Kabali – Movie Review
Superstar Rajnikanth needs no introduction. Since last few years, his fan following is no longer restricted only to south India, but spread across throughout the world. Every film of his manages to create enough ‘pre-release’ hype and excitement among masses and a portion of the classes. Kabali went a step ahead with air travel companies provided mass tickets, start-ups in south declaring holiday, pre-booking statistics going hysterical. The title track, and punch dialogue ‘Kabali Da’, were already a rage among people!
The film begins in Kuala Lumpur where Kabaleswaran (Rajnikanth), a leader of Tamil Masses in Malaysia framed on false accusation, is released after serving 25 years of imprisonment. He reunites with his team which is dedicatedly involved in the upliftment of Tamil population in Malaysia.
His close aide Ameer (John Vijay) updates him on the whereabouts of his rivals Veera-sekaran (Kishore) and Tony Lee (Winston Chao) and they start planning how to reach out to them. Meanwhile, Kabali has another important activity to do, look out for his wife who went missing after the shoot out that had led to his arrest. But the journey isn’t easy with enemies eagerly waiting to settle their scores with him as well. The story explores Kabali’s pursuit towards the same.
Like a typical Rajnikanth film, the screenplay kick-starts with the Superstar ‘Swagger’ backed by punch-lines, superb background music (Santosh Narayanan) which deserves to be welcomed with whistles and cheers! Thereon it moves at a steady pace focusing on both the professional and personal life of Kabali. However, after a certain point there is a dip in the narrative. There happenings on-screen get slightly monotonous and do not keep your glued to the screen. The second half picks up momentum and the climax is quite impressive. But overall, unlike a hardcore Rajni film, there’s something amiss! Director P.A. Ranjith is almost there but not quite.
The cinematography by G Murali is excellent. The locales of Malaysia, Hong Kong and Bangkok have been captured and presented superbly.
Performance wise, Superstar plays his usual stylish self with a bit more subtlety this time. His character has the right blend of emotions. However, he genuinely deserved to be supported by a tighter script and a better plot. His voice also sounded a bit weak at times.
Raadhika Apte as Kumudhavalli is exceptional. Her character though small in terms of screen presence, is the backbone of the protagonist in the film. She clearly proves why an actress of her calibre was essential in SUPERSTAR film! Dhansika as Yogi also does a fabulous job. Veteran actor Nassar is brilliant in cameo.
All other actors Winston Chao, Kalaiyararsan, Kishore, Charles Vinoth provide adequate support.
On the whole Kabali is a decently entertaining film, but falls short of what could have easily been equivalent to a ‘GANGS OF WASSEYPUR’ kinda fare. It had immense potential of re-defining brand Rajnikanth for sure.
Perhaps, P.A. Ranjith could have drawn some inspiration from Ram Gopal Varma or Anurag Kashyap kinda ‘Gangster’ films. Nevertheless it’s definitely worth a watch, esp. for Rajni fans!
Rating: ***
We The People 