Celluloid for me is separated by two visibly contagious stimuli: individuals who deliver powerhouse performances consistently to rank amongst the most versatile of their era; the second section belongs to those ethereal superstars who inspire generations with their larger than life persona and their charismatic exploits that keep the crowd glued to the screen for eternity.
Rajnikanth for me, belongs to the latter. But to my mounted dismay, Shankar has deprived the legendary star of his own charm by instilling life in to a robot that dismantles every little thing on it’s way to attain the status of being immortal. Alas! The director has lost the entire plot to a gamut of technicians who made Hollywood proud. But two entirely different cultures cannot be intermingled without a context in place. Ah.. That reminds me to state this blockbuster has none of it. For me, it was a three hour ordeal of dealing with plethora of mangled machines that are on the rampage to prove a point. Whose point and which point of it made sense is a question which is best to be left unanswered, strictly for the benefit of those who understand the sole meaning of entertainment.
Face it, ‘Enthiran’ lacks the fervour of a superstar material and has stolen the charm of a man who self inflicting gimmicks and unbelievable yet mind-blowing antics have enthralled the audiences for over 3 decades. The script was intentionally lost, I am still wandering for a semblance of a storyline and.. lets not get even close to what is known as ‘Screenplay’. This flick is a planned and sophisticated sequel from the replication stable of some of the finest technicians in this world who created gems like ‘Terminator’ and ‘Jurassic Park’. Well, am I suppose to draft a comparison chart here? Not worth it. Neither am I taking sides. It’s just that I am wondering what caught Shankar to create this techie junkie when we could have done so much better in terms of offering an intended magnum opus.
The first half was tolerable but what followed post interval was catastrophic. Shankar lost it big time and didn’t know how to end something that he started off with a whimper. The only moments when I felt that I was indeed watching a Rajnikanth film was when the self proclaimed robot turns anti with feelings for his creator’s girl and comes out fuming for vengeance; those were still glimpses of the superstar I came to see on screen but was a pale shadow of his self.
It is a universal notion that you leave your brains behind and not search for logic when you are watching a Rajnikanth film. I sold my brains, locked them off and set out in search of the man whose popularity has always eluded my sane comprehension. Next time, I would leave my eyes behind, for I need not sell my expectations for an offering that has all the makings of a dud written all over it. It will probably have all the stakeholders ecstatic for the returns (by all means, it still makes a lot of money!!), but I am frantically looking for the superstar we all knew.
