Singh Saab the Great[a] is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language action drama film directed by Anil Sharma. The film stars Sunny Deol, Amrita Rao, Urvashi Rautela and Prakash Raj as main characters. The film marks the return of Sunny Deol to the action genre after a long time. Also, Deol and Sharma paired up once again after Gadar: Ek Prem Katha. The film narrates the story of a ex-collector who decides to teach a lesson to the man, because of whom his wife died, by reforming him. The film's story and screenplay have been written by Shaktimaan Talwar, and the action sequences have been directed by Tinu Verna and Kanal Kannan. The music has been provided by Anand Raj Anand and Sonu Nigam. Amisha Patel was supposed to play the lead role but backed out due to ever-changing schedules. The film was released officially on 22 November 2013.[5]
| Singh Saab the Great | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Anil Sharma |
| Written by | Shaktimaan Talwar |
| Produced by | Anuj Sharma Sangeeta Ahir Jayantilal Gada |
| Starring | Sunny Deol Urvashi Rautela Prakash Raj Amrita Rao |
| Cinematography | S. Gopinath |
| Edited by | Ashfaque Makrani |
| Music by | Anand Raj Anand Sonu Nigam |
Production companies | Pen Studios Mangalmurti Films |
| Distributed by | Eros International |
Release date |
|
Running time | 150 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi[1] |
| Budget | ₹25 crore[2] |
| Box office | ₹40.67 crore[3] |
The film also notably competed at the 2014 Pyongyang International Film Festival in North Korea in the main Best Film category.[6]
Plot
editA common man works as a tax collector in a small city. A TV journalist, Shikha Chaturvedi, uncovers the mysterious hero's backstory. It starts in a small village named Chironji, with a small argument about food issues in a village caused by a local goon named Jatta Singh (Shahbaz Khan) when Singh Saab (Sunny Deol) makes his grand entry. Singh Saab is an honest, noble, and loyal man. Above all else, he lives his life on honest principles, and that makes him a messiah of common people. He came with an offer from his movement named People's Beat, which is for a noble cause, and approached Jatta Singh to let the goods from his factories be used for a good cause. This enrages Jatta Singh and attacks Singh Saab. He denies hitting back to honor the day, which was 2 October, Non-Violence Day. But things got messy, and Singh Saab and Jatta have a duel.
Then they get several invitations, one from Bhadhori, which upsets him, and a TV reporter named Shikha Chuturvadi (Amrita Rao) approached to him and believes that he is living a noble life as a hoax. Then he was shaken and decided to tell her about the story of his life revolving around the name Bhadhori. It flashes back to 7 years earlier, the time when he was known as Saranjeet Singh Talwar, an IAS officer. He was travelling with his loving wife Minnie (Urvashi Rautela) to a small city, Bhadhori, where he was transferred as the Collector. There he starts a court of justice for action to be taken against corrupt individuals.
There he meets a gangster alias a crime lord named Raja Dadta Bhudhev Singh (Prakash Raj). He has an excise of Rupees 32,029,000 to pay, and he threatens Saranjeet to open his factories otherwise he will do something to his sister and ruin her marriage. This enrages Saranjeet, and he then slaps Bhudhev, which led to a threat to ruin Saranjeet's life and will make him squeal. Things get messy when Bhudhev kidnaps Saranjeet's sister's father-in-law and makes him to obey his order to mix poison in the ritual of feeding sweets to the daughter-in-law and son, or the whole family will be poisoned. He tries but attempts to fail and Saranjeet finds that things are fishy. He is called by Bhudhev and finds out that Minnie was poisoned, by the cause of her drink being spiked with poison.
They rush her to the hospital and Bhudhev has made a deal to exchange the order of his factories' release for Dr. Anand, the neurosurgeon, to perform the surgery for Minnie's survival. Saranjeet agrees for Minnie's unstable condition. But, it gets too late and Minnie passes away. Saranjeet is heartbroken and had found an old letter written by his wife during her last minutes. Furious, Saranjeet goes to Bhudev and attacks him. He is then sentenced for 16 years of imprisonment.
But, one day he met his old friend, Mohammad Iqbal (Rajit Kapur) who was the jailor official, and recommended bringing change instead of taking revenge. Now in present day, he is a dedicated man towards bringing a noble change to the society. Singh Saab defeats Bhoodev and his men, who abducted Simar and her son. He rescued her from falling off through the bamboos, Thus teaching Bhoodev Singh a lesson and leaves Bhadori for happy life at the end.
