From wikipedia: A supernova is a stellar explosion that creates an extremely luminous object. may briefly out-shine its entire host galaxy before fading from view over several weeks or months.
I watched Sivaji yesterday. Typical Shankar story about a man who wants to clean up the system - in this case, Sivaji(Rajinikanth), an NRI return, wants to build hospitals and colleges to benefit the poor. How he achieves this while obstructed by politicians and a nefarious business tycoon is the basic storyline.
"Cool" factor:
Rajini’s trademark style, delivered on a grand scale. Gum pop, coin toss, the works!
Comedy. Vivek was awesome. The rest who put in brief appearances were all good(Livingstone was hilarious as a cop).
Shreya. She looked very desirable!:)
Motta Rajini was super kalakkal. Rajini appears in this avatar during the last 20 minutes of the film, and he looks very dashing. He had some great lines too.
Songs picturization, esp the adhiradi, "vella" rajini, and vaji songs. They have spent a lot of money, and it shows to great effect! Adhiradi and the "vella" rajini songs especially were supercool, alone worth the price of the ticket($13 here in Austin)
Suman, the villian was very good, especially where he sheds his suave image and takes matters into his own hands in a few scenes.
Rajini’s imitation of MGR, Sivaji, and Kamal was really hilarious.
Makeup. Rajini did look relatively young in some of the songs/scenes. There were scenes where he looked exactly like the Rajini in the movies Moondru Mugam and Netrikkan that made me go "wow!".
Uncool factor:
Storyline: same old same old. I was really disappointed in the story itself, especially some of the sequences - they were really dumb and disappointing. Even a 1/2 hour brainstorming session involving people with average intelligence would have rectified these. sad that they didn’t think it was necessary. I expected at least that from Shankar.
Rajini’s interactions with the Shreya family. Rajini looks old in a number of scenes, and frankly, it is embarassing to see him, especially when close to a "flower" in the prime of her youth like Shreya! Didn’t seem to bother the diehard fans though. Rajini had magnetic eyes earlier in his career, but in recent movies including this, he just looks shifty-eyed when someone mentions his eyes and the camera zooms to his eyes.
Songs: Not up to par. 2 or 3 songs were good, and enhanced by the picturization, but overall a disappointing album. The Balelakka song was just plain bombastic bordering on silly(as opposed to, say, oruvan oruvan mudhalali which was majestic)
Overall a "must watch" just for the scale of the effort, and I think this might be Rajini’s last film on this scale. My reference to a supernova in the beginning was not just for the movie, but Rajini’s career itself. Time will tell!:)
Lastly, Rajini should work a bit on his Tamil pronunciation. His English has improved in leaps and bounds since his Dharmayuddham days(anyone remember his "yarold robbins" comment in that movie?):)
In Sivaji I was a bit confused when he went on and on about people not passing on their worries to the government. It took me a while to figure out he meant "vari", not "worry"! And I almost fell off my chair laughing when he decided to count the number of times Suman hit him in the police station and yelled "vannu" to start it off!:)