One year old child to a person who takes the last breath - friendship is a relief and joy. The beautiful flower friendship blossoms and flourishes in every corner of this world. Probably it is the best flower in this garden of life. Togetherness and support is unavoidable. Time however can be a villain and create a graveyard for many relationships, including friendship. The story of Krishna and Kuchela (Kusela) is known to everybody and even today the story’s climax brings immense joy in our mind.
In the film Kuselan, P Vasu tells the story of two friends, Superstar Asok Kumar (Rajnikant) and Balu (Pasupathy). They were classmates and in life’s turnarounds one becomes a superstar where the other lives a very poor life since he sticks to his principles. Balu is a barber and he is having an old shop which does not have modern facilities. His wife, Sridevi (Meena) and children lives a happy life though poverty strikes them from every corner. The children could not continue their studies and Balu’s various attempts to improve business doesn’t find any good results. The village gets over excited when superstar Asok Kumar comes to shooting in the nearby village. Soon the village knows that Balu is Asok Kumar’s old classmate and chases him to find a way to reach to the superstar. How the friends meet and how the village witness their friendship is for you to check in theatre.
The movie is a remake of Malayalam hit ’Katha Parayumbol’. It was a simple story nicely portrayed by Srinivasan and Mammootty. (Check my review on ’Katha Parayumbol’ for my opinion on the film). The director repackaged the simple product with glamorous sets and style to satisfy typical Rajni fans, additional dose of comedy, mainly concentrating Vadivelu and additional bit of glamour, mainly focusing on Nayan Tara. Many of these modifications look fine individually. However, in totality it doesn’t contribute to anything substantial where it took away the simplicity of the theme and thereby the film. The story moves in a slow pace in the first half and the second half too don’t impress in the first part of it. Only by the end it started at least an attempt to take the mind of audience but fall a bit short of expectations.
Rajni Kant as superstar was very good. The script didn’t have much action or glamour scenes for him, so he has to limit his enthusiasm for the climax scenes. The climax scene was the life line for the movie impresses to an extent. Pasupathy is the real hero of the film and he did a fine job as the poor barber. Meena was equally impressive. Vadivelu got the next meatier role and he tries his level best but still short of marks. He was able to generate few giggles but of meager standard. Nayan Tara try to capitalize on the small role with her feel free glamour where Prabhu’s presence only added to star value, virtually nothing to do specifically. Rest of the cast did an ok performance. The only problem on the acting (of one and all) was that they were simply overdoing it. Otherwise the cast and performance were adequate.
Music of the film is a let down except for the song Cinema Cinema. Choreography however was impressive. The rain song was creative where the Cinema Cinema song and the other songs on the sets were superbly presented. Few breath taking scenes too were involved.
Cinematography was ok and the sets were very good. Editing could have been better.
The plus points of the film:
1. Rajni Kanth & Pasupathy
Different story.
Sets and choreography.
The climax.
Some technical skills presented in the film.
Minus points:
1. Slow pace. The rewriters didn’t use their creative imagination to tighten the script while rewriting. The story was moving in a slow pace in the original too and while rewriting they could have took care of this.
Low standard comedy. The script even compromised to fit the comedy.
The simplicity of the story given away.
The script got weakened with added parts. In the original, nobody from the crowd was permitted to see the superstar where in Kuselan, a silly Shanmugham (Vadivelu) enter and exits the super star’s rest place without much damage. So was a fraud tribal gang. It looks like by end of the film even black cats got tired and feel sleepy.
Music (except Cinema Cinema).
Kuselan is a strictly average entertainer which one may watch for the different story and Rajnikant. The climax scene will be of interest to those who watches the film for the first time. Don’t expect a class film or a typical Rajni film. It strand somewhere in the middle. The movie worth a watch but not more than once, like many other Rajni films.