Title: Shivaji: The Boss
Director:Shankar
Starring: "Superstar" Rajinikanth,Shriya Saran,Vivek,Suman,Raghuvaran, and loads of other guest appearances.
Story: Shankar's hero (no Superhero!!) tries to root out black money.
Bottomline: Shankar's Utopian Hero does it again!!
First things first. It would be an insult to the film's memory if this movie is watched in pirated VCD or DVD or if you guys are thinking that this film ought to be caught on cable television, you are missing a big treat. Nothing can do justice to this 3 hour long , rich celluloidian delight of a film than a DTS effect sound speaker system coupled with a 48 MB (megabytes) per frame other than a projector with a white screen in a cinema hall.
Yet the best part of Shivaji was this. When the film was annonced, I asked myself "How could this Shankar-Rajini combo work?"
One side was a director who revels in making magnum opus ishstyle (pun intended!!) movies ever since he made his debut in "Gentleman". One the other side lies an actor who revels in
punching his villains and his dialogues and who has a large fan following which even rivals a following of a political party (no Mr Rajinikanth I know you are not into politics but the
adjective was necessary)
But the biggest strength of Shivaji is that the movie has been into a reality without either
Rajini or Shankar coming out of their moulds. The script is not complex nor is it something that we have never come across in cinema. But its the packaging where the movie scores.
And oh boy oh boy!! Does it score!!
Acting: Rajini is in his belligerent self. Yet he doesn't turn preachy in this movie as well (he probably learnt this lesson from "Baba").Shriya Saran surprises you with her quiet portrayal as Thamizh. Yet her lip sync in dubbing is lousy (dubbing by Kanika of "Varalaru" fame).
Though she is portrayed as a quiet "Kudukmba Ponnu" (literally translates as family girl!!),
she turns into one of the most sexiest screen siren to have scorched cinema halls in the song sequences.
The best acting honours in the movie, however goes to the villain Adhi Seshan (Suman). As the menacing man behind the dark matrix-style sunglasses,Suman is in familiar grounds and hence revels. Vivek tickles you with his witty one-liners. Though some of his dialogues semm to have been taken straight from Crazy Mohan's book of comedy (katpadi rhyming with dead body is one such example). He even mimics Rajini in front of him much to the amusement of everybody. The twoof them imitating vadivelu is absolute magic and their
chemistry is palpable. Rajini proves that one doesnt need to make comedy by kicking the comedian around. Are you reading this Mr.Vadivelu? 1.6/2
Cinematography: National award winner KV Anand brings in his usual tricks of film making.
Cinematography is one of the biggest strength in this movie. His colour tones are so good that even the famine scorched earth in the first song appear artistic and beautiful. Eye-candy cinematography. 0.9/1
Editing: On seeing the starting sequences, I thought that this would be a long movie. But this so called long movie minimizes into 2 hour 45 minute long affair, crisper than potato chips Anthony scissoring abilities are getting better and better. He was superb in
"Vettaiyadu Vilaiyadu" and excellent in "Shivaji". The camera-ramping (a usual in Shankar movies) technique and ability to use connect different scenes is absolutely ingenious (that mms message part of the movie). 0.9/1
Music: When AR Rahman is at the helm in the music department, you should expect nothing less than magic from the "Mozart of Madras". The "Sahana" song is unforgettable piece and connoisseur's delight. The "Athiradee" song is literally foot-tapping. The "Style" song is an unique attempt in Hip-Hop and Funk genres. 1/1
Art Direction: The art direction by Thotatharani is simply amazing and award-winning (for sure). It still surprises me how he is able to create sets from a hut to a huge "Tower of Magi" style set in the "Vaaji Vaaji" song. 0.8/1
Others: Peter Hein's stunts, though a bit over the top sometimes is still very beleivable. CG animation is excellent and rivals even many Hollywood movie special effects. The Athiradee song is one example. It would be interesring Rajini's next project in Sultan, animated movie realeasing in 2008 made by Rajini's daughter.
In the starting sequence, the man next to Rajini's cell (no spoilers here!!) asks him why he was put in jail, to which he replies he did service to the people. To this the man quips "Then you ought to be put in jail!" . I started clapping to this dialogue (I was the only one clapping in the hall, but thankfully and sound from the movie drowned my singular attempt) amazed at the irony and the sting that the dialogue carried. There you knew Dialogue writer Sujatha has done his job.
Choreography is good and they have made it a point to make Rajini dance and he does his job gracefully.
Costumes by Manish Malhothra is stunning. Makes Rajini look chic and Shriya, a bombshell.
Makeup by Bhanu is simply superb. Makes the superstar look atleast two decades younger straight from his "Murattu Kalai" days. A welcome change from the gross makeup we saw in "Chandramukhi".
0.8/1
Script and Screenplay: Now this is the most important part of any movie. Though the movie doesnt fall flat on its face in this department, its still a tad repetetive on Shankar's part. The story seems to be a variant of "Indian","Gentleman"and many other of his works.
I think it is time for Shankar to take a well-deserved break and try his hand at more ralistic and low cost movies in the future. Though his production company boasts of down-to-earth movies like "Kadhal" and "Veyyil", The BOSS is yet to take a plunge in it. It would be refreshing to take a break after all!! Also the aftermath of the climax is also totally ignored as what happens after it comes during the credits. If his mission was to show his "message" then the director should not have set it aside in the credits.
1.6/3
Total: 7.6/10 (strictly to be watched in theatres if you want 3 hours of non-stop fantasy)
