Sivaji - Review

Before it “cools” down – thought of writing a few lines about Sivaji. First of all, the movie is true to the punch dialogue “Pera Kettala Chumma Athiruthu Ella”.

Only a Rajni movie can command such a crowd and I was stunned to see the crowd today morning at Sathyam Cinemas – supposedly an up-market multiplex. People just went to their child-hood days by shouting slogans and that too the crowd was mix of youth and family audience (that too on a first day show). Celebration ALL the way.

Guess most of you would have already read the reviews in various sites – so just to put things in perspective – yes, the first half tends to be a bit sluggish. But IMHO (in my humble opinion) Shankar would have felt that this could have been the only way through which you can have a thoroughly “Rajni-packed” movie in the second half. So if you are a big-time fan of Rajni and if you are unfortunate to see the movie yet, don’t get perturbed by the first half movie reviews. You may tend to agree with me if you see the movie. You need to see the difference of Rajni turning into a Lion’s way in the second half and hence the director had to establish the ground for the same – eventually focusing on Rajni getting his hand dirty in the corrupt system and entertain the audience with Rajni-Vivek comedy. And this is certainly NOT disappointing and Vivek needs a special mention – he SIMPLY ROCKS. Watch out for the punch dialogues that he puts forth on behalf of Rajni.

Suman as Adiseshan is a revelation in Sivaji and he definitely stands up to the stature of Rajni – where he needs to out-smart him and make Rajni vulnerable in front of the corrupt system. The second innings for Suman has taken a jump start with Sivaji and he is sure to go places.

And there is already news that Shreya Saran is paired up with next-gen stars like Vijay and Ajit – and she has strongly made a bid for the Heroine number ONE in Tamil cinema through Sivaji. Shreya Saran as Tamil Selvi looks ravishing and she is out of the world in the song sequences. And the credit should definitely go to Shankar – the man who can show wonders in the screen.

All the other supporting characters like Raghuvaran, Uma Padmanabhan, Patti Manram Raja, Saloman Pappyya, Manivannan, Vadivukkurasi have done a neat job – though the scope is VERY MINIMAL.

Now I guess you would be wondering that I haven’t said anything about THE BOSS.

BOSS comes to the limelight only towards the end of first half and thereafter the movie is completely shouldered and taken at a brisk pace by THE BOSS. And it takes a gigantic leap when Sivaji transforms to MGR. The lion takes a lonely charge against the corrupt system (Singam single’ah vandhu ore kalakkal than). I don’t want to get into the details – otherwise it would spoil the fun of watching THE BOSS. An actor in Rajni comes to the fore-front when he imitates MGR, Sivaji and Kamal - especially when there are hordes of people who earn their bread and butter by imitating Rajni style – you should see our man donning the roles of the legends.

Today I saw a Rajni movie made by Shankar and I guess will go in for the second time to watch the Shankar movie acted by Rajni. Shankar has created a new benchmark in this movie and I will write more on his direction and other areas like music, camera & dialogues when I’m done with the second time (Shankar movie acted by Rajni).

On the whole Sivaji reflects the real Rajni. If we consider his minor political stints and other good things that he tried to do in the last couple of things like interlinking of rivers and so on as a FIRST HALF movie – where he actually had to bite the dust owing to the prevailing system – the expectation from the people (especially the ardent fans) is that he needs to turn into a LION in the coming years where he can actually help cleansing the system in real life – and if that happens I’m sure it will be even more ROCKING than the actual second half of Sivaji – THE BOSS. Will Rajni lend his ears?

Its been ages...

Its been ages since I went to a theatre...I guess the last time I had this long a gap is when I was in +2. Guess it was around 8 months at that point...

Anyways I was able to catch up on a couple of movies via DVD. Saw City of God (CoG) and My Best Friends Wedding.

CoG is a brazilian film - guess Selvaraghavan got thoroughly inspired by this movie - lots of scenes from Pudupettai have striking resemblence to this movie. Its about kids getting into crime - with a taut screenplay. One of the best made movies on crime. If you hate seeing violence in movies - suggesst you keep away from this movie - for it has an attrocious number of gun shots!!!

My Best Friend Wedding is a romantic comedy - with Julia akka in the lead role. This movie is for the ardent fans of Julia Akka (and this includes yours truly). An out and out JR movie.

Oh yes, I attempted to see Cinema Paradisco - an Italian movie - but in vain. Honestly speaking, couldn't manage the first 10 mins of the movie - may be it had to do with my frame of mind when I started. Apparently this one is amongst the classics. Will try to catch up sometimes later and keep you posted.

Waiting for Sivaji - The BOSS. Pera Kettala chumma athiruthu ella!!!!