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My fanmade, Vishwaroop trailer (featuring Jung Hai first 20 sec.) English lyrics by Asif Ali Beg. Music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. All credit to source videos: Raajkamal Films & Maiam (both Youtube channels.)

Audio release for Hindi "Vishwaroop" from 28th December (Late December via Flipkart). You can get the MP3 Downloads as well (UK residents, available on Amazon UK same day)

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More Assi Nabbe Poore Sau images

More courtesy of Vikatan.com.  Featuring Gautham Menon (director), Aditya Roy Kapoor and Samantha Ruth Prabhu

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OKOK [Oru Kal Oru Kannadi] Review = mOKkai mOKkai

 Director Rajesh is back  after delivering hits like Siva Manasula Sakthi &  Boss Engira Baskaran. This time, Udhay Stalin joins as the debutant, Hansika remains Namitha 2.0 and namma Santhanam remains the USP of every unwatchable tamil movie till date. But unlike BEB or SMS, OKOK falls short of expectations and it only tests your patience in the latter half of the film.  Sometime post the release of KS Ravikumar's Aadhavan (the poor man's freemake of Telugu hit, ATHADU minus Mahesh Babu's dum) the producer (Udhay Stalin) decides to join Ravikumar's "Hitchcock" gag in the final frames of the former. Udhay insists that with his black money (keep in mind DMK was in power when it released) & acting abilities, Udhay believed. He believed he can take the TN makkal with his nakkals like all the Suriyas, Aaryas and Thala-Thalapathis.  Then comes director Rajesh and the aspiring Udhay Stalin (while carring a sack full of crores). Udhay concludes that the makkal can lap up comedies as long as he and Santhanam are the sole leads and begins bribing Rajesh through crores and crores of investments. Stalin claims he can make the film beat records of Rajni and Kamal's films and demands his acting calibre to be telecasted on the silver screens/ Then comes the sacrifices. Rajesh drops his pal Yuvan for Harris (Udhay it seems wooed him over with the Hasilli's the fisiili's, and tons of RaasaMONIES.) The list of heroine names (Trisha (who was in the news for the scandal with Stalin post MMA release)) till Namitha 2.0 was finalized (Hansika). No doubt Santhanam was going to be in the film as he soley carries Rajesh's films. You could say that SMS was a turning point in Santhanam's career due to the popular one-liners circulating social video sites. Boss Engira was another feather to the cap. So then Udhay settled. He's got everything right. A popular comedian, a comedy director & a lukewarm heroine resembling yesteryear's shakeela. What could go wrong?  Everything went wrong. Not even Santhanam or Aarya, Andrea or Sneha could save a distorted film. Rajesh continues to take the Priyadarshan approach through his present come flashback sequences. According to Rajesh, all heroes are lovesick losers who go after heroines dressed fully in Delhi-ish attire. The lovesick hero must make the time to banter with the popular comedian though in this case.

The rest of the film swings between the "Rajesh-isms" and the "Santhanam Special" comedies. I agree certain scenes with Santhanam were rotfl worthy, but this time , Rajesh misses the bus completely. The film starts out okay but ends up wandering aimlessly till the climax portions. When we we have decent heroines like Anjali, Ananya, Oviya & Amala Paul, why are directors continuing to hire milky heroines who contrast the complexions of our heroes. Neither can they act, nor can they give reactions. Dubbing artists can only salvage half the damage. Poor Savitha Reddy. The subplot regarding the 20 years of silence is unneeded and only adds reels. After 7aum Arivu, it's the second time, Harris has disappointed me with his score. I feel his concentration is focused more on his concert and in order to meet the deadline of the audio releases, he simply "phoned" his work. Till now, I will say that his work with Gautham menon (Vaaranam Aayiram) and Prabhu Deva's Engeyum Kaadhal (Never mind the film) are his best score works till date. Udhay Stalin needs to work on his emotions. Giving a single expression throughout the film is monotonous and lame. So what if he's some CM's grandson, the guy needs to seriously think about his acting career. I know this guy is a jackass on twitter through his smart comments. So with that, we're expecting an "80 Days" record breaking poster for OKOK as he commented months back during 7aum Arivu's release. Give this mOKkai a big miss! Pathetic Rating: 1/5  

