"Coooooooool"
How was the movie???
How many hours did you wait in line to get tickets??
Did you see the first day first show??
Does the movie have subtitles??
Were the tickets sold out??
Can we book tickets online??
Why is it playing so far away??
Whoa..... I have never been asked so many questions after I watched a movie. And then it sunk in slowly. Damn!! The Sivaji craze has definitely swept New York too. I am not getting into the story, but the million dollar question is, does the movie deliver and live up to all its hype?? Well, Yes and No.
As a Rajini Fan, Absolutely Yes. I whistled and threw popcorn every time Rajini flipped the coin or made a gimmick on screen. I was laughing my ass off when Vivek was delivering the punch dialogues. Watching the movie with a packed audience was truly electrifying and an experience I will cherish for a long time to come. Heck, where else can I see a 70 year old patti in front of me saying "Superrrrrrrr Superrrrr" encouraging all of us youngsters to cheer louder. I had to remind myself every now and then not to trash the cinema hall too much as I still in New York. When the movie was over, a bunch of non-desis (just trying to be politically correct) came in to clean with a dazed look on their faces unable to understand why the craze and curious as to what kind of movie was playing. Then on an impulse some of my friends wanted to watch the next show again. What wait, am I going to watch the same movie back to back??? To my relief (not that I told anyone publicly), the next show was sold out. Phew!!! Close call.
No doubt, there were parts which I loved and other parts were Yaaaaaawwnnn. The songs are great and ARR has certainly delivered on the background score (it woke me up several times actually) and the superstar certainly carries the movie and does what he is supposed to do. Rajini has proved that at 60 he can still act(Look out for the MGR Sivaji) and carry an entire movie with no help.
But I went home and thought about the movie and thats when the critic in me came out. I heard Shankar was trying to keep the story under wraps. Wow!! What story my friend? To put it mildly, Sivaji has no story. The entire hype has been built on Rajini who single handedly cleanses the society (don’t all Shankars hero's do that??). I wonder what the hell was in that movie that Shankar spent 80 crores on it. He should have spent some money to hire someone to write a good story instead. Agreed, the sets are lavish and Rajini has been made to look like a rap star, but come on, we need a script for sitting through a movie which is 3+ hours. One would also think that Rajini and Shankar/ARR would bring something new to the table, but clearly they did not want to be too bold or experiment.
Sivaji has certainly achieved what no other Tamil movie has (it was in the UK top 10 for a week), and it has opened up the market for regional movies globally. (Move over SRK and Amitabh, here come the real superstars of Indian cinema). Frankly, the movie runs in patches, there are no doubt, some really good, brilliant, funny scenarios woven together with weak moments (I am leaving out the unbelievable, as after all, this is a Rajini movie and asking for logic would be too much). The fights are great with special effects and watching Rajini bash up 25 people in slow motions is simply superb (with the FX of course). AVM, Shankar and Rajini should thank their lucky stars as everyone has given Sivaji the benefit of the doubt and embraced it wholeheartedly (only for Rajinis sake) making it a runaway success.
My $0.02 to Rajini: The movie entertains to a large extent. But please remember from now on that you have a global audience. The sets and heroines are not important in your movies. The story, script and your style (strictly in that order) are the only things that matter.
My $0.02 to Shankar: Be bold and experiment. Don’t get scared that you have to protect the star’s image. Alternatively, don’t direct movies with bigger than life stars. I would have been very happy if you had the guts to show Rajini flipping a cigarette in style rather than wanting to show it, but getting scared, and eventually settling to showing him flip a chili. That’s not style, it’s ridiculous. And next time, before you spend someone else’s crores, write a story!!!!!
And finally to all Indian film makers, next time you decide to show Wall Street in your movies, talk to me. I will tell you how business is done on the street. Don’t freaking show 25 people in suits and try to pass them off as wall street businessmen.
But anyways, I do have a confession to make and this is the fan in me talking. I will be watching Sivaji for the second time this weekend, with a bunch of people from work (who don’t understand a word in tamil btw). But, I am certainly not spending money on popcorn this time around.
VERDICT: Entertainment Guaranteed, even if you don’t know Tamil!!
PS: The movie, declared India's most expensive, has been made at a cost of Rs.80 crores and it has been projected to do a business of Rs.150-160 crores.
This past week, I had a chance to watch Slumdog Millionaire. Though I heard a lot about it, I was a bit skeptical going in as I am more than aware of the hype Indian movies generate and seldom do they actually deliver...But I could not have been more surprised.
