Sivaji – the Boss in Windy Wlg – my review
Probably the zillionth review of the movie online, but who cares, it’s what I think that counts and my two cents are important to me.
Prologue: Even before you get into the theatre, school your mind to employ a very high degree of willing suspension of disbelief technique.
Alright, yesterday was the day we saw this movie.
Extremely entertaining, technically brilliant – typical director Shankar trademarks – hats off to art director and cinematographer. And of course, being a thalaivaa movie, the fights were snazzily choreographed as well. A la Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon style…But the huge wheel fight reminded me of Pirates 2, where there is a similar scene.
A lot of touches from Shankar's other (and older) movies are visible. And I found the movie a bit stretchy…by the time Mottaboss came on screen, I was a teeny bit restless...and the last half hour of the story was too crowded - too many things fitted into it.
Rajini is Thalaivaa, no doubts about that. And he gets away with it all here. Nevertheless, he does look tired and jaded – there is no freshness in his acting or mannerisms. And yes, in spite of the careful makeup, he does look old enough to be Shriya’s dad. And (I know that I am going to be murdered in my sleep for saying this) I think he should quit while he is ahead instead of being forced to quit due to a string of flops (that has happened to the best, eg, Rajini’s Baba is a case in point). Or he should go for more Sultan-type movies (his next, which is an animated pic being made by his daughter, where he does the voice over). His take-off of yesteryear stars like Sivaji Ganesan and MGR was hilarious. But his scenes of bathroom humour were pretty crass.
The movie was less of Shankar and more of Rajini – but full marks to Shankar for presenting a much more stylish Rajini – my pick was ‘Mottaboss’ (although his motta did look a bit artificial). And the worst of the lot was the vellai Tamizhan – blond, blue-eyed, white-skinned Rajini – gross as!
I enjoyed Vivek’s comedy thoroughly, have always found his style a lot classier than Vaigai puyal’s (Vadivelu), which is largely slapstick and mostly unsophisticated.
Heroine Shriya seems to have a lot in common with yesteryear Rajini heroines like Meena and Soundarya, including the fact that she is baby-faced (kind of) and young enough to be his daughter. She provides the oomph factor adequately in the songs. But why was her ‘dhavani’ tied so strangely? And why so many wardrobe malfunctions during the songs? In most of them, she appeared in a variety of beautifully made and absolutely stunning lingerie-type outfits. Maybe they were meant to be passed off as her costumes, but I swear I had to grab my glasses to make sure – no wonder they’re calling her the hottest thing after Simran!!! But all the clothes, be they lingerie or not, flattered her figure and she looked ravishing. As for her acting, well…..not really much to say. And Nayantara in the 'item number' Balleilakka' was so lost...
Rajini’s mannerisms: no punch lines, and no flipping ciggies into his mouth. Instead we have him first flipping chewing gum into his mouth. Later on, he goes around flipping the one Re coin that the villain (fairly good job by Suman) gives him. Of course, he flips the coin into his pocket, not into his mouth – just thought I would explain the obvious, just in case;-). Then towards the end of the movie, Mottaboss starts drumming on his motta head in every scene. The sound is actually quite hollow - an empty top storey? Or was it a false ceiling?
Music: ARR had done a great (not fantastic though) job given the constraints of composing music for a Rajini film. And song picturisation was the usual Shankar – classy!
Disappointments:
Rajini’s bathroom/toilet humour.
Too much of Rajini’s family chasing Shriya’s family – got tedious during the lunch scenes.
And the biggest disappointment of all, at least according to me, was the way Shriya attacks Rajini for being dark and says they won’t make a good pair, simply because she is so fair and he is so dark. And our Thalaivaa, instead of telling her to go jump, actually goes home and rolls around in fair and lovely and bleaching powder, soaks in a tub of multani mitti, wears an airconditioning suit to avoid getting tanned further and drinks gallons of saffron milk (another opportunity for toilet humour) in the quest to match Shriya’s fairness.
Of course, at the end of it all, Shriya says she was actually lying and she likes him because he’s dark, but I did wonder what sort of a message this sent out our junta, who are all already obsessed with Fair and Lovely! Too bad this issue was used as an opportunity to further the comedy track rather than to let our Thalaivaa tell the junta that black is really beautiful.
Of course, the thrill of watching the Boss on big screen, surrounded by a desi audience, who screamed and whistled at all the right places, was great.
And storyline: One man Boss(Bachelor of Social Service). That man Sivaji. As simple (and non-existent) as that.
And my verdict? Paisa vasool alright, but only just!
Epilogue: 8 out of 10, I think (after much thought, coz the movie was overall a really good show. For me the let-down was that it was not a 10 on 10, especially with all those credits and after all that hype.)