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3 (Moonu) Review = Selvaraghavan Redux

Dhanush has been on a roll these last couple of years. It's amazing how much of a turnaround he's shown post Kadhal Kondein. After a string of flops, he bounces back with Pollathavan and hasn't looked back since. Fast forward to 2012 and he's ready with his latest, 3. Directed by Aishwarya R. Dhanush (his wife), the film was in the news for the viral hit, "Kolaveri." That and Shruti Haasan stars after the much hyped 7aum Arivu. Below are some stray observations. 

Nice intro of showing the death of the hero at first off. The last time we got a major character kill off at the start of the film was Jayaprada in Ninaithale Inikum, but we didn't know who died until the reveal at the very end.

The school days love arc was sweet and well executed. Dhanush and Siva Karthikeyan are rocking, but at times, Karthi's jokes often miss the intended punch line.

Shruti Haasan's tamil is still a major problem. Of course, the new gen girls cannot speak fluent tamil as the have all caught "Gautham Menon-eese" syndrome. Just ask Trisha.

Anirudh's songs are great. The best part of the songs is that they don't bore you out nor do they add length (Runtime is 2hrs 25min), but most songs don't exceed beyond 4min. Kudos to the background score, though at times, feels very Yuvan Shankar Raja-ish.

For a directional debut, Aishwariya does a decent job. Not one scene felt amateurish and for very little experience (I understand she worked behind the scenes in some films), it's commendable. But I still had problems with the second half.

The second half feels like a Mayakkam Enna redux. As if Selvaraghavan co-authored the script with his usual mood lighting, psycho characterization, plot device death, etc. All because of that Hutch dog. It also doesn't help to CAST Sunder Ramu (remember Sunder from ME?) in the SAME KIND of role.

It doesn't help either when Dhanush in the latter half sports the EXACT same getup as he did in Mayakkam Enna's penultimate scenes. 

Shruti Haasan's crying scenes.....can we please get Savita Reddy to clean up this dubbing mess? Also, majority of her dialogue is in English. Did Gautham Menon hijack the second half too?

Prabhu and Dhanush's scenes are a delight. After donning lame character roles, here's a role that will stay within your memories for life.

Dhanush has acted brilliantly no doubt, but I felt it was a repeat of Mayakkam Enna. Shruti Haasan has shown improvement from the hackeyned 7aum Arivu, but her dialogue delivery is still a problem. Comes off Trisha-ese with her broken tamil.

On the whole, Vidya Balan will have to battle out with Dhanush for NA 2012.

Rating: 3/5

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Assi Nabey Poore Sau - Official Stills

After seeing Jiiva and Nani with Sam, here's the Hindi version (not dubbed) of Neethane En Ponvasantham & Yeto Velli Poyindi Manasu. Featuring Aditya Roy Kapur & South sensation, Samantha! Directed by Gautham Menon (3rd Hindi venture after Ekk Deewana Tha.)

  Music: "Maestro" Ilaiyaraaja

Images courtesy: Rediff.

From Rediff:

The second film that Sonam lost out on is Gautham Menon's Hindi film Assi Nabey Poore Sau. It had an interesting role for the female protagonist, who had to go from age 15 to 25.

It was felt that Sonam would be unable to look 15, no matter how hard she tried.

Samantha, who was introduced into cinema by Menon in his Tamil film Vinaaithandi Vaaruvaaya, was supposed to make her Hindi debut in the film's remake Ekk Deewana Tha. The role eventually went to the other South actress, Amy Jackson.

Menon now intends to launch Sam (as she is known in the Tamil film industry) in Hindi cinema in style.

Says a source, "Gautham wanted Samantha for the Hindi version of Vinaaithandi Vaaruvaaya. Having failed in that endeavor, he is now in the process of completing Assi Nabey Poore Sau as a Hindi launch vehicle for her."

The film pairs Samantha with Aditya Roy Kapoor, who starred in Vipul Shah's Action Replayy and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Guzaarish.

