Indulge me...Take a look at my product rating for a bit.....A rating of "2" for the plot, yet I’ve rated the movie as "Good"(?) A movie with an over the hill hero playing a 30 year old, romancing a girl half his age, impossibly fighting corruption not just at the state/ city level but at the National level, singlehandedly converting "20 lakh crores" (terminology created especially for the movie Sivaji!) of black money into whiter than white money??? All of that happens in "Sivaji" ..and yet I had no difficulty keeping my cynicism at bay and wholeheartedly enjoying the movie. Why you ask? I’l get to that!
CAST: "Superstar" Rajni (!), Shriya Saran, VIVEK, Suman.
DIRECTOR: Shankar (of "Anniyan" fame)
MUSIC- A.R Rahman
PLOT- Man from a poor background, Sivaji (Rajni) becomes a software engineer, goes to America, makes billions (actually, to be precise..and since its mentioned in the movie a zillion times, a 150 crores!), comes back to India and wants to use all of that money to do good. Wants to build hospitals, and educational institutions all over the country, providing everything free to the poor. Meets a number of obstacles, having to deal with corruption at every level, orchestrated by the main villain of the piece (Suman).
In the midst of all this, Sivaji wants to romance the archetypal Tam-traditional girl Tamilselvi (Shriya Saran.) and does so with the help of an amazingly funny sidekick (Vivek), who helps him attain his romantic as well as his "noble" aspirations.
Battle of Good vs Evil (completely illogical, but who cares... as long as "Good" wins!), the rise and fall and rise again of Sivaji, is what the rest of the story is about.
MY TAKE:
The last Tamil movie I watched, that I really liked, was Shankars own "Anniyan". It had a good script, "split your side" funny dialogue, great performances from the cast, and high entertainment value.
In "Sivaji" the viewer gets: a charismatic and earnest performance from Rajni (manages to combine his trademark style, and his very likeable simplicity well), entertaining and well shot action sequences, really well written, funny dialogue, and an incredibly in form VIVEK to DELIVER all the funny lines! Some of the other things that work in favour of the movie are: a pretty heroine (Shriya Saran) who carries off both the traditional as well as the ultra glam look well, great costumes (by Manish Malhotra), and a few nicely choreographed songs (although the music itself could have been better).
Is Sivaji as well made a film as Anniyan was...NO (too derivative a script for that). But is it entertaining, OH YES! The movie could have been a little shorter, more tightly edited, and have a far better script...but hey, lets not nitpick.
If you understand Tamil (you must, to really GET all the funny dialogue), love the idea of watching chewing gum (Rajni’s gotten health conscious..no more cigarettes!) beating all laws of physics, popping over different surfaces before landing in the superhero’s mouth, then and ONLY then watch "Sivaji". Shankar and Rajni make sure you get complete value for the astronomical amount you’ve just paid for the ticket!