Hindi mainstream cinema, its key filmmakers as well as the renowned stars are facing a serious dilemma at the present coming up with highly confused films. At one end they are courageously willing and even trying to do something fresh and novel in their new ventures moving ahead of the familiar norms. But on the other, are also not willing to experiment with the ‘set image’ of their stars, actually hampering and diminishing the impact of their every such attempt bringing them back to square one.
We recently witnessed this dilemma in a brave attempt by director Anand L. Rai and Shah Rukh Khan in their ambitious ZERO, where sadly the hero still behaved in the same way as usual despite the fact that he was supposed to be a dwarf. And in the present SIMMBA, we once again get to see the sad confusion, where Rohit Shetty thoughtfully chooses a South Hit TEMPER for his Hindi remake, but refuses or shies away to incorporate its most interesting twist of the second half denying an impressive innovation. Instead Rohit chooses to follow the same old, safe path of the veteran Manmohan Desai or Nasir Hussain, who successfully used to churn out hits based on almost similar plots more than half a century back (when cinema was actually still in its growing age, in just the third decade of its existence if we begin from the 40s).
Moreover in SIMMBA, Rohit heavily relies on the inclusion of a hit character of his previous film (in the name of innovation) and tries to finish off the movie at a louder note without deviating from the age old set formula as usual.
As a result, when you watch SIMMBA as a stand-alone film without having seen its original Telugu movie TEMPER, then you simply have a question that what was so fresh or novel in the original that Rohit got the rights and made a version of it? Putting it differently, since Rohit never uses the most defining twist of the original in his Hindi version, it therefore falls flat and doesn’t offer anything new or not seen before except the climax-cameo.
Besides here again we get to see the otherwise ravishing Sara Ali Khan being there only in the first half for a few scenes and a couple of songs, wherein one is another remade version of an old 90s hit and the second yet again lifted from a cult track of Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (as recently seen in ZERO too).
In short, though the director smartly rectifies the first hour drawback of the original with some different story progression keeping you fairly engaged, he willfully follows the routine post intermission and never dares to try the brave, innovative climax of TEMPER, which actually was it USP making it a big winner in its specific region.
Hence it all depends upon your individual choice or liking, that whether you are looking for something new and fresh in your cinema bought for a high priced ticket or don’t mind watching the typical stuff again and again supported by big names and cameos walking over the same old rotten path.
In short, SIMMBA can only be seen, if you must, for Ranveer Singh’s spirited, likable act, the freshness of Sara Ali Khan in her very few scenes and the social concern it raises regarding the growing number of rapes in our present society. However, since a lot more interesting, thought provoking and intriguing, must watch stuff is available online in your home for a nominal subscription, I would not recommend spending your precious time and money on such strictly average releases offering you nothing new.
Rating : 2.5 / 5 (with the additional 0.5 for both Ranveer Singh and Sara Ali Khan lifting it from a below average avoidable film to an average one time watch.)
Note : Following the same old exploitive practice, the ticket prices were yet again raised by the multiplexes for the film releasing before the New Year celebrations.
Now though the people might have accepted this timely exploitation without thinking of any revolt as such, BTC will continue the tradition of deducting a big one star from such films, not caring about their passionate viewers or end-users.
Hence Net Ratings of SIMMBA : 2.5 - 1 / 5 = 1.5 / 5