Kapoor has gotten rid of his trademark curly mop of hair and now sports a more sober look

Says Menon, "Both Sam and Aditya have to have to go through three age-transitions from 15 to 20 to 25. Their love story starts when they're six. Obviously, they cannot play the six-year old pair."

The transformation, according to the director, is startling.

Come April when Assi Nabey Poore Sau releases, Samantha, we hear, will be launched as the next Sridevi in Hindi cinema.

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Agent Vinod - Swag and a miss...

Saifeena, the 2nd most dreaded pair after Abhiwarya returns to torture the audience after a not-so-great KURBAAN.  Unfortunately for me, the film looked outright tepid, it makes Don 2 look so much boss.

Don't get me wrong, the film itself was decent, but coming from Sriram Raghavan who made the everlasting "JOHNNY GADHAAR" is too hard to follow. Songs come at random (personally, I didn't mind "I'll do the talking tonight" since we weren't force to stare of Mallika Haydon's abs the whole time and played throughout the background, so I was satisfied) but the melodious Raabta was placed in a rather funny situation, yet didn't seem so inappropriate.

The film shuttles between a Bond and a Bourne film. At some point, I was comforted by the witty liners by Saif (Forget SRK being top contender for Gautham Menon's "Vettaiyaadu Vilayaadu" Hindi remake, Saif can handle it like a pro.) Generally, Saif carries the film on his shoulders and he does it with ease. Out of the 3 heroines, 2 of them are ho-hum and Kareena is strictly average. Not sure why she puts up the same KURBAAN'ish caricature AGAIN. Irony is that (for those that have seen KURBAAN), the opposite happens. The climax felt lazy, but here's hoping that Don and Vinod clash. With Raghavan and Akthar on board for a crossover, I'd pay big bucks to see that happen. In fact, why not tie it up with Don 3? But I did love the old-school treatment (note the RD Burman BGM placements throughout the film.)

Big Swag and Miss, this Vinod. Maybe not stirring enough.

Verdict: 2/5

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Kadhalil Sodhapuvadhu Eppadi = Triumphant comeback for Siddarth

After sitting through the horrible Muppozhudum Oru Karpanaigal (another Amala Paul movie that released the same time as KSY), I was keenly anticipating this one since it boasts of a good cast and favorable reviews. Even though Siddarth's 180 bombed in Tamil and Telugu, he still one the few young heroes who take care in the story/script department. Having served as an AD (Assistant director) to Mani Ratnam, who can blame him? Bullet pointed for your convenience.

Kudos to Balaji Mohan for introducing the mockumentary as seen in "The Office." A love failure subject like this could've easily gone the cliche way (introduce Point A: The hero, Point B: Hero falls for Heroine, cue song and dance to Point C: Hero declares love, etc. Here, Mohan opts for a resolution approach and then trace back to it's roots.

Siddarth never fails to age, but what's with his broken tamil (in places)? His biography suggests that he was born and brought up in TN. Has Telugu taken over his mother tongue?

I know Amala Paul speaks pretty good tamil, but why is Deepa Venkat suddenly the next Savitha Reddy? She's a mallu (and based on a scene in the pre-climax portions), it's shameful to see her dubbed by another. This isn't the 2000s anymore. Vettai had her dubbed by the latter, btw.

The fatso and his sulky friend are the highlight. Nothing over the top. The former had me cracking when he does that expression of his. :)

Arun's parents commenting on facebook and Arun's "Friend" was nailed to the point. Every indian parents trying to beg friend requests from their sons/daughters is asking for free snooping.

Thaman's score is great. My picks are Azhaipaaya and Thavarugal. Especially Thavarugal.

My only gripe about the film was the sluggish pacing near the resolution, but it's a minor thing since the film lasts for 2 hrs.  

Ramakrishnan (Fatso's cousin) resembles comedian, Manikandan. Related perhaps?

The "watefalls-tank opening" analogy for girls was spot on!

STORY:  3.5/5

ACTING: 4/5

MUSIC:  4/5

VERDICT: 3.8/5 

Triumphant comeback for Siddarth despite a wafer-thin storyline.

