Singham Again: Will Arjun Kapoor’s career get a fresh lease of life

Arjun’s latest film, The Lady Killer, became one of Bollywood’s biggest disasters, securing only 12 shows across India. With no OTT platform interested, the makers had to release it for free on YouTube.

Mumbai: The trailer of the Ajay Devgn-starrer ‘Singham Again’ was released on Monday, and it promises a solid cocktail of entertainment, humour and the signature Rohit Shetty action. While there’s a significant buzz around the film owing to the Rohit Shetty cop-universe, its illustrious starcast and the action set pieces, one thing that isn’t much talked about is Arjun Kapoor’s part in the film.

Ever since his debut with the YRF production ‘Ishaqzaade’, Arjun has faced criticism over his acting abilities and inconsistent box-office performances of his films. While he was praised for his work in ‘2 States’ and ‘Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar’, largely Arjun’s performances haven’t found many takers.

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His last film ‘The Lady Killer’ turned out to be one of the worst disasters from Bollywood. The film, which failed to be put together properly in terms of technicalities, saw only 12 shows across India. In fact, the medium of OTT, which is known to be generous towards films, too refused to take it up for exhibition with the film finally releasing on YouTube.

However, things look promising for Arjun with the trailer of ‘Singham Again’. In the film, he plays a formidable and ruthless villain with a penchant for blood. If it takes the deployment of the whole cop-universe of Rohit Shetty to counter Arjun’s character, it does say something about his part in the film.

One can draw a sharp parallel to the career of Saif Ali Khan for whom things changed with ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ and further with the Vishal Bhardwaj-directorial ‘Omkara’. His stint as Langda Tyagi cultivated him a new fan base.

Saif, who earned the title of “metrosexual” owing to his work in films like ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’, ‘Hum Tum’ and ‘Salaam Namaste’, dug his teeth into the rugged character of Tyagi, and did utmost justice to the western UP sensibilities of the character. It was a 180 degree shift for Saif to go from the image of an urban hero to a scheming villain of the hinterland.

Going by the trailer, Arjun looks in good form, perhaps it looks like the start of a new era in his otherwise dull career. Has he put all his skills to test in order to surprise the audience with an Arjun Kapoor 2.0 or was it just the magic on the edit table of the trailer of ‘Singham Again’?Time will only tell.