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To sum this film up in ONE Word - "Coooool".

The screening of a Rajni film in the recent times has been more like a Kumbh mela than another film release. The amount of Air time on Radio channels (Radio Mirchi to be specific), TV Channels (Headlines Today, NDTV, CNN-IBN, etc), Websites (Rediff, etc) in itself shows the kind of response it generates. I’ve noticed that more often than not most message boards turn into war of words between Rajni v/s Anti-Rajni (read Pro AB/SRK or some other star), North v/s South, etc instead of actally focussing on whats on the plate (or on the screen, to be precise).

I am sure that with the TMMK (Tamilnadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam) also ’supposedly’ opposing the movie’s potrayal of ’a so-called’ Muslim person as the Hawala operator - the spate of allegations against the movie doesn’t appear to stop. Most of Rajni’s ’real’ life moves (like watching the movie with DMK Chief, AIADMK Chief, Ex-CM of AP Chandrababu Naidu) appear to be to make himself an ’apolitical’ person and have ’cordial’ relations with all. Even as I am typing this review my heart goes out to the folks involved with this movie (I believe its a gross understatement to name this entity as a MOVIE) and the kind of issues that are surrounding it.

Only time would uncover the turn of events going forward and I am quite certain that Rajni ’yet-again’ will prove that he is not a BIG FAT ELEPHANT that has/had fell/fallen down - but is a Horse and will jump back (This was stated in Chandramukhi’s 100th day celebrations - Keezha vizhundha ezhundhirukka romba neram aaga naan yaanai ilai kudhurai - by none other than the SS himself). Having said that let me go into the review of the movie.

First Half -
I felt the flow of the movie for the entire first half was more ’choppy’ than anything else. There were around 5 - 10 minutes of comedy and then suddenly there’d be another 5 - 10 minutes of Rajni & Vivek doing the rounds of bureaucrats’ offices requesting them to sign on documents to enable work to progress/begin on the Sivaji Foundation projects. As in (almost) all films Sivaji looks at Shreya and ’instantly’ falls in "LOVE". Hmmm... this is something I find very difficult to digest. Does this mean that men will fall in "LOVE" with any girl with a good face and an hour glass figure - instantly? There’s got to be a difference between ogling and the beginning of LOVE. Anyways, this continues; and Solomon Pappaiah showing up time & again, stating that he had 2 girls at his home, was more a slur than comedy (I sincerely feel the ’Enga veetukku vaanga, en kitte rendu ponnunga irukku’ dialogue could’ve been avoided) - or at least thats how it looked to me. Shankar has given a ’new’ way for a guy to ’woo’ the lady - but its not really practical or anywhere close to the ’current’ reality.

There were some really good comedy stuff and Vivek has almost shared EVERY Frame with Thalaivar. Only in the fight sequences and dance-songs do we miss him. Its good work - but then, there’ve been better times for both Rajni & Vivek (Rajni’s comedy in Annamalai - with Khushboo changing the Radio channels, his comedy in Guru Shishyan with Prabhu - the broken English, those were so much better). In all the first half of the movie was more to fill in the time and have the audience laugh and get IN with the story. I believe it worked to a certain extent - though not completely.

Serious Stuff in the First Half - towards the end -
Only towards the end of the first half Adi ensures that Sivaji is totally bankrupt. His earnings (from 25 years of hard-work in the US of A), his savings (Land deeds, House, Car, Rolex watch, etc) are all gone. Shankar has seen to it that the dialogues, screen-play and the pace of things during the serious stuff is really good. The fans had to applaud at certain dialogues - and whether one likes it or not Rajni is stylish and his dialogue delivery is something very unique  to him. It kind of gets into you and puts some sort of a power into your heart and mind. Hats off to Thalaivar - superb. Once again his styles - this time Bubble gum, finger-flick of the coin, ’Coooool’, are good. Its really difficult to portray a Rajni on screen as one can not become repetitive since there are so many heroes doing the same thing and at the same time his image can not be altered drastically - in all Shankar had to walk a tight rope with very little margin for error - and I believe he has ’almost’ passed. He has spent enormous effort, screen-time, thinking on new ’STYLE’s for Thalaivar - much more than going into the depth of the story line itself. That is a polished way of doing what was done in ’BABA’.

Second Half -
Not much to pen in here. The usual stuff that happens in Rajni movies. He fights back from the problem situation that he has been pushed to and unlike the usual way (like Vetri kodi kattu song in Padayappa, Vetri Nichayam song in Annamalai, etc) this time there is no song after which he becomes rich. In one of his interviews I’ve listened to Thalaivar himself stating that he admires negative roles and Badsha was one such role and its effect on the masses is so blatant. Here again, the negative role is in the offering. The way he threatens the whos-who of the black-money-coated-rich people and gets his ’share’ of 50% is a TREAT for all fans of Thalaivar. Once again his dialogue delivery and the way he modulates his voice is simply amazing. One more highlight of the film (read - Masala element added to ensure that the film gets to salvage the sky-high MG) was the multiple song sequences where Thalaivar portrays Sivaji Ganesan, MGR and Kamal Hassan (YES, thats right his own peer and competitor Kamal). Though I’ve seen many movies of Thalaivar, I’ve hardly been able to recollect any other situation where he has mimicked another actor. Thoroughly enjoyed the portrayal, though.
"Athiradee" is like the king of all the songs - too good. The voice of AR Rehman and the stunts on the song and the screen charisma of THE Super Star is amazing. The fight sequence at a drive-in theatre was ’unnecessary’. Those few minutes CLEARLY display that Tamil cinema still has a really long way to reach anywhere near Hollywood techniques - even the ones used in SPEED were better. The fact that a girl would believe a CBI officers word of mouth to go around and provide her husband’s laptop with all the data is pretty outrageous and shows women in poor light. Its sad that Shankar had chosen to portray the better half of Sivaji as a weak person who’d rather believe a CBI Officer’s word rather than her own love and God.

(Continued on the Comments section)

Plot Revealed In The Review:	Somewhat revealed
Best to watch with:	Friends
Movie Genre:	Family Movie
Best part in the movie:	Cast