Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/readers-write-rajinikanth-darbar-ar-murugadoss-legacy-petta
Don’t capitalise on the Superstar and run him into the ground like a racehorse. Let him act, just a bit more, writes reader Adhithya K R
My friend in college once told me that if you’re a class topper, your score is never going to fall below 80%. The teacher knows that you are a topper, and that’s to your favour. Unless you turn in a blank paper, even the language in which you write your answers will get you something… it’s always rounded upwards. Rajinikanth is that class topper. His mere presence is enough to generate the hype in the theatre that keeps feeding itself every 15 minutes.
Continued at the link above.
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Baradwaj Rangan 
N Madhusudhan
January 14, 2020
Agree with the article for the most part. Despite being a hardcore Rajini fan right from my childhood, i found Darbar to be a tedious watch. Rajini did try to break the mould in Kaala. But the relative failure of the film probably pushed him to choose films like Petta and Darbar. I won’t blame him though.
Kaala was a powerful film but i couldn’t watch the scene where he gets beaten up in the police station. I was shocked in disbelief when he was killed. The fact that the spirit of ‘Kaala’ lives on made no difference to the Rajini fan in me. I was all “You make the greatest artistic masterpiece in the world. But you just can’t kill Rajinikanth. Plain and simple.” It took a while for me to warm up to the film but that was because of its powerful content. I still think they could have cast a Sarath Kumar for that film and it would have been as effective. The reach may not have been big but the film wouldn’t change. The Rajini fan in me still refuses to watch the film again.
But the joy of watching Petta more than compensated for this disappointment. Plot-wise it remained a simple film (By Karthik Subbaraj’s standards) and always set out to ‘Rajinify’ more than anything else. It accomplished that quite effectively. Many of the Rajini moments were done quite imaginatively too. It wasn’t perfect but it was more than sufficient.
Problem with Darbar is that it begins trying to ride on the Petta tide. It still wasn’t a lazy film but a badly executed one. It had a lot of interesting ideas which i felt could have turned into juicy masala moments. But the screenplay is so rushed and mechanical that except for Rajini’s screen presence, there is pretty much nothing that keeps us engaged. All we get is an angry, ass-kicking Rajini in a tepid screenplay that doesn’t deserve his presence. Also, despite the big names (Murugadoss, Santhosh Sivan, Anirudh, Sreekar Prasad), the films looks and feels like it belongs in a by-gone era. The scenes hardly breathe. In his interviews, Murugadoss mentioned about changing the screenplay after looking at the response to Petta. His original idea was to have Rajini as a retired cop. I kept wondering what that film would have been like.
Watching Darbar also made me respect Petta a lot more because of how well the Rajini moments are written, performed and shot. Darbar just lacked that conviction. As BR had mentioned in his review, the film was merely going through the motions. Introduction scene in Darbar vs the one in Petta is a classic example.
Quite scared about the Siva film now. Rajini has only a few films left (whether or not he takes his plunge into politics) and each film has to make it count. He deserves that. We deserve that.
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Siva
January 14, 2020
1) He is the ‘Super Star’, with spaces you see 🙂 Well, he is a superstar, there is no question about that. But the monicker given to him by producer Thanu is Super Star, and not superstar, or even Superstar with a capital S. I really wish for everyone to know this important difference 🙂
2) This is a fantastic article. These have exactly been my thoughts on how Rajinikanth’s larger than life persona has been continuously and shamelessly exploited, ever since BABA happened. It is rather appalling what these movies are being dubbed as — “A Rajini movie made by a Rajini fan”. Being a Rajini fan is not shameful. But making a movie that ONLY praises and glorifies Rajini the person or what he achieved during his best years, and then calling it a Rajini movie — is hurtful to those of us who know for a fact that there is a seriously good performer hiding behind all the gimmickry that is being thrown at us now.
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Amit Joki
January 14, 2020
My thought is that Rajini knows this and he is an intelligent man and he knows that he has broken his “make the fans wait and deliver” is over at the rate he is churning out films.
I fear this may be his last tango. The final flourish to constantly be in the limelight and be seen as an alpha until the moment he takes the plunge into the politics.
There’s no other reason why he’s lapping up directors such as ARM and Siruthai Siva.
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Madan
January 14, 2020
Haven’t watched and wouldn’t want to, but can’t agree more with the article. The Rajni brand has been steadily deteriorating as a creative offering for a long time. Only Endhiran went some distance in reversing the trend. But Rajni ignored the broad acceptance it gained (including in North Indian markets) and once again listened to the hardcore fan complaining it lacked Rajni mass. I did not watch the films in the middle but it seems from Petta onwards, he is betting on the hardcore base alone to drive the film’s success. Might have worked with a smaller budget, don’t know how this is going to work with a 200 cr budget.
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Aadhy
January 14, 2020
Taking off from this article and first comment of this thread, I would like to discuss about the way the Rajnisms were handled/integrated in Petta and Darbar.