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Just read someone describe The Big Bang Theory as "nerd blackface."

I never thought anyone would be able to phrase my complaints so succinctly.

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Rajapattai - King sized disaster!

You would think the combination of Suseendran and “Chiyaan” Vikram would promise viewers a slick entertaining film. After the awesome Naan Mahaa Alaa (with Karthi), I was hoping the formula for success would repeat since RP had everything in it’s favor (Vikram, K Vishwanath & 4 songs by Yuvan.) Let’s go to the bullet points!

The story is weak. Shallow characters pretend to co-exist while the lady villian (yes you read it right) screams shades of “Jayalalitha”. Prior to release time, there was a land scam case going on that involved our current CM. Sub-par acting from everyone that have “tried” to inject life to their characters. The overall feel of the film is too Telugu-ish.

What happened to Vikram? His looks are right out of the Incredible Hulk movie? Gym instructors do not look this monstrous. But his comedy scenes with K Vishwanath and his roommate are funny, I’ll admit.

I know the film was a flop, but sources tell me that the script for this film was written by a Boopathy Pandian associate. Years after Kandasamy released, Vikram was co-signed to do a film with Pandian, but for some reasons did not work out. When Suseendran was signed up to do a commercial film with Vikram, the original producers (before backing out and handing the reins to PVP Cinemas) had paid advance to the writer and thus, the film was born. In contrast, Naan Mahaa Alla was written and directed by Suseendran.

Remember when I said the film being very Telugu-ish? Just look at Deeksha Seth’s role. Nuff said. 

Yuvan’s score lacks the punch and hooks heard in Paiyaa. The songs instead wear his illustrious father’s hooks instead. Paniye Paniye was censored since it mentioned “Tamil eelam”.

The saving grace is that the film runs for 2hrs 7 min. The bad? We have to put up with Shriya Saran and an obese Reemma Sen dancing towards the end credits.

VERDICT:  1/5 stars

After a Deiva Thirumagal redemption, Vikram returns to square one.

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Ekk Deewana Tha - Pacier Remake

Damn them crtics. They know how to turn off the viewer completely. Never mind how Taran Adarsh, Rajeev Masand and these so called "critics" lamblasting yet another movie. Having seen VTV like 3-5 times prior to the remake, I expected a word by word translation based on how Gautham sir. From watching the remake, I was completely taken aback and you should follow my bullet points to see why.

ADR in some places faltered from Prateik's side (Prateik goofs up in the beginning saying Duniya prior to saying the much celebrated phrase, "Of all the girls in the world, why Jessie".)

The Hindi remake did a fabulous job of compressing the scenes into the song sequences. By the way, the run time is at 2hrs and 16 min. The Tamil original was 2hrs and 46min. I was relieved when scenes post the "Kadhal Desam" BGM were chopped of completely. Completely unneeded in the original and instead, Gautham jumps to the pre-Phoolon Jaisi stuff. Major props.

 Difference between Hindi cinema and Southern cinema is the narrative. In Hindi, we assume the audiences are sophisticated with their hipster angrez (English), western attire and their love for muscular smucks while in Tamil, it's all about being straightforward. 

The non-linearity sprinkled throughout the second half worked. Especially the emotional parts, because in Tamil, I was ready to throw my chair at Silambarasan & Trisha for dragging the reels into  "You don't like f****g films, what kind of logic is that scene." In Hindi, it was a matter of emotional substance and struggle for compliance. Gautham must have gauged that the scene if done verbatim in Hindi, would've backfired miserably.

 Lots and lots of improvisation. Manu Rishi is first-rate here. His dialogues don't go overboard (yes some are taken from the original, again Menon's inputs), but offers some fresh points too. The Mallu scene at Kallipurakal is completely new. George uncle does his usual scthick but talks Hindi with an accent and asks Manu Rishi for the correct grammar. On Manu Rishi, he and Ganesh are two seperate entities. Both were superb in their respective roles.

