Hi all,
After the previous post,this is one more regarding Kabali now.
There are 3 festivals in Tamilnadu
1. Pongal
2. Deepavali
3. Rajinikanth movie release.
The latest is what happened last Friday. Whenever a mass hero movie ( definition of mass hero can never be provided even by Google ) releases in Tamilnadu it will be the talk of the state for sure, for a state so closely following cinema. Getting the first day first show ticket for that movie is usually a tough task to ask for, as usually they release the movie on a holiday season making it a double bonanza.
If thats the case for a regular mass hero imagine what would be the case for the superstar. Even an expert in booking tatkal ticket would struggle to get the first day first show ticket. When I mean first day first show it is not those were you will be able to get the tickets online, it is those where you have to reach out to n number of people to get your hands on the tickets to see the star back on the big screen.
In spite of the fact that the whole movie leaked online before the first early morning show in there country , people came in masses to the theaters. Only Rajinikanth can manage to do this with ease. In a state where the movie ticket price has a maximum cap of 120 INR , even when the ticket prices crept upto thousands the crowd just kept coming.
Such is the capacity of the superstar.
I was fortunate enough that my friends managed to get tickets for me and i travelled overnight and reached on time for the early morning show.
Coming to this movie, I felt we could see the actor in rajinikanth and surely a proof that the actor in him is still very much alive and for sure he is so capable of doing roles like what one could see in Mullum malarum , Johnny , Thillu millu and not just the trademark fast walk and other style gimmicks.
There were some scenes which I liked very much and I would surely say that this is one of the best movies in his last ten movies where he has performed well as an actor , but ranjith missed out heavily on using the actor in him fully and the problem he had taken was not shown in detail and it is a huge let down from his side particularly in the second half. The idea in which rajinikanth would have chosen the movie is very clear that he does not want to do the stereotypical movies, a move to be welcomed.
After all the fuzz of getting the tickets and the Nerrupu da trailer a fan would have had high expectations and after watching the flick would definitely feel disappointed. I am not an expert to say what failed in this movie in spite of a good emotional content and portrayal of the same. It is unfortunately the problem of being rajinikanth, similar to Sachin that we expect only the extraordinary from them every single time.
When one looks back and sees the movie on a lazy day a couple of months later we would realize that this movie is actually okay, and we would realize that this is very much like the 30 odd runs what MSD makes in the fag end of the innings which we won't reckon much on that day.
Apart from the mistakes on the screen in terms of moving the story, there were mainly problems in two aspects. The first one too much of promotions , and the second one the biggest blunder the posters of the movie.
The whole movie revolves around a search and the answer to the search is very obvious in the posters of the movie, which completely spoils the twenty minutes when the search intensifies.
Any person who observed the posters a bit would realize soon where the search is leading to. If one has observed the official playlist in YouTube where there were some photos in the lyric video answer to the search again becomes too obvious.
This problem of promotion in YouTube with official lyric videos apart from the teaser gives too much out and leaves very less for guessing. This is a generic problem in all movies of recent time which I observed in movies like vellailla pattadhari, miruthan , 24 , thangamagan , theri to name a few.
I did not hear any songs nor see the lyric videos of Kabali before seeing the movie , and now when I come and look back all the answers for the search is out so blatantly that if I had seen the lyric videos earlier I would have lost the interest completely when watching it.
What kabali tries to bring the emotional side of rajinikanth and has succeeded there , but the reason for the same and the other aspects around it is not done properly here. And since the expectations are always to the likes of Baasha, Padayappa one should realize that it requires a Mark Antony or Neelambari to bring out the best and not a stereotypical villain.
In my opinion the other aspects surrounding the movie done by themselves had done more damage than the movie itself.
May be Tamil cinema required a rajinikanth to learn this lesson, if that happens the movie had served is purpose.
Magizchi !
P.S: I found a brilliant write up on things which one could realize in the movie, it can be checked
here.
Kudos to Ranjith for putting such a brave attempt in the script, unfortunately I think it did not translate much to screen.
