Star Cast: Rajinikanth, Huma Qureshi, Nana Patekar, Easawari Rao, Anjali Patil, Pankaj Tripathi, Manikandan.
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Director: PA. Ranjith
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What’s Bad: Too many songs lengthening the already long duration of the film, few unnecessary added back-stories.
Loo Break: As said there are too many songs, few are good and few are outrightly bad, choose any one of them to take a break.
Watch or Not?: If you use intellect while watching a masala film, skip it. Watch this with all your heart!
User Rating:
There’s a protest happening at dhobi ghat, a lady gets hit by one of the goons, a guy runs for help & that’s how we get our lead protagonist – Karikaalan aka Kaala (Rajinikanth). He’s the Robinhood of Dharavi which is second-largest slum in the continent of Asia and the third-largest slum in the world. He’s the messiah for the people of Dharavi who now request him to defend their land from the corrupt politicians.
Hari Dada (Nana Patekar) wants to grab the land and start his pet project ‘Pure Mumbai’ on it. Hari wants to eliminate the slums to build skyscrapers on it. This brings the black & white, Ram & Ravan – Hari and Kaala face to face. Kaala tries everything to protect his fort Dharavi & Hari leaves no stone unturned to pull him out from it. The crux of the story revolves around the rivalry of Hari Dada and Kaala. Kaala’s Godfather-designed family, too, plays an important role in this war of good vs bad.
So, I watched this movie in a small town of Mumbai known as Ulhasnagar. To my surprise, the theatre was full and I was unable to hear the opening dialogue of Rajinikanth as it got faded amidst the roars and cheering of the viewers. That’s when I realised, what I’m getting into. PA. Ranjith along with Aadhavan Dheetchanya have penned this thoroughly enjoyable script. Over the years we’ve seen how Rajinikanth has evolved to be a synonym for entertainment & Kaala is just another movie to showcase his stout-hearted charisma.
From swirling wood-sticks in the air to knocking down dozens of people with nothing but an umbrella, Kaala never shies away from being a Rajinikanth film. Yes, writers have toned down his character to give it a humane touch and it works at places. But, the most engrossing thing about the film are those scene in which Rajni is just being the real him. Rajni’s unadulterated swag, his paramount dialogue delivery is a treat to watch even for the nth time. Yes, there are flawed portions in the film and the story isn’t entirely perfect. It’s a lazily edited film & a shorter pace could’ve done the trick.
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Thalaiva Rajinikanth has proved once again why he’s the superstar that gets worshipped by many. Even a plain boring line gets entertaining when he delivers it. At the age of 67, he’s someone rare who has every ounce of heroism still alive in his blood. Nana Patekar, even in few scenes, leaves a roaring impact with his presence.
The confrontation scenes between Rajni & Nana will surely make you miss Jaykant Shikre VS Singham. Those sequences garnered the maximum cheers. Easawari Rao’s loud performance wakes up the dead and works as a comic relief. Anjali Patil as Charumathi delivers a stormy performance as her alias (Toofani) in the movie. Huma Qureshi’s track was unneeded hence her character was the odd one out.
PA. Ranjith covers the narrow lanes of Dharavi with his subtle direction. He has used them at their optimum best, thanks to the raw and rustic cinematography by Murali G. Ranjith covers an important message under the layer of herculean presence of Rajinikanth. It’s hard to amalgamate a key message keeping the proceedings entertaining, but fortunately Ranjith almost achieves this.
Santhosh Narayanan’s background music is a masterstroke! The music goes hand-in-hand with the thrills created by the scenes. The theme of Kaala strikes the right chords. The tone Sajna is smartly placed but song is a forced addition. The inclusion of rap songs in serious situations reminded me of Gangs Of Wasseypur but Kaala was done in a very monotonous way.
All said and done, Kaala is all Rajinikanth – pure seeti-maar entertainment. 160 minutes well spent, watch this if you have an appetite for masala films. Also, watch this to know how there’s much more left in the powerhouse known as Rajinikanth.
Three stars!
Kaala releases on 07th June, 2018.
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