‘Simmba’ Critics Review: Ranveer’s Energy Is the Only Saving Grace

Is it a thumbs up or a thumbs down from the critics?

Ranveer Singh in a still from Simmba. 

Film: Simmba
Director: Rohit Shetty
Cast: Ranveer Singh, Sara Ali Khan

Read excerpts from reviews of Simmba here:

<em>Simmba</em> falters badly when it tries to be a meaningful social drama with a message that rings out as loud as the background score... Ranveer Singh’s energy and flamboyance ensure that <em>Simmba</em> appears more engaging than it often is, and Ajay Devgn’s well-timed cameo rescues the film from being a write-off. <em>Simbba</em> is all about its male movie stars. Sara Ali Khan has fewer scenes than some of the other characters, including Siddharth Jadhav as a member of Simmba’s posse. The movie has no use for her Shagun – so much for being on the side of women.&nbsp;

Nandini Ramnath, Scroll

Singh’s an easy choice to play <i>Simmba</i>. Grinning sheepishly from under his whiskers, he completes the small town cop with just the right accent. That he has a winning comic timing helps a lot but even when the film takes a preachy turn, he hangs in there and ensures his character responds to the situations as earnestly as possible... It’s not a film that will encourage one to rethink fundamental theories or alter societal thought, even though it aspires to be at one point. But it’s surely a masala entertainer that packs in laughs, drama, dishooms and a lot more — now that’s more than you can expect for a multiplex ticket. &nbsp;

Kunal Guha, <i>Mumbai Mirror</i>

Like most rape-and-revenge melodramas, <i>Simmba</i> uses the heinous crime as a dishonest hash-tag; it is designed to exploit the current mood of a nation that often lets movies be its moral science textbooks... The most disheartening part about <i>Simmba</i> is its bipolar pursuit of relevance. The setup <i>was</i> the film; there was no need to embrace the guileless-sermon path. Just letting Singh play the fool, without hindrance, might have finally lent credence to the Rohit Shetty School of non-storytelling. A goofy, lighthearted spoof – or at least a lighter sense of self-importance – might have sufficed. I will perhaps never understand the obsession of mainstream filmmakers to pack as many genres as possible into a single movie. The shift in tone is almost always jarring. &nbsp;

Rahul Desai, Film Companion

(Source: Scroll, Mumbai Mirror, Film Companion)