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skanda79
Reviews
Lingaa (2014)
2 Flops in 1 year - Haste makes waste
After Kochadaiyaan flopped Rajinikanth was under heavy pressure to deliver a hit. Hence for the first time in almost a decade he decided to do 2 films in a single year. The songs are a complete disaster and I personally did not like a single song. To pick the best among the worst, one had to pick Gasolina. When I watched the trailer I had a lot of expectations, and it created an impression that a lot of hard work has gone in, however on watching the movie one realizes that many shots shown in the trailer was from songs, especially Rajinikanth coming down from the roof, one expected it to be an action scene but the movies shows otherwise.
Story: Typical Rajinikanth story where he is the only noble soul in the planet who becomes a pauper by doing good. Grandfather sells his property to build a dam only to lose money. If you expect Grandson will earn back the lost money then its a big No. Grandson merely opens a temple which was locked when his grandfather was thrown out of the village and saves the dam (and also the village) from a bomb which the villain wants to plant.
The Good: Rajinikanth- He looks extremely young (25-30 years) and he is the only reason people will watch the movie. Rest everything is bad.
The Bad: Story: Its a disaster. Consider the story like a mix Muthu flashback + many other Rajini Movie. Direction: Extremely bad - The director has simply banked on Rajinikanths star power. The way Jaggubai was directed clearly indicated that KS Ravikumar is way past his prime. Wondering why Rajini chose him.Maybe friendship was the reason. Costumes: Were good at many places however found it weird that in 1936 (flashback) the suits worn by the Englishmen looked like contemporary design. Overly dramatic: The scene where a few villages come to the city in search of the king and when they are hungry and Mr poor and noble Rajinikanth feeds them has been seen 1000 times in movies (Kandukondein Kandukondein is what I can recall instantly) Also the scene where the older Rajinikanth is asked to leave the village and it Rains has also been seen 1000 times (Baasha) makes one feel that the film industry has not grown since 20 years. Music & BGM: Seems like Rahman outsourced his work to some Z grade person due to time pressure. Easily his worst work in recent times.
Verdict: Like Kochadaiyaan, this movie has flop written all over it. Die hard Rajini fans will try to watch it numerous times and praise the movie to make it seem like a hit but one has to face reality.
Releasing the movie in Hindi will cause further embarrassment since I am sure Tamil speaking audience will themselves dislike the movie/
Rating: 2/10 only for Rajinikanth.
Kochadaiiyaan (2014)
Pathetic
I am sorry to disappoint all the Rajini fanatics who for some strange reason seem to be blindly supporting what their Thalaivar has done. As I write this review, there are already many Video reviews being posted on Youtube, however these are by people who are related to the film industry and due to professionalism cannot criticize a bad movie especially some one as politically well connected as Rajini. Hence it seems to be getting good reviews on the net at the moment. The true value (if any) of the movie will be known in a few weeks. I would state that the review given for the movie on Firstpost is a very accurate review of the movie. I am giving the movie 2 stars because I love animation and I would like to encourage someone taking some initiative to show something new. What very much disappointed me was the following 1) It is not clear why is a Performance Capture technology being used anyway. I don't see much difference between the animation shown in the Animated Mahabharat (which also had actors as characters) and what was shown in Kochadaiiyan. Not much value added in terms of capturing facial expressions. 2)Rajinikanth certainly has not acted in the movie and he is some one who cannot dance at this age. Performing Rudra Tandavam (which is choreographed really well BTW) is certainly not possible. 3) Recreating comedy legend Nagesh was a good attempt but how does one re-create the magic touch and spontaneity which he is famous for. Nagesh jokes was more like a C version of Vadivelu. Hence I would say that he has been insulted. Hindi audience will dislike this even more as they cant connect with Nagesh. 4) Songs are a let down. A 2 hour movie and 10+ songs sounded stupid to me before release and is worse when watching the movie. 5) The graphics are not upto the mark and simply showing Ariel shots for every scene looks like naive direction. Further the Ariel shot of the horses and rajini in the opening is clearly inspired from Avatar when the horses enter Home Tree after capturing Jake Sully.
Defending a bad movie stating lack of budget etc seems to be a lame excuse. As I stated previously, Mahabharat Animated prepared in India was also of the same quality without using motion picture. BTW Mahabharat too had disappointing graphics.
In short only blind supporters of Rajini will like it. Skyfall had excellent reviews upon release on IMDb and else where as well, however the intrinsic value was known only after time passed by I expect the same for this movie. Initially paid reviews and fanatics ratings will take the ratings high and then it shall fall low down to 5 (after averaging) as time goes by. I feel unbiased people will feel cheated after watching this movie.
Good effort to try something different but DISAPPOINTING.