Singham Returns (2014) is the sequel to 2011's Singham. It's also the second movie in director Rohit Shetty's "Cop Universe" a police-focused cinematic universe which is only slightly less realistic than the Avengers movies. It doesn't reference the previous movie at all, though, and doesn't feel like a sequel, so it works just fine as a standalone film.
DCP Bajirao Singham (Ajau Devgn) is an incorruptible, unstoppable supercop, like Shaktimaan with a badge. He even has a similar code, believing that he's here to stamp out crime rather than criminals. He is a bit more prone to feats of operatic violence than Shaktimaan is, though, and even Shaktimaan doesn't lecture people quite so much. Singham and his right hand man Daya (Dayanand Shetty) are first seen dealing with a gang of young hoodlums who have stolen a policeman's hat. This gives Singham the chance to nobly refuse a bribe, and to let the kids off with a warning, an act of mercy which is absolutely going to pay off before the end of the movie.
It's election season, and saintly politician Gurukant "Guruji" Acharya (Anupam Kher), Singham's old teacher with a name that translates roughly as "Teachy McTeacherface", has assembled a slate of bright young idealistic candidates. This does not please his coalition partner Prakash Rao (Zakir Hussain.) But Singham doesn't have time for politics; he's busy investigating the death of Constable Mahesh Jadhav (Ganesh Yadav), who was found dead in a submerged ambulance filled with cash. The press immediately jump to all the wrong conclusions, and Singham's quest to clear the constable's name leads him to the spectacularly corrupt religious guru, Satyaraj Chander (Amole Gupte).
Meanwhile, Singham's parents have arranged a potential engagement to spunky hairdresser Avni (Kareena Kapoor at her Kareena Kapooriest.) While they do like each other, they both agree that they're not ready for marriage yet, but that's not enough to save them from sitcom shenanigans!
Singham Returns is a cop movie, but it follows the beats of a superhero movie, complete with an extended "Singham No More?" subplot. It's also every bit as much of a fantasy as anything Marvel has ever produced; the carefully choreographed slow-motion violence is an action staple, but this is a movie about political corruption in which every single police officer is good and virtuous, so there's no reason to worry even if the entire police force decides to step outside the law in order to bring vigilante justice to politically untouchable criminals. It works in the movie, because it's a movie and the script is written so that this is fully justified and the correct choice, but in the real world, it's a terrifying concept. I'd almost rather take my chances with Thanos.
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