Sivaji -- AVOID AT ALL COST

I guess it was my own fault that I went to watch Sivaji, expecting another Rajnikanth movie that was as good as his last one, Chandramukhi. To those who have no clue what I'm referring to, I am talking about possibly the biggest movie star in South India (read Tamil Nadu) and his last 2 movies. Lets just say that according to me, the difference in the two movies is as clear as the difference between a rock and a flower.

Chandramukhi was, after a long time, a really gripping and enjoyable Tamil movie. It had an excellent storyline, great songs, an excellent comedy track and for possibly the first time, it did not overhype Rajnikanth to be some kind of movie God. The only downside to it was that it was a remake of a story from the Malayalam film industry.

Sivaji on the other hand, is almost the other extreme. The movie is highly fragmented and seemed to be a stage for Rajnikanth to posterize himself and "subtly" declare his political aspirations. The songs were unbearable and seriously what does A.R.Rahman have against Rajnikanth is beyond me because the two movies that the duo have worked together on, the music has been horrendous to say the least. The songs were unbearable and I would certainly like to know how the audio for this movie became a smash hit with songs even being blasted over the radio across the country.

The comedy track is mostly stale and at times highly irritating with Vivek's performance being the only saving grace for this aspect of the movie. There are several scenes suggesting that colour is the biggest factor in determining the character of the person, the fairer you are, the better you are as a person and you can guess other extreme. I feel this is not something that should be encouraged, especially in a country which idolizes its movie stars and follows their style statements, this gives an almost racist message. The worst part of this entire movie has to be the series of scenes featuring our "dark" hero trying to become fair to woo his love. My best bet is that the fairness cream companies paid the producer a huge amount of money in order for them to be featured for almost 10 minutes of the movie.

And lastly, the action scenes, I think enough of the world has seen the Matrix, Desperado and the likes to be able to identify where each move came from. Also, I have seen some unbelievable scenarios in action scenes but this film takes the cake, it shows one man pushing and fighting off about a hundred at once. The argument that I got from most people was that movies are not supposed to be logical, but considering that this is a Shankar movie, I expected at least a tinge of reality. But it was not to be, with the best joke being the almost obvious transition and differences between the stuntman and the actor himself.

If you are wondering why I haven't mentioned anything about the story, it is because I haven't found it yet. There is a vague mention of the removal of black money (basically income for which tax is not paid) and some kind of statement that it can be eradicated by 2010 (only during the end credits). Other than that, it seemed to be some kind of tug of war between one power hungry mafia-type guy and the supposedly benevolent people's man, the hero. In the end, the hero seemed to be publishing a political manifesto through the movie, by comparing himself to an extremely popular former actor turned chief minister of the state, and by showing himself as a selfless benefactor who provides free schools, colleges and hospitals to everyone.

I also feel this movie shows something very scary, it shows the hero making decisions and carrying out his plans, with or without the support of the government. It shows him running his own almost private government, taking his own decisions without regard to what the government says. People might argue that he refused to listen to the corrupt officials of the governement who demanded bribes. But the fact is, in a smaller scale, this actually does happen around the country, people with wealth and power like to control the region to satisfy their own needs, whims and fancies. This movie gives a message that almost justifies this kind of highhandedness. Instead of saying that this is not the solution, the movie highlights this as the only and best solution for the people to get what they want.

I would like to conclude by mentioning the Director and Story Writer of this movie, Shankar. He has long been known to be someone who comes up with stories challenging the people and asking them to change to help make the country a better place. Well I guess this time, the whole Rajni marketing potential proved too much for him to handle and he succumbed to writing a story that was well below par and that seemed to be more about an actors glorification rather than the social message that he usually tries to convey. So overall, I am sorry that I went to watch Sivaji because quite frankly, it is the WORST movie I have ever seen and I am still wondering how much the TV and newspaper movie critics were paid to say "Sivaji Rocks!".