Take the introduction song in Petta for instance. A fresh term begins, a new warden is appointed, ragging is going on everywhere and the freshers are made to sing in praise of the seniors, which kicks off Marana mass. The dance is intercut with the new warden moving in, after which he hears about the ragging and sets off to show who the real boss is, not just to the students, but also us. The choreography in the beginning makes the freshers dance like monkeys, somen shirt-less, and some emasculated, as part of the ragging ritual and post Rajni’s entry, the tone of the choreography changes. The students surround him and dance with the enthusiasm of a smitten bird-flock around their leader/protector, as the frame now is brimming with infectious energy, like in a hostel-wing party. As the song goes on, there is something going on with the staging too. The bobby simha character looks down at Rajni having fun with juniors from the top. Then Rajni goes to the top, thrashes a few seniors and sends them down, and perches himself on the top of the table as if it’s his throne, clearly establishing who’s control the hostel is under now. He lays out the rules under his watch while at the top and then proceeds down to shake a leg again with the students, indicating he will be dominating when he needs to and one among them other times, with a smooth segue into the Annamalai theme which ends the whole sequence on a glorious high, with the golden sunlight beaming into frame as Rajni leaves it. Now take the intro song in Darbar which erupts very functionally at the beginning of a flashback with no lead up and the dancers executing robotic movements with expression-less faces. There is neither story nor character development, the staging is flat- no use of space or position, nothing interesting with the lighting (Santhosh Sivan’s least inspiring work) and the choreography is so bland. The song ends with Chumma Kizhi in Rajni’s voice and the resultant applause from the dancers is so lifeless that they could even be clapping that the shoot is over.
Same goes for all other songs. Ilamai thirumbuthe – montages of the older couple just hanging and doing normal stuff with the younger couple was very enjoyable and captured Rajni’s trademark ‘awkwardly in love’ mannerisms wonderfully. Whereas the romantic number in Darbar is straight out of a Sivakarthikeyan movie, possibly Remo. Even the customary wedding song, my least favorite in Petta, captured the mood and festivities at a wedding better than Darbar, in which I did not even know who is getting married and why Rajni was so excited about some rando’s wedding. It was nothing more than a post-interval-settling-down-with-popcorn song in Darbar.
The action set-pieces too, again, were written and choreographed with some thought in Petta- inside a church with candles and shadows, in a dark corridor with torch lights, a nunchak fight that later shifts to the church and a final Tarantino-esque shootout. There is not one single action set-piece worth mentioning in Darbar. Anirudh tries his damnedest to spruce up action set-pieces with the goosebumps-inducing Annamalai theme (especially the train station one), but the visuals and the ridiculously outdated stunt choreography simply didn’t do justice. After a while, even the Annamalai theme starts to feel tiring, such is the level of non-originality in this movie. All the familiar 90s Rajnisms were brought back in Petta with a lot of thought, imagination and panache. Because KS did not just stop with invoking nostalgia but found solid ways to integrate them into the story to a somewhat successful level. Plus, he slightly tweaked the morally upright universe of a Rajni movie into a more twisted and grey one, so the killings did not feel out of place. But in Darbar, though Rajni calls himself a bad cop, the extra-judicial killings did not feel right with the morally upright tone of the movie. Since Its universe seems like a just one, this way of meting out justice especially with what’s happening today made me squirm. Rajni, at the fag end of his career, hopefully has a graceful exit, which is how I thought it would be after he did Kabali and Kaala, where Ranjith gave us a calmer, slowed down, and a more dignified Rajni. But they didn’t apparently fare well with his fans and thus came Petta, which like I said, was fun and enjoyable because of the re-invention of traditional tropes. But with Darbar and his next, and with his increasingly galactic hot-takes on political issues, I fear I might have to count Petta as his last and dissociate myself with everything he did/does afterwards.
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Anu Warrier
January 14, 2020
This was an interesting read. I don’t know enough about the Rajini universe (or should that be ‘Universe’?) to dissect the article enough, but all that you wrote is what I used to feel about Amitabh Bachchan in the late80s-90s. Especially the part about not slotting ‘— the performer into — the superstar’.
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AdhithyaKR
January 14, 2020
Thank you. Noted. Super Star 🙂
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AdhithyaKR
January 14, 2020
Yes, Petta was quite enjoyable even though it was marketed heavily as a Rajni film but if it means that we’re only going to see more movies like Darbar that ride that wave, it’s worrying. That’s probably what will happen though,
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theeversriram
January 15, 2020
Another hardcore Rajni fan here and I disagree with article & most of comments. Basically there are 3 type of films to make when you have a big star:
Darbar is the 3rd time of big hero movie which satisfies the fans and some people beyond them too, which is sufficient for box office. Hence the good collection numbers reported so far since fans bring in the revenue.
Case in point:me, I saw FDFS, persuaded my parent to go last Saturday (mom liked, father was bored), i’m going again tomorrow and will go again with my wife & kid this weekend. Yup I’m guilty of Rajnifying my 3year old !
Kabali and Kaala missed this as I came out feeling cold & angry after those films.
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Ravi K
January 15, 2020
There’s a rather morbid undercurrent to this latest wave of Rajini films, which is that filmmakers and audiences (and Rajini himself) are packing in as much Super Star Screen Time as possible before he retires or dies. Make-up artists and wigmakers working like crazy to battle aging and keep him looking young on-screen forever.
