Sivaji reigns, as always, but…

Sivaji-the entertainment personified
· Rajnikant’s latest flick Sivaji-the boss has hit theaters. After watching the movie seven days after its worldwide release, one is bound to be thrilled. The same emotion grips me as I remember the last night’s venture. First of all, I must say the film did not let me down. All the Rajni theatrics and elements were there to give every value for my money. It was down and down a Rajni movie and the whole three hours and twenty minutes of the movie does not allow you to forget that any moment. Rajni means entertainment…and the Boss shows that in the most entertaining way in his inimitable style and styles.
Sivaji-the director’s dilemma
· One has to remember also that it is Director Shankar’s film who has given us such memorable hits as Gentleman, Kadhalan, Jeans, Indian and the best of all Anniyan. Sadly though, in Sivaji, Shankar has failed to live upto his name. It is as though, he has reeled under the stature of Super Star Rajni than making the movie his own. All the scenes, barring those song pasteurizations where classic Shankar touch props up unstopping. The breathtaking locations, much larger than life exquisite sets, the zing thing orchestrations …you name it and Sivaji have it. But in the movie, right from the story no traces of director’s skill are evident. For once, comedy is the Rajni’s bastion and it does not take Shankar to make the comedy sequences memorable. Vivek and Rajni steal the show in their comedy scenes in the first half of the movie.
Sivaji-the momentous moments
· What overcomes the failings of the director have been compensated by the some very fast, really brilliant and full confrontation scenes wherein whole experience of watching the movie assumes new meaning. For example, the scene where Rajni blackmails Adisheshan (Suman) for his black money. You have to see to believe the unchallenged confidence of Rajni on the screen while he orders Bhajia and Tea for the twosome. After finishing the taling and (eating), he tells Adi, “Pay the bill for all this. We will settle it from 100 Crores.” Wow! Man! That sets the screen on fire. Equally astounding scene is in climax, where the students vying for the falling money trample Adi. That’s what we want to see in a Shankar movie. A social message, a kind of common man’s revenge in a very symbolic way, in a manner fit for the commercial flicks.
Sivaji-the unsung movie
· One big letdown of the movie is the music score by AR Rehman. One expects from the ‘Isai Puyal’ a thumping, vibrant and humming songs, the kind of which were present in Muthu and Padaiyappa. Even Baba score would fare better in comparison with the Sivaji. Except for Vaji Vaji song, no song clings to the nerves. Even the background score also do not match to the stature of Rajni film.
Sivaji-the boss of box office
· What Sivaji has achieved will be the subject of discussion for long in future. But it has indisputably bought to Indian regional cinema to the notice of the world cinema. After all when did you saw big queues lined up outside the theaters in the north India for a Tamil movie? When did you saw multiplexes in Mumbai increasing their no. of shows for a Tamil film in its second week? When did we saw a Tamil film finding its place in the top 10 films in UK? As I write this from Pune, five multiplexes and one single screen are running 16 shows daily for Sivaji, which is a feat for any regional film. It has wakened up to the fact that good or quality successful films are not the monopoly of the Hollywood or Bollywood. It has also shown the world that Rajnikant is not a subject of internet jokes only, but that he has far more substance than any other actor/hero in this country. In that sense, I think he is the most underestimated hero in India. Please check this and this to prove this point.

Sivaji-fumbled fairy tale
· Shankar seems to have fumbled while transferring the story from the storyboard to celluloid. While most of the half is spent in portraying the love story of the hero and heroine, second part tries to deal with three menaces at one go…i. e. black money, bribery and the menaces in the education system. That has created an unnecessary burden on the cinema as well as hero. Shankar’s earlier films centered on one theme and that ensued a big success for the flicks. Gentleman handled the problem of commercialization of the education system as Indian handled the bribery system of the country. Anniyan focused on the lawlessness in the citizens of India. It seems Shankar has tried to bundle all these themes in the one film. To be fair, he has succeeded in not making the affair a repetitive one. But it would have been better had he handled the one subject in this film. For that matter, one again thinks that had Mudhalvan been done with Rajni, we could have a movie of the lifetime. Sivaji leaves a lot to be wished.