anurag Singh, the name & the man behind some of the landmark films of Punjabi Cinema, Jatt & Juliet series, Yaar Annmulle, Punjab 1984, returns to the scheme of things after a gap of 3 years. He has written the story of Super Singh. To be honest, he was dealing with a very thin plot line which needed a super hero type miracle in order to stay afloat. The story proved to be the weakest link and the writer was confused to whether write a film for children or for grown up adults and he somehow he fell in between.

The screenplay was co-written by Anurag Singh & Dheeraj Rattan. They have together created magic on screen with the Jatt & Juliet series and tried to recreate some moments from that iconic film series and that was somehow okay. But the superhero sequences and everything was sub standard. No background story of how the Pagg contained superpowers, a child drawing the costume and within a second Super Singh got his costume right and much more child like stuff was hard to believe. Even the biggest of super heroes have had to struggle with their costumes for the initial phase before getting a set costume.

Super Singh has it’s fair share of positives in the story and screenplay. The concept and the idea of a full fledged sikh superhero was essentially very very good and must have sounded good on paper. But I as a reviewer, do not know the whole story behind what went into the making of the film and the constraints the team had to face in order to pull it all of. Also we are a generation which has feeded over those Hollywood tentpoles from Marvel & DC so even if it’s unwanted and unrelated, the human mind makes the comparisons.

The film literally takes you to the Moon and back in the price of a single admission ticket. The dialogues have been written jointly by Anurag Singh, Rupinder Inderjit & Jagdeep Singh. The punches were fresh and probably the dialogues were a saving grace of the film. In short, I expected a lot more from this story, screenplay, dialogues part since a name ‘Anurag Singh’ carries a lot of weightage in Punjabi Cinema.

Coming to Direction, Anurag Singh has pulled off a difficult to execute subject with budget constraints and limited ability of the lead actor (Who is a Singer turned Actor and not a trained actor) with a sincere effort and his effort has not gone wasted. Some of the parts of the film were brilliant and it was a treat to watch however, as I wrote earlier that he was dealing with a very thin plot line and that is where things went haywire. Anurag tries to make a case of human exceptionalism: Only one Out of the Billions has the humanity that can save the universe. But a message like that is hard to believe in a film so utterly lacking in conviction, it probably needed a David Aames of Vanilla Sky or a Scott Lang of Ant-Man or a Peter Parker of The Amazing Spiderman to make a connect to the audiences.

Diljit Dosanjh has had the privilege to play what we can proudly call the 1st Superhero of Punjab/Punjabi Cinema. But what I felt was that he was still in his Jatt & Juliet and Sardaar ji hangover such that Sajjan Singh seemed to be a mixture of the 2. Even Super Singh was very hard to believe. He didn’t have that seriousness of a super hero all throughout the film and suddenly come the climax, and his transformation is unbelievable. Talking about his powers, you name the power and he’s got it all.

Diljit Dosanjh plays Super Singh, a hotshot MBA student from Montreal, chosen by the almighty to become the protector of the Sikh religion and the Planet’s surroundings. He can fly, He can survive a Physical Attack like that of Luke Cage, Bullet cannot touch him like a Wolverine and guess what he can even stop the time and turn into a Quicksilver alike (Remember the recent X-Men films – Days of Future Past & Apocalypse) and much much more.

Sonam Bajwa proved to be another weak link in the film. She portrayed a half-baked character called Twinkle but that’s what female leads do in superhero films. She wasn’t expecting to be the Lois Lane of Man of Steel for the record. She knew what character she was getting into and at the end of the day, if the film earns a few crores she would have yet another successful film in her kitty and that is what matters at the end of the day. Sonam seriously, as a Fan I am tired of seeing you in these big commercial films where you don’t have much to do at all. Please choose sincere films where you can show your glamour as well as some acting skills.

Super Singh also featured a Canadian Actress by the name of Alexandra B?ndean. She plays Cathy and she added the glamour to the film, as if Twinkle’s character wasn’t enough to just add the glamour. Rana Ranbir is an actor with great potential and he should give a miss to such 2-scene characters. Pawan Malhotra was all right in his limited 5-scene role. Rest of the cast was pretty much unknown and new and they all provided the required support.

Music was composed by Jatinder Shah and it was tentpole level disappointing music. The numbers are peppy but mark my words, let some time pass and you wouldn’t remember even a single song in the long term. What’s the use of music in a film which just serves the purpose. Back in the day, Anurag Singh’s earlier films had a quality of music which is played even today at functions, in cars and even to pass time.

VFX of Super Singh was sub standard. But I walked into the hall knowing what to expect because I know the cost of high quality VFX and this film just did not have the budget to meet that level, though it is the most expensive Punjabi film ever made. The Action and Thrills by Parvez Sheikh were just about all right. Some of those things can be done even by a normal hero if you leave out the flying part and super powers, but then what’s the fun of a regular hero doing such beating and punching stuff. Right?

Overall, Super Singh has it’s fair share of good moments but I am afraid to write, the poor moments surpass the good ones and thus Super Singh has turned out to be a disappointing ride for me. Diljit tries hard to be as convincing as a Superhero but I am afraid Punjabi Cinema will have to wait longer to get a proper Superhero. Lacklustre music and a very thin plot line also play spoil sports.