If you’re going to see these films you might as well see them with an excited audience in the theater, because otherwise you’re left with only the films themselves: mediocre nostalgia/fan-service exercises carried solely by Rajini’s charisma.
I wonder, are directors approaching him with interesting projects, and he’s turning them down? Does Rajini place conditions on the filmmakers, saying the film has to have elements of heroism, punch dialogues, etc.? Does he only want to keep playing younger men? Are directors giving only offering him this kind of hero-worship film, knowing they’re guaranteed hits? Or is he just doing what he’s being offered?
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H. Prasanna
January 15, 2020
@Amit I agree with you that Rajini has chosen and signed all these films. And he is clearly worried about keeping his legacy.
@Ravi K In his interview with BR, Director Manikandan says he tried to pitch Kadaisi Vivasayi to Rajini and couldn’t even get a meeting and that is not the type of movie he is doing now.
@Adhithya KR There is another trend in writing about Rajini: not holding him responsible for the movies he makes. These are hardly autuer movies; Rajini and the production company dictate most of the content. It is unfair the compare this to Hollywood where directors have more freedom and resources.
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Venkatramanan
January 15, 2020
In retrospective, I feel Kaala would be the boldest rajini film of its decade.
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AdhithyaKR
January 15, 2020
True, ultimately the selection of scripts is responsible to a large extent for these movies. Kabali and Kaala seemed slightly offbeat attempts but I don’t know whether we’re going to see any more of those.
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AdhithyaKR
January 15, 2020
A good comparison of Petta and Darbar. It helped me understand why Petta worked as well. Serves to illustrate again that songs and action sequences are great fun when they are functional, but distracting when used in a thoughtless manner. The morality in Darbar was not convincing because we aren’t given a convincing reason other than that he’s Rajni. Petta’s twisted morality on the other hand needed no “justification” as such and was quite entertaining.
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AdhithyaKR
January 15, 2020
I’m surprised at the thought that Padayappa hasn’t aged well. Maybe it’s not the kind of movie that theatre-goers would be terribly excited about but the ego conflict between the characters and clean writing still makes it an entertaining watch on TV.
As to the classification that you’ve suggested, the three types can be identified with different levels on the masala spectrum. The third type is associated with “wafer thin” and “ridiculous” plots that are intended to please fans as per your own description and I don’t understand why such movies deserve to be encouraged at the expense of good storytelling. I won’t deny that I was one of the members whistling for Rajni when he appeared on-screen, but my senses began to dull after some time. Also, collection numbers do not mean anything to me as an individual viewer. I have only my experience to talk about. The collections are an indicator of the hype that pulls crowds to the cinema, not an indicator of quality in themselves.
I was Rajnified myself as a kid watching movies in which Rajni enhanced a movie that was decent in itself. I merely don’t want bad filmmaking or writing to rely on Rajni as a crutch, and the audience to support this merely because they cannot fault a Rajni movie even though they see the flaws.
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Anuja Chandramouli
January 15, 2020
Adhithya: Enjoyed reading the Rajini rant. Pretty much the same reel has been running in a loop inside my head ever since I watched Darbar. It sucks that fans have to watch such sub par, sloppily made films. However, I wouldn’t blame Petta for it. KS has too distinctive a voice and I thought a lot of effort and affection had gone into its making which showed. There were issues with Petta which could have been a great film but these were mainly because KS has extremely limited skills as a writer though he is a decent ideas man.
I think Kaala and Kabali are no better than a Darbar. BR has reiterated this many times – good or even great messages don’t necessarily make great films. Kaala and Kabali were every bit as lousy as Darbar and Rajini did far more for those piddling piles of crap than they did for him.
As for ARM, I think I fully believe the allegation that Ramana was plagiarized from an assistant’s script given the awful work he has been churning out ever since. Also if I am not mistaken, a similar allegation was made and proven for Sarkar. Can’t believe he has gotten away with it. Shame!
As for Rajini himself, I shudder to think of him in the hands of a hack like Siruthai Siva. Really wish he would work with KS again. Or Vetrimaran. Or Thiagaraja Kumararaja. Or Nalan Kumarasamy. Or Manikandan. Please movie Gods please!
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MANK
January 15, 2020
What I want to know is whatever possessed Rajni to go on a signing spree when he’s pushing 70?.. Is his financial situation that precarious or is it that he needs the money ( and the movies) for his political party?. The old Rajni is not going to come back, no matter who directs him. He has become a phenomenon that’s beyond anything that can be contained in movies anymore, ie in his space. That’s completely used up, and he’s not young anymore either, which puts a lot of limitations as to what the film makers can do with him. And frankly nobody wants to see Rajni try anything different.
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KayKay
January 15, 2020
“Only Endhiran went some distance in reversing the trend.”
Ah! Nothing like a little Endhiran love to get me out of the woods.
The lack of love this movie and 2.0 gets boggles the imagination.
Especially when contrasted against the stupefying levels of hype Kabali, Kaala and Petta got.
