Director: Anees Bazmi

Whatever else it notches up, Singh Is Kinng will always and forever be known as the first Hindi film in Punjabi : everyone talks as if sarson da saag is coming out of their mouths.

Oye, gal sun. Happy Singh ( Akshay ) is packed off from his village, with his middle-aged pal ( Om Puri ) in tow, to Australia. (Note : Bollywood's denizens do not go to Sydney, Melbourne and so on ; they just to go to Australia). Their mission: to fetch a certain Lucky Singh (Sonu ) back to the pind. This Lucky, oye, he's this master-criminal who lives in a gilded palace with a bunch of goons, surrounded by a lake, which can only be reached by a motorboat.

But before Lucky and friend land in Australia, they take a detour to Egypt. Oye, aise kaise? Eddan.(That immortal phrase, in case you didn't know, means like that only). But that's what is called a rhetorical question. Anees Bazmi and Vipul Shah, director and producer, are showing us the sights of Egypt (not Cairo; Egypt, okay? ), while getting Akshay and Katrina to dance right in front of the pyramids.

There must have been a script when they started out (you hope), but within a few minutes, you know that the trio of the superhit Namaste London (Shah, Akki, and Kat) have come together again to do a repeat. Get ol' Akki to do the bumbling, good-hearted village bumpkin, Kat to do her feisty cockney-accented leggy lass, and Shah to do his mera bharat mahaan act, designed to bring a lump to the throat, and bingo, Singh will be King.

Namaste London worked because Shah waved the patriotic flag with some fervour, and both Akshay and Katrina looked interested, really interested, in each other. He wore a deep fuschia lungi, and carried himself and the attire with verve. And she had the time of her life, getting him where she wanted. This time around Akki's Lucky—fancy turban, skinny jeans, and embroidered jackets-- is more interested in building himself up, rather than the character. The pink paisley kurtis, the juvenile lines ( he gets to describe Katrina as -- " bahar se bhola, andar se bambola') and the occasional drollery which makes you laugh, are not enough. With this one, Akshay's started down the dreaded same old, same old path.

Kat feels fresh when she first comes on, but quickly rolls over and gives up. Poor Ranvir Shorey looks uncomfortable with all the sneering and growling he's made to do: it's so not his thing. Om Puri is making a bad habit of playing the sadsack sidekick : he gets to call everyone kanjar, and dangar. And a song, right in the beginning, frontlines another beloved Punjabi phrase—bhootni de.