Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Prakash Raj and Prachi Desai
Deputy Commissioner of Police Rudra Aditya Devraj (Sanjay Dutt) comes into this South Indian town called Nagapuram and takes up cudgels against the reigning don Nagori Subramaniam (Prakash Raj). The don has the top policemen and politicians in his pocket but somehow Rudra manages to outwit and outpunch him. He also finds time to woo and marry a pretty girl Sehar (Prachi Desai), whose only contribution to the film is to be the eye candy.
Policegiri is supposedly a remake of Vikram starrer Saamy (2003). That film allegedly started a trend of tough cop films down South. It’s a remake which has come a decade too late as all its punches have already been seen in films like Wanted, Rowdy Rathore and Singham. Ten years ago, Sanjay Dutt was lean, mean and agile and had a definite sex appeal. Now, he looks middle-aged. As a die-hard fan of Baba I cringed every time he had those romantic moments onscreen with Prachi Desai. Because you could see he wasn’t comfortable. And this was the actor, mind you, whose bare-bodied act in the item number Baarish ka bahana hai from Yalgaar is more talked about than Nagma's jhatkas.
He was slightly better in action scenes. Slightly, because he does retain some of his screen presence. Slightly, because the action scenes were so silly and over-the-top that even Jackie Chan wouldn’t have given them a measure of plausibility.
What Dutt is good at is when he stops taking his character seriously and lets go. His comic timing is still impeccable and his stand-off scenes with the villain Prakash Raj are the saving grace of the film. Prakash Raj is too brilliant an actor to play the patented villain in all these action flicks. He should stop doing it before he gets burnt out. He does seem to be having the time of his life and his comic punches do manage to instil some life in the film but that shouldn’t be the case, right. If all that the viewer gets to look forward to are the villain’s wisecracks then there is something wrong with the film.
Yes, it’s all very massy and catering to the front benches. It might even do well in B and C centres and single screens, but it doesn’t leave the impact of a Dabangg or a Singham. I’m sure Sanjay Dutt doesn’t want such films as a part of his legacy. So for the love of god and movies, he should say no to such proposals in the future. He should stick to Gandhigiri and not policegiri.
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