It’s like everyone was convinced Rajini’s collaborations with Ranjith and KS would usher in the dawn of a New Era of Superstar Flicks. Never mind the fact that neither of those 2 directors had ANY proven track record of helming a huge star driven MASS film. (For the record, as much as I enjoyed them, in NO WAY are Attakathi, Madras, Jigarthanda or Iraivi in any shape or form Mass movies in the sense we understand them).
And the same fanboys (I count some of my friends among them) who awaited the release of the Ranjith/KS flicks with all the breathless anticipation of a virgin on his wedding night started acting like jaded porn stars when 2.0 was mentioned.
“It’ll be so cool bro. Rajini acting as an older man” was the fervent gushing pre-release of Kabali, completely ignoring the fact that Darma Durai, Nallavanukku Nallavan, Annamalai, Padayappa all had Old Rajini for almost half it’s running length (and I’m not even including his Wondering Vagabond in Muthu)
“Same crap lah (we’re Malaysians we use “Lah” a lot) bro” went the accepted wisdom with regards to the much delayed Enthiran sequel.
So 2 decent but still unproven directors in the mass commercial arena get a heaping helping of love but a proven big budget film-maker with more than 2 decades of consistently delivering mass hits, 2 of them with Rajini to boot, is greeted with lordly derision. And yet, his newest with wildly uneven ARM is getting a pass.
Welcome to the Yawning Chasm between my taste and theirs which I fear may never be bridged. Must be a generational thing.
Strip away Ranjith’s Political Subtext and Kabali is a hot mess and Kaala the done to death tale of a Champion of the Oppressed taking on a Powerful Politician (props for the authentic milieu though)
Whatever goodwill Petta amassed dissipated in the meandering second half amidst my growing irritation that genuinely interesting actors who’ve made interesting movies (Bobby Simha,VS, Sasikumar) were roped in to essentially provide the “Jalra” accompaniment to the Rajini March.
Only Endhiran and 2.0 saw Rajini step out of his comfort zone, because Dr Vaseegaran is that rare Rajini Character: A Total Dick.
A true Victor Frankenstein who dabbles in forbidden tech and then destroys his creation when it gains sentience. And a jerk to his girlfriend to boot. A Steve Jobs who understands how everything works except people.
And in 2.0, Shankar had Rajini give you the A-Holish Doctor, the likable innocence of Chitti, and the gleefully destructive 2.0 with a side helping of a Mini-Me version all in one movie.
So much more interesting than the one note melody the man has been peddling for more than a decade, no?
But as another commentator said in the “Darbar” thread, if all it takes is a couple of slo-mo shots of that Cock Of The Walk Strut, a “Kabali Da!” there and a “Chumma Kizhi” here to send the fanboys into raptures, then what’s the motivation for Rajini to course correct?
Geez…this sure turned into a KayKay rant!
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KayKay
January 15, 2020
“What I want to know is whatever possessed Rajni to go on a signing spree when he’s pushing 70?.. Is his financial situation that precarious or is it that he needs the money ( and the movies) for his political party?.”
A question I too have been asking myself repeatedly Brother MANK
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brangan
January 15, 2020
And the same fanboys who awaited the release of the Ranjith/KS flicks with all the breathless anticipation of a virgin on his wedding night started acting like jaded porn stars when 2.0 was mentioned.
Vintage KayKay comment 😀
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Madan
January 15, 2020
“Nothing like a little Endhiran love to get me out of the woods.” – More than a little love from my side. Yes, it has his flaws but gotta see this in perspective. For an Indian sci-fi/fantasy film, it is a towering achievement. And yes, Shankar truly understands that space. Say what you will about Indian or Anniyan too but there was nothing else like those films in Tamil cinema when they came along. Shankar, like SSR, knows nothing quite brings people flocking to a theater like a big spectacle.
So, just to give some perspective, Endhiran was hugely popular in Mumbai. To the extent that in a training program in the Big Four firm I was part of around that time, when we had to form groups and do skits, I was asked to enact Rajni. All I did was wear dark glasses and a green shirt that I am told looks Telugu actor types :P… and do a few robot steps to the music of the Endhiran title track. It became wildly popular there (for right or wrong reasons idk!!!). And remember, in Mumbai, CA crowd means mostly Gujju/Maru. NOT South Indians. The Kannada senior in our office reacted to the movie like the typical hardcore Rajni fan, saying he missed the mass dialogues. But at a broader level, the film was successful in a way no Rajni film had ever been up North. His choices since then have left me completely baffled. He really should have followed up with a sequel within two-three years rather than so many years later. He had the opportunity to become a pan India star after Endhiran and he squandered it imo. And let me reiterate that I simply don’t get it when hardcore fans complain about Endhiran. How do you mean, idhu Rajni illai? The scientist is somewhat like the absent minded professor of Dharmathin Thalaivan and the evil Chitthi is like the brilliant villains from Moondru Mudichu/Gayatri. Oh right, there was no Rajni before Baasha happened and the only point of Rajni films became this fourth wall shattering obsession and filling the entire film with nothing but Rajni-isms alone, is it not? See, this is not about a minority of self-styled and self-proclaimed intellectuals demanding logic of a Rajni film. Naangallum Rajni fan than, but we just don’t like this overbloated writing (started with Padayappa in particular). We can appreciate Rajni without there having to be a frame where Abbas calls him a great man. That is cheesy as hell imo.