Not sure why the film wasn't liked by the Mumbaites. In fact, the film was tailored and adjusted to their tastes. Would you rather watch a shoddy smug Imran Khan (for the nth time) play the loser hero opposite to stick statue, Kareena? Or perhaps say Salman Khan murder another Southern remake with his "Rajniism and 3rd grade acting? Look at the reviews for Bodyguard, Ready and Singham and see the films. No big acting scope or script sense but because of star power, they get the results desired. Classic bias over Stars. Prateik is completely underrated here. In fact, I liked that his character isn't aggressive like Simbu's version. I guess chicks didn't like Amy as much as they praised Trisha. To be fair, we should give credit to singer Chinmayi for her dubbing work. She's the real heroine of the film. Not Trish, not Sam nor Amy.

Rahman as usual good work on improvising the BGM from the tamil original.

On the whole, go see this Deewana. Certainly, I felt more relieved to see this in Hindi than I did in Tamil, it's short and to the point. Yes, the story isn't ohoho great, but the performances make up for it. STORY:  3 ACTING: 3.5 MUSIC:  3.5 VERDICT: 3/5 No worries Gautham! I'm still your biggest fan from RHTDM days. Expecting wonders from Assi Nabbe Pure Sau & Neethane En Ponvasantham

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Kaavalan (2011) == Unguarded

After giving 6 forgettable movies in a row, Vijay welcomes the Pongal season with Kaavalan. "Friends" Siddique remakes his Malayalam film "Bodyguard" and has made changes to suit the Tamil audiences. How did he do?

First half. Very very slow. In malayalam, Dileep's intro was merely to show his fear for risks while dreaming of becoming a Bodyguard. In this remake, they've shown Bhoominathan christened by Raj Kiran and remains obedient to him ever since. Also, Hairshree Ashokan (Vadivelu's counterpart) didn't have a seperate comedy track like Vadivelu did up until the Bus scene. And Asin looked mega bored in the film.Even Diana Kurian (Asin's friend) looked better as a side heroine character.Though the malayalam version was Vikramanish in screenplay, the actors gelled better there than here.

I strongly felt Vijay wasn't apt for this kind of comedy. It seems he was trying to avoid his sterotypical delivery (ala Sivaji Ganesan body language.) However his trademark intro song, additonal fights and stunt sequences seemed more like a walk in the park. Scenes where Bhoominathan was lecturing on Shakesphere to Asin and Diana depicts his broken english despite being a doctorate holder. Perhaps someone like Madhavan would've excelled better? Asin hasn't changed since DASAVATHAARAM, though she performed better in the former than here. As usual her Mallu accent gets in the way with her dialogue delivery. I expected more comedy from Vadivelu (remember his cult antics in Friends?) but alas, it worked in parts rather than a whole. Given the material written for Hairshree Ashokan, Siddique should've retained those scenes for Vadivelu. Instead we're regaled to his usual standards.  M.S Bhaskar started getting on my nerves with his sleep act.  Vidyasagar's music is good on hearing but visually not up to mark. Barring "Yaarathu", the rest act as mega speed breakers. Dialogues are standard though bring back horrible memories of Director Vikraman's soap opera movies. Final word? Though the Tamil Bodyguard can be seen once, Vijay should be proud of not pulling a Kuruvi. Reactions may vary (Kuselan effect??) The audience (First Day Second Show, 75% occupancy) wasn't very tolerant with the film and expected more comedy. It's a step up from Vijay's previous ventures though. Rating: **.5

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Rakht Charitra II (review) == Wrath of Surya

Previously in Part I...(cliff notes version)

*Narsimha Reddy (Tamil actor Kitty) gives political rights to Veerbhadra (Rajendra Gupta) while Reddy's right hand man, Nagmani Reddy (Kota Srinivasa Rao) brainwashes Narsimha about the trust broken between him and Veerbhadra.

*After Nagmani brainwashes one of Veerbhadra's men (Ashish Vidyarthi) to kill Veerbhadra & his eldest son, bhadra's son Pratap Ravi (Vivek Oberoi) goes on a violent spree against all of Nagmani's henchmen.

