Whoever written this review, seems to be anti - a r r !!! Not a single
word about music!!!
*Thulasi Ram <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>* wrote:
no comments on ARR though..
http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/review/7911.html
Sivaji (Tamil) - The Boss is always right IndiaGlitz [Friday, June 15,
2007] Where do you start? Where do you end? How do you recapture
cinematic magic, the captivating power and charisma of one man, who manages
to transcend the rational faculties in all of us? How do you re-create this
attraction of soul and heart? No matter what, no review is ever going to do
justice to Sivaji –The Boss as no writer can summon the ability to bring in
words the impossible swathe that Rajnikanth's appeal cuts across various
strata of the society.
Rajni's movies are not so much art as appeal. Like mother's cooking which
is not about taste, Rajnikanth on screen makes a bonding with your heart. It
is about emotions, that maybe blind, but all real and very human. In
Sivaji-The Boss, this surreal feeling gets a further magical touch in the
form of techno-wizardry that Shankar has patented to be his in Tamil cinema.
When state-of-the-heart and state-of-the-art find a match, what you get is
three hours of sustained entertainment that is at once a compelling
phantasmagoria of trademark Rajni fun and typical Shankar grandeur. It is a
case of desire meeting dream, and almost making it plausible.
The success of Sivaji-The Boss will eventually lie in the fact that both
Rajni and Shnakar, with a huge individual constituencies of their own, have
not had to break their preserved moulds. Where Rajni and Shankar meet is in
their social sensibilities, in their populist propensity to convey, what the
industry calls as 'the message'.
Sivaji, in that sense, is a contemporary commentary on the state of the
nation where as a dialogue in the film aptly sums it up as 'the poor get
poorer and the rich get richer'. Sivaji has many strands, each unique in its
heft and heave. Affordable education and health for all is one theme.
Rooting out black money is the main one, however. Woven into this large
tapestry is the bureaucratic bunglings, red-tapism and other issues that bug
our quotidian life.
Sivaji (Rajnikanth) is a rich NRI software pro. Son of caring parents
(Manivannan and Vadivukkarasi), and the nephew of an ever helpful uncle
(Vivek), Sivaji comes to India with the larger than life dream of running
universities and hospital for the benefit of the poor. (The idea is smartly
done when he talks of every riches coming to India, but beggary not going
away).
Sivaji has to however contend with Adi Kesavan (Suman), a slimy crocodile
of a educationist and a hospital owner. He has vested interests in not
allowing Sivaji to get on with his ambitious projects. Sivaji, however, has
his heart set. Despite running into a non-cooperating administration (the
red-tapism prevalent is exposed in an irony-filled humour), Sivaji soldiers
on. He unwillingly greases the palm of venal babus and politicos to get
sundry permission required to build the infrastructure.
But Adi consistently turns out to be the spanner in the works and even
goes to the extent of unseating the government to stop Sivaji in his tracks.
In the meanwhile, Sivaji falls in love with a midlleclass Tamilazharasi
(Shriya), who is the daughter of uncompromising parents (Raja and Uma
Padmanabhan). Sivaji, with the aid of his uncle, goes out of the way to
court the girl and her family. The scenes involving the two families are
such a lark that they bring the theatre down in laughter. (Watch out for
that riotous Deepavali scene when the families have some rollicking fun).
Tamilazharasi, despite the fear engendered after a fortuneteller predicts
calamity for Sivaji if she marries him, finally agrees to be his life
partner (the scene at the railway tracks where she accepts as him as his
lover is both romantic as well as very humorous). His light-hearted attempts
to look fair are also very funny. But on the business front, the evil
administration and wily Adi ensure that Sivaji loses all his wealth and all
his dreams lie shattered as a dust heap.
Sivaji has nothing left in life, and in a heady taunt Adi tosses an one
rupee coin, in an effort to say that Sivaji is now a beggar. Sivaji is now a
transformed lion, he vows to use the same one rupee coin as the 'investment'
to take not just Adi, but all the money sharks. Rooting out black money is
his broad and dramatic theme. Along with his uncle, Sivaji plays smart, but
under the law tricks, to shatter the wits of the villainous group.
The way Sivaji goes about is very gritty and provides the film with the
right lift. The way he brings in all the black money, which he prises out of
the evil hands, ingenious and inventive (it is through the hawala route).
Sivaji manages to build his dream projects with lot of arm twisting and
sweet villainy. But Adi and the other baddies hit back, they plot and get
Tamilazharasi herself to reveal all the details of Sivaji's modus operandi.
They even kill him when in the custody of the police. But they cannot get
the details out of his personal laptop (it has all the minutiaes of his
transactions) as it is voice-recognition password protected. Sivaji is
however dead and the laptop would not budge for any other voice command
(this is a smart usage of modern techno gizmo to carry on the narrative).
How can the hero die without finishing off the baddies? Well, there is an
interesting twist in the tail. Watch it for the exhilaration and the sheer
stylish audacity of it all.
Rajnikanth, looking very young and urbane, as Sivaji has amazing screen
presence, proving once again that his hold over the masses has not waned
even one bit. Be it his helpless anger at a system that is forever
unobliging or his mirthful fun in romance or his chutzpah-filled approach to
bring to heel the evil forces or his brio in the fighting sequences, Rajni
has really put in a hard performance that matches his reputation. His kind
of humour is so infectious that in the breezy first half, he and Vivek have
the fans dancing in the aisles. The 'punch dialogues' though not all uttered
by Rajni directly will make his fans happy.
Shriya, looking amazingly lissome with a body that is both bow and an
arrow, is beauty personified. She is pleasant on the eyes and plays her
pivotal role without any complication. Manivannan, Vadivukarasi, Raja and
Uma Padmanabhan all have turned out impressive performances as the parents
of the two.
Vivek as Rajni's uncle is in great form. His smart jokes, all specked with
contemporary idiom, are a delight and make you break into a chuckle
spontaneously
Suman, in a larger than life villain role, is an inspired choice. His dark
coolers-covered face convey the subtle evilness dramatically. He has
understood the script and shaped his character to a nicety. Livinsgstone,
VMC Hanifa, Ravikumar, Solomon Pappaiya, Bose Venkat are also in the cast.
Shankar keeps the tempo and the traction going all through with an adroit
mix of comedy, action and issues. This is his patented style. And then there
is the well-established style of Rajni. Shankar's humanism in larger than
life canvas and Rajni's mass-oriented fun and feeling seem nature-born
allies. The two have synchronized beautifully in Sivaji, which, to describe
in the trendy and the omnibus description (which Rajni uses ever so often on
screen in this film), is cool.
.
*" *The *search* is more important than the destination "
- a r rahman -
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