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Nathan
January 15, 2020
The lack of love this movie and 2.0 gets boggles the imagination.
And in 2.0, Shankar had Rajini give you the A-Holish Doctor, the likable innocence of Chitti, and the gleefully destructive 2.0 with a side helping of a Mini-Me version all in one movie.
Not to mention that for the first time in Tamil Cinema history, we had an alabaster automaton play…. an alabaster automaton! A casting masterstroke if there was one!
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KayKay
January 15, 2020
” And let me reiterate that I simply don’t get it when hardcore fans complain about Endhiran. How do you mean, idhu Rajni illai? ”
Same here. No mass scenes in Endhiran? The pretty cool train fight? Rajini letting loose as the maniacal 2.0? “Happy Diwali Folks!”?
I don’t get it. I heard complaints from some of my friends “All that Chitti Stuff is just Rajini’s face digitally grafted onto a stunt double”
Riiiiight….so EVERY single one of Rajini’s gravity and physics defying fights over the last 4 decades had NO stuntman involvement? Sure, I’ll drink that Kool Aid.
” Oh right, there was no Rajni before Baasha happened and the only point of Rajni films became this fourth wall shattering obsession and filling the entire film with nothing but Rajni-isms alone, is it not? See, this is not about a minority of self-styled and self-proclaimed intellectuals demanding logic of a Rajni film. Naangallum Rajni fan than, but we just don’t like this overbloated writing (started with Padayappa in particular). We can appreciate Rajni without there having to be a frame where Abbas calls him a great man. That is cheesy as hell imo.”
THIS! You’ve succinctly encapsulated in one paragraph my thesis-long rant hahahaha!
It’s fun in small doses, but now ENTIRE movies are dedicated to this fourth wall breaking and self-referential routine.
Like one of the things that annoyed me about Petta. Rajini does something cool and VS’ character remarks “Mass”. But…..VS’ character is the ANTAGONIST and supposed to dislike Rajini. That’s piss poor writing right there. There are ample movies where 2 characters pitted against each other have a grudging respect for one another and it isn’t depicted in such a ham fisted manner. The classic diner scene in Heat comes to mind.
Now imagine that scene and right after Pacino’s character remarks
“You know, we are sitting here, you and I, like a couple of regular fellas. You do what you do, and I do what I gotta do. And now that we’ve been face to face, if I’m there and I gotta put you away, I won’t like it. But I tell you, if it’s between you and some poor bastard whose wife you’re gonna turn into a widow, brother, you are going down”
DeNiro then responds “Woah man! That is some seriously bad-ass dialogue. You’re cool”
You’d laugh your ass off.
But that’s par for the course for a typical Rajini interaction with his villain. And the fans lap it up, so what the hell do I know (there’s that Yawning Chasm again)
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KayKay
January 15, 2020
“an alabaster automaton! A casting masterstroke if there was one!”
Awwww….No love for Amy Jackson? 🙂
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KayKay
January 15, 2020
“Vintage KayKay comment 😀”
Thank you B
I try my best to avoid flaccid prose while at the same time ensuring it doesn’t appear too stiff.
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AdhithyaKR
January 15, 2020
Alabaster automaton. Nice :p
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Amit Joki
January 15, 2020
KayKay: With that analogy, I am sensing trouble 😛 but spot on otherwise!
H Prasanna: I don’t think he’s “worried” about his legacy. I am thinking he’s worried as to how people perceive him at this age of 70. Kamal’s got that awful and silly Big Boss gig going on to be in the limelight.
When thalaivar finally launches a party and partakes in the elections, no one (apart from his fans) would take him seriously if he had kept his long breaks in between the films.
The general sentiment would then be, padam kadekila, arasiyal vantaaru.
But now see the brilliance of this move. Now the sentiment will be that he’s still in his prime when he leaves for politics and not after having been retired from cinema and taking politics as a revival of sorts.
He also makes sure by doing these many films that he has absolutely nothing to gain than what he already has and has everything to lose and that’s always good as opposed to “he ain’t making money from films, he’s done, and so has chosen politics”.
Rajini’s legacy is cemented. Nothing he does now will do much harm. And the stories he has agreed to are all good masala potentials which didn’t exactly turn out right in the execution.
I bet Darbar’s plot in the hands of a better director would be a great masala flick. Darbar was total misdirection and lack of conviction to a film’s device by ARM.
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AdhithyaKR
January 15, 2020
Yes, Enthiran definitely had a pan-Indian reach but I don’t know how much it helped Rajni’s cause as a pan-Indian hero. Even though I’ve met a lot of Hindi speakers who enjoyed the movie, I don’t think the North Indian audience watched it with the same reverence that hardcore Rajni fans did. I remember one of my friends from Delhi commenting for instance, “Kya yaar, yeh budda is umar mein guitar pakadke Aishwarya Rai ke saath naach raha hai.” I had no retort to that. I enjoyed Enthiran a lot and it’s surprising that it did not spawn films in the sci-fi genre attempting to ride that wave.
