REVIEW
Rajinikanth
is not just an actor, he is a brand name. Everything about The Superstar is
magnum opus and each of his moves is a trend setter.
After nearly four painful
years of anticipation, Rajinikanth is back to the silver screen. And here's the
most celebrated actor of the country throwing open the gates to the globally
budding trend in movie making, in India.
'Kochadaiiyaan' has been in the
making, and in headlines every other day, for the past couple of years, for the
path breaking technology of motion capture photo realistic film brought home by
the Superstar's own daughter, Soundarya Rajinikanth Ashwin, who debuts as
director with this legendary flick.
KS Ravikumar's intelligently crafted story
backed by AR Rahman's music starring Deepika Padukone, Nasser, Aadhi, Jackie
Shroff, Rukmmini and Shobhana with the Superstar himself, in an all new concept
- 'Kochadaiiyaan' is the best of Superstar's portrayal and upcoming technology.
To say that
Kochadaiiyaan is the father and Rana the son is as easy as it may seem, but to
define the inspiring men that they are and to unfold the multilayered story is
a big task at hand.
The story revolves around two kingdoms - Kalingapuri and
Kottaipattinam. Rana is declared the commando of Kalingapuri and there begins
to unfold his mission.
On his most ambitious venture, he takes his army to
attack Kottaipattinam but ends up becoming the hero there. In short, the story
of how and why he is the hero of Kottaipattinam is all that 'Kochadaiiyaan'
about.
The
speciality of the film lies in the visual treat that it makes for. All the
roles that Rajinikanth is cast in, is unique and distinct from one another, and
is a special experience for audience who worship him.
The first glimpse of
motion capture photo realism comes in the form of Aadhi who plays Veera
Mahendra. But though this first look takes a little while to recognise and
register as a familiar actor, the ones that follow can be easily placed.
Aadhi
plays a friend hurt by cheat later, Deepika the loving and lovely girl,
confident of her stance, Nasser plays a villain you could bring yourself to
hate first hand, and Shobhana plays the doting wife; Rajinikanth is in the role
of a father and that of a son, while with the responsibility of safe guarding
the kingdom.
Not only have each one of the characters been chosen with care,
but it has been duly ensured that their role is portrayed with importance and
also that each one of them plays their respective roles with convincing
finesse.
Revolving
around the fictitious old times of the South Indian sub continent, every bit of
the movie is regal. The most important aspect of such a period-set film is its
art direction and the perfection with which it is captured.
For a technically
unique and rich movie as this, it takes sheer expertise to translate the story
into visual, yet virtual, reality. Rajiv Menon stands out again in his best for
capturing the criticalities of the story. Another pillar to the project is
Anthony's editing.
In a movie like this, the key talent which hogs the limelight is that which
builds the backbone of any movie - direction.
If successfully launching oneself
as a debutante in the competitive industry was a hurdle, directing Rajinikanth
in her debut is a great deal of jittery responsibility. First of all, thanks to
Soundarya for bringing the new concept to Indian cinema and congratulations to
her to have delivered it with elegance.
The portal said the couple became fans of the actor, who is known as the "superstar" of Indian cinema, during his stay in Malacca for the filming of the movie "Kabali".
