Where should I start? what should I say? isnt enought said about the costliest INDIAN film with an ALL heavy STAR and a SUPERB technicians?
let me start by saying that after seeing the film, I have lost faith in reviews as most- even by critics- have turned out biased. hope I can be UNBIASED - for starters, let me NOT COMMENT if its good or bad- suffice to say this review will not be liked by rajni fans, for sure! getting started.
story- nothing much to say . after all we dont watch RAJNI movies for STORY or LOGIC, but for the MAN himself. its got this do-gooder coming home after making it BIG in the US, and wanting to spend rs. 200 crores( there seems difference of opinion in this - some wrote 150 cr and others rs. 250 cr).anyway he wants to spend this in building medical colleges/hospitals. our man gets taken in by the heroine, by the system, by the villain- not necessarily in that order.and how he fights back after losing everything and comes back from the dead(literally) forms the story or the movie. rajni- what do I say about him? he has been called every name from KING to EMPEROR to PHENOMENON.frankly, he is the one redeeming feature of the film. sure, he’s played this earlier.the role of a hero coming back after losing everything and makes a success of it. in that sense, its not a unique role . sadly, the film does not give him any PUNCH dialogues other than’ .summa athirudhille’. it acknowledges what he is and does not LIFT his statuer like a BASHA, padayappa OR EVEN a chandramukhi. his 3 hair styles - the foreign retuned, the avenger and the final MOTTA boss - are ho-hum to say the least. but its time for the KING to go for a set of new clothes.or a better tailor, at least. for shankar does not suit him, nor gives him a good platform to perform.
rest- vivek plays the role of the sycophant sidekick to best. its a tailor made for him, and he takes off on the younger actors imitiating rajni and drives the point that rajni is unparalleled. other than that, its a waste of a role. shreya- looks good, keeps looking good. glamorous to the hilt, has a stunning figure and is well used in the songs .all the rest are also rans. save for SUMAN- as the suave, soft spoken , all powerful villain he is good and with some more dialogues and depth of character he could have towered over the hero- but is effectively "reined" . .wish we see more of this actor in tamil.
chemistry- all shankar films had some sentiments and chemistry - especeially between hero and parents/ son etc. he wove this heautifullyin all movies. small touches right from gentleman, kadalan, indian, mudalvan - these were woven complementary to the main story. sadly, the warmth is missing here. sujata to blame?
fights- the credits methioned PETER HEYNS - or so I thought. so what was KANAL KANNAN doing in a fight? suppose that fight(only) was directed by him . and you had total four- the music shop, the godown, drive in theatre, and the climax. sadly the crisp fights, a trademark of SHANKAR films(gentleman, mudhalvan, anniyan) are not there and what u see is just a glorification of rajni’s super human image.heck, they could have called old fight master THIAGARAJAN for this! and in the fight at the godown, u can clearly see that its the dupLICATE in the WHEEL that rotates and not RAJNI. and the sequence at the drive in is a sad one with computer graphics gone bad. and the one at the music theatre is also not entertaining. remember the first fight in BASHA with the watertap- it still invokes whistles. .but sivaji - a bad one, peter haynes!
music- lets face it, ARR is not his best in rajni movies. save for a MUTHU all their ventures together are at best average- be it a PADAYAPPA, BABA and now SIVAJI. if u look at ARR’s track record with SHANKAR, which always have been SUPERB(gentleman, kadalan, indian, hejeans, mudhalvan and even boys), the music for SIVAJI is such a let down. SHANKAR does not even get tracks that equal his ANNIYAN(with harris jeyaraj).and as for rajni, hope his enxt venture is with the master ILAYARAJA.or even a vidyasagar .or at least a DEVA.
and now for the l(e)ast bit, the direction . Ah - shankar! whatever happened to him? I have always liked him from gentleman- no, not just grandeaur, but ideas. give the man money and he spends in style. he would have an IDEA how to spend it well with lotsa novelty value. his production / editing etc would be superb. his picturisations flawless, and fights great. . . though he says the same story again and again he ensures that they are served in an INTERESTING manner, and make for REPEAT viewing.alas! not sivaji. he fails in every dept. even if we excuse him for lack of story, he has not manged an interesting film. looks like he did not know what his mandate was and settled for’just a movie with RAJNI’ . and HE FAILED from the word go.
starting from rajni’s intro in jail - its sad. even the so-called second intro in the airport is far from stylish. from there u see re-cycled ideas. starting from bellalanka song. the edits are not tight. the jokes fall flat. the cliched(villain in white shirt- dhoti) are like a normal tamil movie. where’s the novelty value? and rajnikant coming back from dead is tooooo far stretched. and the abrupt ending. not even a decent fight in the end. the sets, after spending much, lack style- so for the fights. whatever happened to our man? from someone who delighted us with novel ideas right from gentleman( " chikku bukku rayile"), kadalan( " urvasi urvasi", " mukkala "), indian( kamal meeting S.C. bose; " pachaikilikal" song), jeans( " 7 wonders ", " kannodu kanbathellam" songs); mudalvan(matrix style fight, various songs), boys( " enakkoru girl friend ", egirikudithen " songs) anniyan( karate fight; andankakka song) -shankar has NOT given one instance where the viewere is delighted. so, with much regret, I must say one thing - if shankar doesnt think hard and / or change storylines - his enviable record as’no-flops’ director(notwistanding "boys " and " nayak " ) wont hold on to him for long.
.final word: watch, but only if u MUST!
.question: did I notice a boo-boo in the film? it had rajni and shreya in a PRADO at the beginning of the sequence at the open air theatre. during the fight that follows, the vehicle changes to a SCORPIO!.shankar’s OVERSIGHT or(lack of) my SIGHT?