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Endhiran




Direction: Shankar

People say an open mind and zero knowledge about a film will work wonders in terms of the viewing experience. It is in the blank mind where the director’s vision can be completely witnessed. But it is a dangerous path; a double edged knife for the so called masala capers that are produced everywhere. They try to travel on many shoes owing to the need for a wider reach and end up falling flat.

Endhiran suffers a lot because of the overloaded plate. It tries to be a triangular love story, a revenge saga, a sci-fi film, a moralistic tale and lot more. It sure does put up a dream show with all these metallic decorations (literally too) after the arrival of Chitti to Sana's home. Shankar sketches the 'larger than life image' of Rajini in this portion in ways that give goosebumps to any tamizhian. Not stopping there, with the help of the unemotional Chitti, transforms him to the almighty without any fuss. The scale then shoots higher, proportional to the grin that widens on our face when Chitti is awestruck by Sana. But when the film gets into serious business, it fails to justify each one of its sub plots due to the disproportionate blend; only to spoil the show. The narrative here stops concentrating on how each task is done and shifts to depict only the grandeur that occurs as a consequence of it. As a result we get to see a weak black sheep gaining entry into the forte of antagonist and with just the click of a button abolish everything.

That being the case of story-telling, lets move towards direction. The movie has great action sequences, magnificent visual effects, witty lines, aesthetically picturised song sequences, well crafted/executed sequences, Rajini’s charisma, Rajini’s acting style, the subtle difference he brings out between the two characters he enacts, the Alex Pandian avatar and what not. What else can we expect apart from this? But these intended highlights will turn out to be highlights only if they are coherently connected right?  The ups and downs in the narrative and execution take two waveforms, distended by the interval between them. When the narrative reaches it crest, the execution falters bringing the sequence down and vice-versa. After a point, the shuffling between alluring set-pieces and dull, dragging sequences makes us frigid to the extent where even the would-be-engaging scenes fail to impress. Is it because of the orthogonal, on your face approach like the red chip for bad character, fall of apple for newton's law, guileful laugh of Sana while she deceives Chitti? These cringe worthy sequences sure does pull down the level of the film. Yet to the film’s credit, the crests of narrative and execution come together several times; and whenever they do, it’s nothing short of a firecracker. Maybe Endhiran should not be considered as a movie while watching. It is more than a film; an experience that can not be missed for the sheer pleasure it provides for the fans of all quarters.

Comments

Unknown said…
yet to watch the film.... thts a gud review :)
Sethu said…
A really good review, the buildup in first half was really good, but the second half was not upto the mark( Shankar's work). Rajni is brilliant in this movie, the best by far after thalapathi ...... I was shocked to see his work at the age of 61. Movie is brilliantly made, it wud hv been even bettter, if the connecting scenes in second half are made better. Shankar did have a great vision and tried really hard, but its good for a first of its genre in a nation !! Santhanam and karunas comedy not upto the mark. I feel vivek or vadivelu wud hv done a better job, but Rajni does anything n everything in this movie.


I'm satisfied !!
Harish S Ram said…
i agree sethu ... but the movie left me numb. i could feel anything after the movie was over. in plain words it all looked dull.

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