Prologue: Even before you get into the theatre, school your mind to employ a very high degree of willing suspension of disbelief technique.
Alright, yesterday was the day we saw this movie.
Extremely entertaining, technically brilliant – typical director Shankar trademarks – hats off to art director and cinematographer. And of course, being a thalaivaa movie, the fights were snazzily choreographed as well. A la Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon style…But the huge wheel fight reminded me of Pirates 2, where there is a similar scene.
A lot of touches from Shankar's other (and older) movies are visible. And I found the movie a bit stretchy…by the time Mottaboss came on screen, I was a teeny bit restless...and the last half hour of the story was too crowded - too many things fitted into it.
Rajini is Thalaivaa, no doubts about that. And he gets away with it all here. Nevertheless, he does look tired and jaded – there is no freshness in his acting or mannerisms. And yes, in spite of the careful makeup, he does look old enough to be Shriya’s dad. And (I know that I am going to be murdered in my sleep for saying this) I think he should quit while he is ahead instead of being forced to quit due to a string of flops (that has happened to the best, eg, Rajini’s Baba is a case in point). Or he should go for more Sultan-type movies (his next, which is an animated pic being made by his daughter, where he does the voice over). His take-off of yesteryear stars like Sivaji Ganesan and MGR was hilarious. But his scenes of bathroom humour were pretty crass.
The movie was less of Shankar and more of Rajini – but full marks to Shankar for presenting a much more stylish Rajini – my pick was ‘Mottaboss’ (although his motta did look a bit artificial). And the worst of the lot was the vellai Tamizhan – blond, blue-eyed, white-skinned Rajini – gross as!
I enjoyed Vivek’s comedy thoroughly, have always found his style a lot classier than Vaigai puyal’s (Vadivelu), which is largely slapstick and mostly unsophisticated.
Heroine Shriya seems to have a lot in common with yesteryear Rajini heroines like Meena and Soundarya, including the fact that she is baby-faced (kind of) and young enough to be his daughter. She provides the oomph factor adequately in the songs. But why was her ‘dhavani’ tied so strangely? And why so many wardrobe malfunctions during the songs? In most of them, she appeared in a variety of beautifully made and absolutely stunning lingerie-type outfits. Maybe they were meant to be passed off as her costumes, but I swear I had to grab my glasses to make sure – no wonder they’re calling her the hottest thing after Simran!!! But all the clothes, be they lingerie or not, flattered her figure and she looked ravishing. As for her acting, well…..not really much to say. And Nayantara in the 'item number' Balleilakka' was so lost...
Rajini’s mannerisms: no punch lines, and no flipping ciggies into his mouth. Instead we have him first flipping chewing gum into his mouth. Later on, he goes around flipping the one Re coin that the villain (fairly good job by Suman) gives him. Of course, he flips the coin into his pocket, not into his mouth – just thought I would explain the obvious, just in case;-). Then towards the end of the movie, Mottaboss starts drumming on his motta head in every scene. The sound is actually quite hollow - an empty top storey? Or was it a false ceiling?
Music: ARR had done a great (not fantastic though) job given the constraints of composing music for a Rajini film. And song picturisation was the usual Shankar – classy!
Disappointments:
Rajini’s bathroom/toilet humour.
Too much of Rajini’s family chasing Shriya’s family – got tedious during the lunch scenes.
And the biggest disappointment of all, at least according to me, was the way Shriya attacks Rajini for being dark and says they won’t make a good pair, simply because she is so fair and he is so dark. And our Thalaivaa, instead of telling her to go jump, actually goes home and rolls around in fair and lovely and bleaching powder, soaks in a tub of multani mitti, wears an airconditioning suit to avoid getting tanned further and drinks gallons of saffron milk (another opportunity for toilet humour) in the quest to match Shriya’s fairness.
Of course, at the end of it all, Shriya says she was actually lying and she likes him because he’s dark, but I did wonder what sort of a message this sent out our junta, who are all already obsessed with Fair and Lovely! Too bad this issue was used as an opportunity to further the comedy track rather than to let our Thalaivaa tell the junta that black is really beautiful.
Of course, the thrill of watching the Boss on big screen, surrounded by a desi audience, who screamed and whistled at all the right places, was great.
And storyline: One man Boss(Bachelor of Social Service). That man Sivaji. As simple (and non-existent) as that.
And my verdict? Paisa vasool alright, but only just!
Epilogue: 8 out of 10, I think (after much thought, coz the movie was overall a really good show. For me the let-down was that it was not a 10 on 10, especially with all those credits and after all that hype.)
