Singam

“Singam” (2010) is an action thriller by Hari. Featured Suriya, Anushka Shetty, and Prakash Raj. The film follows a fearless village inspector who is forced to confront a powerful gangster after being transferred to a crime-ridden city.

Duraisingam, also known as “Singam”, is an honest sub-inspector in the calm village of Nallur. While he dreams of eventually taking over his family’s provision store, he becomes a police officer to please his father. He goes into violent situations peacefully and wisely, using knowledge of gang culture to become respected among gang members while protecting his staff from serious harm and violence. When industrialist Mahalingam brings his family to Nallur, his daughters Kavya and Divya get acquainted with Singam, and in a prank in which she annoys him, Singam inadvertently slaps Kavya. This sets off a unique love affair, and before long, Kavya is head over heels for Singam. At the same time, local gangster Mayil Vaaganam attempts to exert his influence in Nallur. Singam’s brave stance against him invites political pressure, and Mayil has him transferred to Chennai in order to rein him in.

In Chennai, Singam is confronted with a completely new world of crime and corruption. While his isolation has made him the target of many of Mayil’s empire, he valiantly faces off against Mayil’s empire. With Kavya’s encouragement and his own ingenious tactics, he takes on the task and arrests Mayil’s brother and saves Divya from a kidnapping. Rising in the ranks, he eventually becomes Assistant Commissioner of the Anti-Kidnapping Task Force. Through this process, Singam earns the respect of his peers and builds up a highly motivated team. In a climax full of operatic confrontations and public outrage, he ultimately gets his man, gunning down Mayil in a police encounter. Though he hands in his resignation and begins to plan the reopening of his village, he is approached by the home minister with a secret assignment, which he takes on.

“Singam” is a rollicking, high-energy cop-action movie that expertly mixes action, emotion, romance, and police drama. Suriya brings intensity and passion to the role of the goody-goody cop who refuses to relent. With an able combination of poignant dialogues and intelligent direction, the film strikes the right chords and hooks you effortlessly.