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AdhithyaKR
January 15, 2020
What lines! ROTFL. 😀
I liked Endhiran but I was disappointed by 2.0, mainly because the scientific bits were too preposterous for me to believe. Equating the aura with a fifth fundamental force of nature and phones defying gravity were a bit too much. Also, there were no ethical discussions regarding the human-AI conflict the way there were in the first movie and the “moral” villain here was just beaten into silence. I found the writing very problematic. It was commendable of Rajni to try these science fiction concepts which seemed more like Kamal Haasan territory, making them accessible to the masses as well.
I expected more science-fiction films following the success of these films, but there haven’t been any noteworthy ones I guess (maybe a few like Maayavan and Tik Tik Tik). I was worried that good science fiction would become synonymous with big budget in the minds of the audience. It looks like there’s no need to worry as of now.
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shaviswa
January 15, 2020
Have to agree. The last Rajini movie I enjoyed a lot was Endhiran. Wonderful blend of masala and sci-fi
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V
January 15, 2020
Im that kind of a “non-fan” for whom even Petta did not work! A film with VJS, Nawazudin, Simran, Trisha and yet it was the same 80s style Rajni who was all over the place! Im an 80s kid, who was Captain-ified, Sarathkumarified, ofcourse Kamalfied/Rajnified every other week in theaters and I found Petta to be a big bore after the initial 30 mins.
Are the present set of euphoric fans those who did not watch mass films of the 80s – mid-90s in theaters? Or do they just use a Rajni film as an excuse to unwind in theaters, so much so, that even if Rajni’s Polio Drops Documentary were screened now, they would go crazy? Do they watch Petta or Kabali repeatedly on OTT/TV like how they watch the “original” Rajni movies of the past? Or is this simply a temporary verithanam in theaters?
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Ravi K
January 16, 2020
Count me in as a member of the Enthiran Fan Club. Other than a few minor issues, it’s a superbly written and executed film. I get the sense that Shankar and Sujatha didn’t change much in the screenplay to suit Rajini. We also got the wonderful surprise of evil Chitti. We saw Rajini as a swaggering villain in a way that enhanced the story AND was a pleasure in and of it self.
“2.0” had a good premise, but I was disappointed in the heavy-handedness of the message, using the worn-out trope of a lengthy flashback to explain it (though unlike in most films the villain got the flashback and not the hero). The action set-pieces were pretty good, but having the climax in a stadium felt confining compared to the havoc wreaked across the city in the climax of “Enthiran.” And it largely repeated a lot of the imagery from that film. Multiple robots form a big ball, etc. If Sujatha was alive to work on “2.0” maybe he would have expanded on the world created in the first film in a more interesting way. Between “I” and “2.0,” so far I am disappointed in Shankar’s films without Sujatha.
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Aadhy
January 16, 2020
KayKay Sir, I take all your criticisms on KS/Ranjith, and I can even take the love for Endhiran, but …2.0?! I mean I have seen directors going to town on Rajni on a number of occasions, but nothing even close to Vaseegaran getting possessed by Pakshirajan’s ‘aura’ and suddenly pulling an Anniyan , sweating and puffing to switch between Vashee and Pakshi like a remote control car stuck under the couch. The emotions I felt during this scene is inexplicable, beyond the stuff of nightmares. Just for this, and the spectacular 3.0/kuttichitti, Rajni should obtain a restraining order and not let Shankar anywhere near a 5 km radius of Poes garden.
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Vivekanand
January 16, 2020
More than the Rajini it’s these journalist who don’t know to feed the NEWS….since journalism is vast and started loosing ita Sheen in this vastness..
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Nathan
January 16, 2020
Awwww….No love for Amy Jackson?
Quite the contrary. I think there should be a Nila 4.0 movie where Nila leaves Vaseegaran in disgruntlement, watches TV serials all day and tackles one real world situation after another with her Chitti meets Chithi persona.
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H. Prasanna
January 16, 2020
@ Amit I agree that Rajni is not worried about his legacy. Perhaps he is just worried about cashing in on it; with everyone and SRK doing it, it wouldn’t make sense for him not to. And his foray into politics seems a bit convenient. He was always sold as more than an actor (as a doer of righteous deeds) and that flows into expectations of his fans. The punches on screen work because of social commentary. It stops working when fans see that you are not willing to do anything about that which you are commenting on. His legacy is cemented only for the work he did on screen. And I hope he puts an end to this charade for the sake of his legacy on screen and his fans. A more believable scenario is one where his money/credibility is held hostage by a bunch of bad politicians like the agents of villains in his movies, and he has to keep doing this to make them more money, or else.