*Nagmani orders his son Bukka (Abhimanyu Singh) to eliminate Pratap while suffering a blow from the latter. Soon, Shivaji Rao (Shatru Sinha) comes to know of this while campaigning in Anantpur and takes full support of Pratap to kill Bukka.

*Bukka now slayed, Pratap and Shivaji Rao form a political alliance. Pratap & his crew head out while Suryanarayan Reddy (Suriya) lurks to surprise.

PART TWO THOUGHTS:

I don't want to spoil anything on part 2, but if you haven't see it or if you're not a big Ram Gopal Varma fan, please do SEE IT. RGV has made Part 2 a huge STEP ABOVE part 1 as it gives a grand background of Surya Reddy's past (his perspective of the family massacred in Part 1 via Pratap Ravi & honoring to save his family's prestige is very interesting.)

Yes it could be termed as a slow paced masala but unlike Tamil films, there's a reason behind Surya's meticulous planning to assassinate Pratap Ravi. In fact his Hindi diction (debut film of Surya) is very good for a film based on the blood battles in Andhra Pradesh. Unlike other films say Anjaana Anjaani or Robot, you actually get a story & top notch acting from the likes of Vivek Oberoi, Suriya, Kota Srinivas, Priyamani, etc. Even the ACP (Sudeep) had a greater part in this installment than part 1.

Avoid the Tamil version at all cost. I'm told the Tamil Version (as Rattha Charitram) is a dubbing film with Suriya/Priyamani scenes being reshot for the tamil audiences. Obviously the film was made in Hindi and the makers were cashing in on the Tamil and Telugu versions due to the star powers and the AP politics.

Rakht Charitra 2 gets 3.8 out of 5 stars. Loose editing (the dragging recap [first 30 min] of part 1) & the camera work could've been easily avoided.

Rating: ***.8/5

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Rakht Charitra I (Review) == Bloody Brilliant!

Certain Ram Gopal Varma films can be stomached while others are just too ludicrous. Thankfully, this falls into the maverick's speciality: Political bloodshed. Based off the politics between Partiala Ravi (assasinated in 2005) and Maddeluvchervu Suri, Part I focusses on the rise of Ravi while Part II (will review later) depicts his fall. Obviously I'm not going to talk about Suriya's role in this review, that will be later. Instead, I'll focus on the pros and cons of RC-1. What worked and what didn't. Primarily in Hindi, the film was reshot in parts for the Tamil (Part II released as Rattha Charitram for obvious reasons) and Telugu versions (as Rakta Charitra).

The Narration. Commenters from several sites slammed the narrator for sounding too haunted and sounding like a haunted story teller. To me, those comments were downright silly. This isn't a Karan Johar film where SRK narrates some shit or banters with the fourth wall about Love and the playfulness of the story's setting. This is a docu-fiction. Yes, I'm using the word docu-fiction for the lack of a better term. For me the narrator tells the story as it is and while some have complained about his voice-over appearing quite often as an annoyance, well can't blame them. Agreed, certain scenes that were meant to speak for itself were rather spoken for. It's a minor blemish more or less. Ram Gopal Varma did the narration for the Telugu version while Tamil director Gautham Menon voiced for the Tamil version of Part II.

The violence. Really? Bashing the violence? Where the hell were they when Ghajini was released. Please the violence was more implied than say visual. Varma knows what's bearable and what's within limits. Either man up and watch it or don't. Seriously, grow a pair or go watch shit movies like Break Ke Baad, I Hate Luv Stories or Dabanng (now that had alot of "stylized" violence!) I've seen worse in Hollywood movies.

The acting. It's a Vivek Oberoi show from frame 1. Clearly the man is back in form after giving duds in the form of Prince (It's Showtime) or Kyun Bore Ho Gaya na. Vivek gets under the skin of Pratap Ravi sufficiently and shows tremendous growth from aam aadmi to politician. Kota Srinivasa Rao as Nagmani Reddy is effective. He is afterall the cause between warring familes via emotional blackmail. Shatrurangan Sinha is very good as minister, Shivaji Rao (NTR's character) though he gets limited scope. But the man of the match is Abhimanyu Singh (Bukka Reddy.) He's really good as Nagmani's terrorizing son! The cons. Post interval portions are kinda slacking due to excessive slow motions in some scenes.

