'Shankar' - When I hear the name, the first thing whichflashes in my mind is that tight close up of Kamal Haasan in the opening scene of Indian, in which his cheeks wriggle due to the strength he applies upon piercing a rusty knife into a corrupt government servant's belly. The sheer intensity of that scene had made me dumbstruck during those days!
Now coming to 2010, Shankar's dream project Endhiran lacks the intensity and the emotional
quotient involved in his earlier films, but delivers what it promised- power packed action, Wacky special effects, eye watering visuals and on top of all that, a whole lot of fun!
The story revolves around Vaseegaran, a brilliant scientist played by Rajnikanth who builds up his own Robot with a vision to help the Indian army in their security forces. The robot is named Chitti and soon captures the interests of Vaseegaran's family and his love interest Sana, played by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. But his mentor, Dr. Bora played by Danny Denzogpa gets envious of Vaseegaran's achievement and thats when the story takes a serious turn.
There are hell of a lot of sequences that will evoke wolf whistles inside the hall. Talking about those would end up spoiling your thrill of witnessing it on screen. And as performances are concerned, Rajnikanth plays 3 characters in the film with so much ease and maturity that you tend to evoke a certain amount of respect for the veteran when you walk out of the hall. Aishwarya Rai isn't quiet impressive and ends up giving an average performance. Everybody else does justice to their roles.
Now what goes wrong with Endhiran is the screenplay post intermission. The writing lacks sense of direction and excess songs add to the trauma. There are at least 15 minutes of unwanted scenes and songs to be cut off from the film. Its high time Shankar sticks on to his old editors B. Lenin and VT Vijayan, who does superior work considering the editing of Endhiran and Sivaji done by Anthony. Resul Pookkutty delivers an impressive sound design, which thrills you like some Hollywood flick does. AR Rahman's brilliant background score gives the whole film an epic feel right from the starting credits.
Leaving the tedious length of Endhiran, the film is definitely worth every penny you spend for the ticket, and its the best to come out of India when it comes to special effects and CGI. And to conclude, the film ends up being original, highly imaginative and gripping at most parts. How I wished to see more of that huge ball of Rajnikanth rolling over the floor, firing bullets! 70% of the film demands a repeat viewing. Hats off to Shankar and team.
Rating: 3.5 / 5 [Visual Spectacle]
