We have seen many movies in the past which couldn’t measure up to the vaulting hype around their release, and Kabali makes it to the list as well. What Kabali lacks is pace and mass, an unwanted trait in many Rajinikanth movies of late.
Director Pa Ranjith appears to be affected by the pressure of handling superstar Rajinikanth and fails to find the right balance between his filming style and Rajinikanth’s larger-than-life screen persona. Thus the film is enjoyable in parts but tests your patience at many points and falls just short of a great cinematic experience.
The story has twists in the form of betrayals and unexpected reunions. These are so common in the film that the ‘unpredictabe’ plot twists soon becomes predictable.
However, Kabali has enough ‘goosebump’ moments too. The scene where Rajinikanth is doing pull-ups on a cross bar, testing his fitness before he’s released from jail after serving a long term, fuels the imagination and teases us with what is to come . After signalling his arrival in style by flooring his old foe inside his den, Kabali is shown heartbroken by the loss of his beloved wife Kumudavalli, played by Radhika Apte.
The first half of the movie shows the growth of Kabali from being a leader of Tamil workers settled in Malaysia into a feared don. When the ganglords who are involved in drug and flesh trade decide to eliminate the ‘good don’ Kabali, the ageing don has to overcome all his emotional baggage to prepare for another gang war. But before that, he will find those who are dearest to him and find an emotional closure.