@MANK The Rajni/masala genre of films is built on a type of attitude/style that carries forward from NTR/MGR. He can afford to keep going because he keeps reinventing the style/attitude. For example, he took it a step further than MGR/NTR/Chiru/Nag as he chose to have his hero intro song with his daughter. The elements of this genre are unique (evolving around the Rajni phenomenon) and do not depend on the agility or believability of the agility of the actor. Unlike say Tom Cruise, Hrithik Roshan, or even Stallone, Rajni can do it from a retirement home. As long he/his directors are willing to reinvent this genre, he will/should still keep doing it.
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Madan
January 16, 2020
AdithyaKR: I wouldn’t worry about the Delhiite friend. There is a North-South undercurrent always. People here will deny it, so know that I am not talking about YOU. But I know guys who are super into foreign arthouse flicks and all the esoteric music in the world that you can find and they will make it out like every South film has nonsense dishum dishum stunts. There is no point in pointing out counter examples to them as their strongly held convictions are more dear to them than their love of cinema. This veiled snobbery coupled with flagrant ignorance came to the fore again when they called Sridevi a Bollywood actress in obits. Again, a lot of people defended it here. Let me ask you, will you like it if ARR was described as a Hollywood composer just because he has done some good work up there lately? Don’t lecture me about open mindedness. If you want to talk about open minded, just say actor with no language or regional prefix. Or just call Sridevi an Indian actress. But don’t try to disguise your need to appropriate what you like while you will continue to heap thinly veiled derision on South cinema.
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KayKay
January 16, 2020
“Quite the contrary. I think there should be a Nila 4.0 movie where Nila leaves Vaseegaran in disgruntlement, watches TV serials all day and tackles one real world situation after another with her Chitti meets Chithi persona”
I’d watch that in a heartbeat, Brother!
Dot.
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Odiyan Hater
January 16, 2020
Enthiran was insanely ahead of it’s time and the reason I feel it stands out among other Rajni movies is that it was originally written keeping Kamal in mind.
Madan Ji spot on about the north indian complacency… but at the same time there’s a new tribe of cinephiles who are obsessed with cinema that comes out of the 4 south indian languages but they are all consuming either via piracy or streaming apps
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anon
January 16, 2020
Please Rajni clearly did Darbar to bail Subaskaran out of the 2.0 size hole that Shankar’s “vision” caused. That’s it. I had no idea he was doing one MORE movie. Who’s producing it?
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Madan
January 16, 2020
V: I wonder about that too. I watched Padyappa on a tourist bus going from Trivandrum to Madras. Been there, done that, basically. I have noticed people, again not from the South, going to Aurora theater in Mumbai to watch a Rajni film just for the experience. This example may not resonate with you but Rajni has sort of become a goof cult like Slayer. Slayer used to be an extreme metal band for the longest time until all sorts of people, including pop stars, started wearing Slayer T shirts. That is, everybody NOW wants to participate in the cooleth of the experience long after Slayer made their best work.
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Ravi K
January 16, 2020
“Enthiran” clicked for Hindi speakers because it works as a film and not just as a vehicle for Rajini-isms. I don’t see much of a market for Hindi-dubbed versions of his subsequent films, except for the usual TV channels that show dubbed South Indian films.
In the North their awareness of the Rajini phenomenon seems to be relatively recent (even though he’s done quite a few direct Hindi films), and they view his Tamil films as camp. He’s a meme, like the Chuck Norris meme.
Also, I thought “2.0” did well financially, even though it was expensive?
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theeversriram
January 17, 2020
So many Enthiran fans here ! As a hardcore Rajini fan will explain why it didn’t work for me (&many other fans too), though the movie was well made & a good watch:
But all things said again it was a well made movie and a science fiction movie to be a pan India blockbuster is no small thing.
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theeversriram
January 17, 2020
Why is Rajini on a signing spree ? Rumour is that he charges 100 Crs per film and from Kabali all his earnings is going to be for his political party ie at least 500 Crs as seed capital. Balance could be funded by potential investors. We have to wait and watch.
IMO, doing Kabali was a mistake coz Ranjith was a misfit with Rajini. The big hype, trailer, promotions etc gave the movie a big opening & good box office collections. But frankly the fans were disappointed. Yes fans (and human beings in general) need reasons to celebrate and Rajini movie is an occasion. People flew from abroad to India for this movie, 5 star hotels were screening as a special show, etc but movie was a dud entertainment-wise.
Bigger mistake was Kaala. Maybe it was done to get Dalit votes, Thirumavalavan of VCK would be available for alliance & Ranjith could have been the mediator or whatever. Maybe Rajini didn’t genuinely find any good scripts…. But movie again was bigger and huge disappointment. Kaala ranks at very top at the list of most hated Rajini movies for his fans. It made him an old, tired, helpless small time don with a climax that actually kills him. Plus a done to death story of corrupt politician vs local good hearted rowdy.
But Rajini is always a survivor: 2.0, Petra and now Darbar despite middling reviews are commercial successes that fans love and nothing else matters in film world.
