It’s finally confirmed. the real Indian super hero does not walk around in a cape or a mask.
Leaping unimaginable distances and smashing the life out of a hundred goons all
maintaining that smile on his face . who else but the SuperStar is
BACK! Rajnikanth is in the House.
Sivaji mania is everywhere and it doesn’t seem to be dying out any time soon.
The
word HYPE does not do justice to the crescendo of anticipation and
excitement on this side of the Vindhyas created by this mother of all
potboilers. The mere announcement that AVM one of the biggest
production houses of the South had pulled the coup of casting the King
of the Masses with the ultimate mass director had sent tremors of
excitement and fear through the film fraternity all over India. For one
this wasnt going to be just another movie. either way that is.
For
all this hype and hoopla around the movie I just had to check this
movie out. Admittedly I am a big fan of Shankar and Rajni movies and
the prospect of them teaming was great.
For once lack of a
substantial storyline in this movie wasn’t something that surprised
me. Most Rajni movies of recent times, with the exception of
Chandramukhi has been based
around a common thread. That of the do gooder who looses the battle
towards the interval only to regain everything smashing everyone who
stood in his path and uplifting everyone who followed him. Sivaji only
adds to the list with that much and nothing more. Shankar just adds his
usual dose of his views on how to solve corruption and bring the black
stuff out to light.
May be the stakes were too high to
experiment, coz when Rajni tried to stray of the path a tad with
Baba. it was a disaster; by his standards of course.
The movie
starts of with Sivaji being escorted into a jail, from there movie runs
in flash back mode when Sivaji(Rajni) returns from US, where he seems
to have made quite a fortune.
The good hearted Sivaji wishes to
utilize the money to bring education to all, but the system and the
people who bend the system stand in his way. How Sivaji realizes his
dream and brings these baddies to book forms rest of the story.
Like
most tamil movies of recent times, Sivaji runs on multiple tracks with
a track devoted to Sivaji wooing his lady love Shriya[to whom we shall
come back to soon] which also forms the comedy track to one where he
engages in a battle with Suman. The tracks switch monotonously with
rarely any connection between the two.
The first half of the
movie is quite light and racy with Shriya being total eye candy, thats
all that is required of her actually and she is more than adept at it.
Shriya easily switches between the extremes of being the austere
simpleton to the glam doll in the songs.
Among the supporting
cast Vivek is at his best matching Rajni scene for scene and dialogue
for dialogue. Suman tries to be menacing and subtle but comes out too
plain and pale. Also mentions to Nayanthara in the the opening song who
looks fab.
Rajni
in a role written for him to the T; stands out, impressing us with his
comic timing in the first half and being the style icon in the second.
It must be said he looks a lot younger in the movie and his dress sense
with credit to Manish Malhotra has gone up manifold. Whts bit of a let
down is the action sequences which are a bit too over the top even by
Rajni standards.
There was once a question on why there were no
superhero movies in the South. After seeing this movie I kinda had the
answer. What more could a poor super hero do.;)
Another
highlight of the movie are the songs more so for the spectacular sets
and picturization than the tunes themselves[we definetly have heard
better from Rehman]. Overall the movie is like a collection of set
pieces guaranteed to make the Rajni fanatics go crazy.
When
taken overall it surely falters a bit. But what the heck when there is
the Superstar on Screen and the crowd go beserk in the aisles . who
wants a story line after all.