The BOSS - Is he here to stay?

It is a dream come true for any Indian who wants to catch the super-star on celluloid first day and when it happens to be the first show, the joy on the faces of those privileged souls is truly understandable. Well, I have been a decent enough fan of the superstar but getting to watch him on the big screen first day seemed near impossible. But it so happened that one of my good friend (good fella) Aditya had me in mind when he got the tickets for the show at INOX (Citi Center). When he actually messaged me on thursday (june 14), I was shouting and screaming at work (literally that is), that I immediately went to my supervisor and told him that I will be off tomorrow (Friday June 15). Ofcouse he ended being as kind as he generally is and he infact asked me if there was something that I could share. When I did tell him that I might get to watch first day first show, he was shocked, stupified, petrified and the adjectives wont fit the reaction that came out of the Senior Manager in Standard Chartered Bank.
He was indeed happy and told me to write my views on what I thought of the movie and this purely made me observe more in the movie - not just as a Rajini fan but as a neutral viewer who was watching the superstar for the first time on screen (which is not practical though). This is just my opinion on the film and it might be different from those watching it elsewhere. This again prompts me to make the remark about the crowd which makes a huge difference to your viewing experience. I happened to watch "Sivaji" in one of the "decent" theathre in town - Citi Center. The place was filled with people who came with their families, few youngsters, oldies quite a number of them - It was full to the brim no doubt. But then again, the reactions that came out of each and every scene was so un-Rajini that I could definetly say that watching Chandramukhi would have had more noise on the 100 th day than here. That again has helped me to watch the movie with a neutral third eye and at the same time didnt enthuse more energy on the fact that it was a first day first show.. Nevertheless i am not complaining.

It was a morning 10.45 show and I got up knowing that I neednt get ready to go to work. I was all excited when I slept the previous night when I knew this is going to be my first experience of watching superstars movie first day first show. But yesterday night was a different story as I watched Oceans 13 with my parents and was all tired. I was dying to sleep to wake up all energized for the all important D-Day in my life. I was dreaming about what the intro scene would be like, how will they fit in heavy metal songs to suit Rajnis dance movements, how will the theme of black money be dealt with so much of hoopla around the super-star, will there be enough meat if one looks inside the hype and josh surrounding the movie. Luckily for me I ended up sleeping peacefully to wake up and get ready. i was all set to take my bike and out comes the first blow - my bike wheels flat as a notebook. It really dampened my spirts; I thank my stars for making me spot the problem at home as the situation could have been terrible if I got stuck at mainroad with me having to push my way through with my bike all the way back home. And to add to that misery I was running against time and it was the zillionth occassion that I cursed myself and swore to god that I will be early next time only to be in an infinite loop of faltering promises.

After all the hoopla and scenes, I ended up catching an auto to citi center; it was 10.30 and the show was at 10.45. I didnt want to miss the first scene for any sake and was pushing the auto wala to go faster. I flashed the money, forgot to get the change in the hurry and went straight up to level 3 of the mall. Sanjay - my school friend was kind enough to wait for me and we both went in to be greeted by a huge gang of DAV-ians sitting in 2 rows. I promised myself to enjoy this movie as never before. I sat in and in came the all familiar super star theme songs with the letters Rajni flashing out. The crowd erupted and people starting chanting the household name of superstar Rajini. When he erupted onto the scene there was frenzied reactions and people were just taken aback by his "30 year old" look. It was madness seeing people jump and cry his name into air and my friends (me included) joined the craze. It felt so good to be part of the wave to chant the super stars name. Once the movie picked up pace, the first half fell a little apart one could say. But again, I am not giving away much as this could anger those who haven't yet seen the movie. So with that in mind, I could confidently say that the first half might leave you all a little bullish with all the expectations around the man and the movie. The movie is loaded with the style and the grace of the man and there is nothing short on that front. The chewing gum comes as a revelation to the "beedi" in baba and the ciggarate/pipe in his older flicks. The villian Suman has done a great job although his body expressions could have been little more tonned up.

Director Shankar makes everyone loathe the villian and in one important scene of the movie, I am sure crowds would have gone near the screen and torn the villan apart (virtually). Blood was boiling and even the old man behind us was mad with the villan. Credit goes to the master director for making the villan reach farther than normal. Rajini coming back as M** in the second half (final quarter) of the movie is indeed breathtaking. I think that charecter stays in the minds of the viewers as to the Rajini of the old - bashing up villans with ease; Shriya is breathtaking in the movie. Although she dons a normal heroine's role she does it with some bit of ease and flamboyance that you sympathize with her in various emotional scenes of the movie. She has done her best and the chemistry between her and the super star although not the best certainly is better than the nagma of batcha and infact the nayantara of cmukhi; Vivek has again done what he does best - playing second fiddle and with some reality-coated-humour; himself and the superstar make us all carry their sentiments. Again I feel Vadivelu's flick in cmukhi was little better in terms of humour but Vivek fittled the bill in this role in SIvaji.

Manivannan sadly had not much of a role and so was the case with Vadivukarasi. But again, in a superstar movie, prime importance is for the super star as expected and this was no different. First half has some nagging scenes with the villan while the second half reaches crecendo when Rajini makes a comeback after being "cornered". The actor scores a centum for emotions and style required scenes while his dancing and running movements have become a shadow of his past. He has become little more slow on that front. Songs have been fitted well and ARR has done a fabulous job with his music. BG is not something to write home about especially in the first half while Blaze's "baba" like BG in the end matches the tone and beat of the movie. The song with all the old actors relived and Rajinis tribute to Kamal Hasan in one of the scenes is a tribute to the mans much spoken about humility. Shankar has once again scored with his "grand" way of picturising things and the songs / fights were no different either. Some fight scenes are awesome especially the one in the car while some ground fight scenes are not close to reality; Athiradee is a master piece and the song when seen on screen is again a totally enchanting experience.

"Perakettale chumma adirithuille" is very much the talk of the town; not all the punch dialogues that are doing the rounds in various websites were in the movie; While most of the movie sites has Prakash Raj in the cast, suprisingly it was bogus. He was not to be seen in the movie; The best way to enjoy the movie is to take out all your expectations, forget the hoopla, go in with a blank mind and giving more weight to the fact that it is a Shankar movie more than a Rajini movie; I think this attitude would make you relish the movie more than ever; Rajini has his way of doing things and this movie has the correct dose of them; what is to be seen is not whether Sivaji will be the biggest moneyspinner or not but if it actually is one of those movies that we associate Rajini with - a "Badshah" kind of a movie. If that happens, I think the master director has given his master piece.

BOSS - Bachelor of Social Service - does he falter to decieve? Write your comments