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Badri
January 19, 2020
The problem has never been his choice of movies. Rajini movies have never appealed to critics. Whether it is Annamalai or Baasha. I bet BR would’ve never liked those movies when he first saw them. Even as a die hard fan, none of his movies in the last 25 years have fully satisfied me. That said , Kabali, Kaala, Petta and Darbar had a lot of great moments. All these movies were on par or better than many of his 80s,90s movies. If he had stayed clear of politics, these films would’ve gone on to become record breaking blockbusters. There’s a clear attempt to bring down his image by misrepresenting his words, portraying him as anti-people, pro power, an agent of hindutva etc. The pro Dravidian media and Tamil nationalist groups have been unrelenting in their propaganda which has affected his popularity especially in B and C centres. So it’s never about choice. Yes i wish to see him in a good movie , playing his age. That’s never going to happen. But I don’t see how can anyone give good reviews for movies like Sarkar, Bigil, Viswasam, Yennsi Arindhal etc. All of these movies were pathetic by any yardstick devoid of any semblance of entertainment value and are clearly inferior to Rajini’s last few movies.Vijay and Ajith are certainly not the actors who can elevate a mediocre script or make a bad movie watchable. So I’m not sure what BR expects in a Rajini movie. Or is it just that BR sets the bar higher for a Rajini movie?
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Satya
February 8, 2020
I agree with you on Rajini’s current state, but RDJ? His interpretation of Sherlock Holmes wasn’t anything but Tony Stark’s English ancestor who lived during the Victorian era. Both performances feel very similar IMHO. He only sounds like Holmes actually at the end of Game of Shadows during the chess board scene. Any thoughts?
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Madan
February 9, 2020
To Badri’s comment, I did like Badshah at the time and can still watch it. And mind, as a 30 something guy, I don’t set much store for nostalgia. For me, the current superstars of Tamil cinema are the wonderful new directors like Myskinn or Vetrimaran rather than the actors. So it’s not about unfavourably comparing Rajni to new stars either, FWIW I found him far more convincing in Petta as compared to Ajith or Vijay’s mass turns. The problem isn’t Rajni’s acting. The problem is the films got flabby.
Maybe there is a double standard in that we forgave the flab a little earlier but those were in the pre multiplex and pre mobile data days. Until 99, our household TV set could only show 14 channels. And no mp3s yet while CDs were expensive. We watched a lot more TV and movies then for entertainment. So what worked then won’t necessarily work now. The problem remains that Rajni is trying to do hard Hindutva rather than sabka vishwas and caters only to diehards. The diehards by themselves have only ensured his films were fail safe. The general audience turned them into blockbusters. This is why Endhiran was his last big blockbuster.
I know it will irk Rajni diehards if I say this but he should stop listening only to you all and pay attention to what those of us who appreciate his acting and charisma but find the films meh have to say too. We don’t want high concept and all, even something crisp like Thana Serndha Kootam will do. Rajni would have been more convincing too in a role like that than Surya.
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brangan
February 9, 2020
Madan: That is such an important point. Till a certain time, when there were fewer entertainment options, we “forgave” — or “put up with” — a lot of things. Now, we get more impatient more easily, because there are so many OTHER things we could be doing with our time (even in the entertainment space).
There are days when I have an hour or so in the evening. Even until last year, I’d watch a bit of a movie. But now, I sometimes spend the time watching five or six videos (on FB, YouTube, whatever).
Given that films are losing their “primacy” as an entertainment mode, actors and directors have to understand that what worked then will not work now.
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Aman
February 9, 2020
That basically explains all, doesn’t it @Madan? His big blockbuster Endhiran or Sivaji, may be since it makes fans more happy set the cash registers counting like crazy mostly because they attracted both diehards fans and the general audience, particularly his markets in Telugu and Hindi. After that movie, there were big flops like Kochadaiiyaan and Lingaa, which shook his box office supremacy a bit. The massive pre release hype of Kabali drew nationwide interest and the opening day was earth shattering, I mean that was the first time I saw Brangan on some English news channel, but for all that hype, even a Baasha might have fell short. Ranjith’s mismatch with Rajni never stood a chance and after that, he announced his political entry which is really the culprit in my opinion.
Unlike a Kamal, who is either Don Quixote or Brutus depending on the spectrum, Rajni’s politics is sheer Hamletian indecision. The Thootanakudi comments didn’t go down well with a lot of people and while Rajni was stuck in 2.0 and its endless budget overruns and delays, he did Kaala with Ranjith again of all people. Even if Kaala was a lot, lot better than Kabali, it barely did even half of the former’s business. The Hindi and Telugu markets barely contribute to the BO of Rajni these days. Now filmmakers make movies meant for fans only at budgets so huge (Darbar=200 crores, it didn’t even look royal, mostly drab) that they need to be bigtime blockbusters and all these recent things, politics, controversies, frequent releases, brand dilution, and gradual overexposure is doing no good. He’s stuck between nostalgia and newness.
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Aman Basha
July 28, 2021
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/national/the-superstar-who-is-sprinting-ahead-in-tokyo/article35566456.ece
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Satya
July 29, 2021
Darbar working in Japan and just making it to the shore in India seriously makes me rethink about the film. It was no big deal, not even a ‘fun film’, but might be the closest I saw Rajinikanth play a John Wick-ish character.
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