Cast
edit- Sunny Deol as Saranjit "Singh Saab" Talwar aka Sunny, Beeji (by Simar)
- Amrita Rao as Shikha Chaturvedi
- Urvashi Rautela as Minnie Talwar, Saranjit's wife
- Prakash Raj as Bhoodev Singh
- Anjali Abrol as Simar / Guddie
- Johny Lever as Gulwinder /Gullu
- Sanjay Mishra as Murli
- Rajit Kapur as Jailer Mohammad Iqbal
- Manoj Pahwa as Govardhan
- Yashpal Sharma as Lallan Singh
- Shahbaz Khan as Jatta Singh (Special Appearance)
- Amit Behl as Vasiyat
- Raj Premi as Sultan
- Alan Kapoor as Ashwini
- Anukool Jain as Press Reporter
- Simran Khan as an item number "Khaike Palang Todh Pan"
- Satya Vrat Mudgal as Rampal
- Dharmendra in a (guest appearance) in song "Daaru Band Kal Se"
- Bobby Deol in a (guest appearance) in song "Daaru Band Kal Se"
Music
editThe soundtrack album was composed by the music director Anand Raj Anand and Sonu Nigam composed the title track of the movie while the lyrics were penned by Kumaar. The music was launched on 29 Oct 2013. The album contains six songs.
| Track # | Title | Composer | Lyrics | Singer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Singh Saab The Great" | Sonu Nigam | Kumaar | Sonu Nigam, Teesha Nigam |
| 2 | "Daaru Band Kal Se" | Anand Raj Anand | Kumaar | Sonu Nigam |
| 3 | "Palang Todh" | Anand Raj Anand | Kumaar | Sunidhi Chauhan, Anand Raj Anand |
| 4 | "Jab Mehndi Lag Lag Jaave" | Anand Raj Anand | Kumaar | Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal |
| 5 | "Daaru Band Kal Se (Remix)" | Anand Raj Anand | Kumaar | Sonu Nigam |
| 6 | "Heer" | Anand Raj Anand | Kumaar | Sonu Nigam |
Reception
editSingh Saab The Great received mostly positive reviews from critics. David Chute of Variety praised Deol's action sequences.[7]
NDTV rated the movie as 3.5/5 stars, saying, "There is a virility and fluency to the storytelling. Singh Saab The Great is a homage to the cinema of the 1980s when Sunny was macho."[8] Filmfare gave the film 4/5 stars, saying "SSTG is a mass entertainer. It's a Sunny Deol vehicle. Sunny Paaji is obviously on top of this game. His comedy punches, stirring Punjabi dialogues are all over the top but perfectly suitable in context of film".[9]
The Times of India gave the movie 3/5 stars, stating "Like all films that talk of reforming society, Anil Sharma's Singh Saab the Great has its heart in the correct place. Sunny Deol's earnestness shines, throughout the duration of this melodrama".[10] Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave a 3.5/5-star rating and wrote "Singh Saab the Great is a typical Sunny Deol film that a section of the audience still enjoys. The clap worthy dialogue, the raw appeal, the undercurrent of emotions and of course, the Dhaai kilo ka haath should appeal to those who relish desi fares, especially the single screen audience".[11]
Box office
editThe film's total box office collections totaled approximately ₹40.67 crore in India on a ₹25 crore budget.[12]
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ The film was originally titled Singh Sahib/Sahab the Great, but objections were raised by the Akal Takht, the highest Sikh religious body over the use of the term sahib - an honorific in the religion. The title was changed to use "saab", a hypocorism of sahib.[4]
References
edit- ^ "SINGH SAAB THE GREAT Main language- Hindi". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
- ^ "Singh Saab the Great Box Office Collection till Now | Box Collection". Bollywood Hungama.
- ^ "Singh Saab the Great Box Office Collection till Now | Box Collection". Bollywood Hungama.
- ^ "Sunny Deol film now 'Singh Saab' instead of 'Singh Sahib'". Hindustan Times. 22 November 2013.
- ^ "Singh Saab the Great Movie: Review | Release Date | Songs | Music | Images | Official Trailers | Videos | Photos | News - Bollywood Hungama". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 9 January 2012.
- ^ "Pyongyang International Film Festival". pyongyanginternationalfilmfestival.com. 13 November 2015. Archived from the original on 13 November 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Chute, David (24 November 2013). "Film Review: 'Singh Saab the Great'". Variety. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
- ^ Subhash K Jha (22 November 2013). "Singh Saab The Great movie review". NDTV. Indo-Asian News Service. Archived from the original on 22 November 2013.
- ^ "Movie Review: Singh Saab the Great".
- ^ "Singh Saab The Great movie review: Wallpaper, Story, Trailer at Times of India". The Times of India. Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
- ^ "Singh Saab The Great (2013) | Hindi Movie Critic Review By Taran Adarsh". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 1 September 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
- ^ "Singh Saab the Great Box Office Collection till Now | Box Collection". Bollywood Hungama.