Final say? Suriya appears in the end of Part I (form of RC-2 trailer). Creates curiousity about the downfall of Pratap Ravi.

In short, Rakht Charitra I deserves a watch for it's blood thirsty tale! RGV is back! Rating: ***.5

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Robot (2010) review = Deux Ex Rajni

Yeah I know this comes late. But having seen the Hindi version (It's dubbed but I'll get that later) I need to touch upon things on why Robot (Enthiran in tamil) sucks.

The positives? A big hats off to producer Kalanithi Maran and Hansraj Saxena for backing up the project. For me, the plus points of the film are the graphics and the animatronics. The Chitti model used in the film is spectacular and all credit goes to Stan Winston. Also a big thanks to Mr. Alex Martin, the real hero of Enthiran the Robot. Not Rajni as the media hypes up to be.

The negatives? Pretty much everything else. I'm no Rajnikant fan but having spent  2 years rejected by the likes of Dr. Kamal Haasan, Aamir Khan & Hrithik Roshan you know Shankar (Sivaji the boss)  would've made lots of compromises to "fit Rajni's so-called image." That's where Chitti the robot comes in.

You have 2, no 3 Rajnis. It takes Dr. Vasigaran a decade to finally conjure up Chitti the Robot with the help of his clumsy assistants (Santhanam & Karunas utterly wasted especially the former after killing in Boss Engira Baaskaran.) Because of his dedication for his robot, his lady love Sana (Aishwarya) feels left out and creates a Sophie's choice situation leading the Dr and herself to go in gaana mode (Pagal Anukan) while leaving Chitti to figure out the meaning of life.  On the other hand, you have Dr. Bohra (Danny Denzongappa) who loathes Vasi, his former student for surpassing him in robotics and urges to get his hands on Chitti.  

Swanand Kirkire does a great job dubbing the movie for the hindi version but barring O Naye Insaan, the rest of the songs sound funny to me. The tamil version isn't great either but rather worship coded.  The story starts out okay right up till the lightning strikes Chitti the robot. From then on Shankar succumbs himself to Rajni fans plea and turns it into another Sivaji. Why didn't Dr. Vasi install more human qualities into Chitti? 

The second half is even worse with random shit being sandwiched inbetween Chitti's dismantlement (Why Kalabhavan Mani? Kilimanjaro? Arima Arima?) Toss in the predictability taken from Hollywood films like Terminator and there's your big budget venture. Oh wait, it's a Rajni film. Logic is bad! We must embrace the film because of the de facto rule shoehorned by rajni fans. By their logic, Ajith and Vijay films must be equally good no?

I'm familiar with Sujatha being the original writer for the film but passed away during initial stages of the screenplay. Unfortunately he isn't alive to see this disaster. A.R Rahman's score is mundane and does show fading signs. Oscar effect much?

Acting wise, Rajni is Rajni. He's more or less the kid who gets away with everything by hamming down his lines. Also from the tamil version, the hindi dubber (Mayur Vyas) actually gave a damn to dub Rajni properly. Especially when Dr. Vasi introduces "Chitti the robot" vs "Chiiiti the robaaaaaat!" Savitha Reddy for Aish is pitful to hear (Aish dubbed her lines for Hindi version) when compared to Rohini's dubbing in Raavanan.  Coming to Aish's acting? Let's just say she never took this film seriously enough.. 

Learning from Dasavathaaram's (nearly 60% of Robot's budget) effects and craftsman ship in 2-3 years span, Haasan's efforts in Robot would've been a budget saver (no wigs, less stuntman) in addition to having a concise screenplay/story.

Robot is a one time watch. Watch the first half and ignore the rest.

Rating: **

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First!

After much convincing and thought, I've finally gave in and started a blog.  While primarily focusing on my tamil/hindi reviews there will be some other things from time to time.  So stick around if you like to read my rants or agree to disagree.  It all starts now!