Robot. Just close your eyes – how did you imagine it? Something like this –
.
Well, you are not far off. So, that didn’t require any extraordinary imagination, did it? Bah, you thought End(t)hiran will be just that. Huh. It has more layers.
A patriotic, workaholic ‘genius’ scientist (aka Rajnikant) creates an android robot Chitti that goes bang bang later (Rajni again) to serve the army. Events occur that force him to realise artificial intelligence is just that – artificial (profound) – he then adds feelings to his andriod. Don’t ask me how because I don’t know the question is not that if robots can have feelings. Endhiran is much ‘evolved’ and foresighted than that; instead it makes you wonder the inevitable ‘what if’. Super advanced stuff. 😐
Wait, where does Aishwarya figure in it– she’s THE enticing cake both man and the machine fight for.
For the first half, you can sit back and perhaps even enjoy, if I can claim that, since the script is working – in the sense things are happening. Come to think of it India’s highest paid and most charismatic star makes perhaps the most lacklustre entry as a shabby-haired, bearded workaholic genius scientist – yet the audience hoots. (At least to begin with.) But by the time, we hit the interval – reactions are subdued. (Yeah, I spent lot of time watching the people.) The second half is tedious, mindlessness ensues not always in good way. (Audience is resigned, no hoots.) Script plods on a predictably unreasonable trajectory. Dialogues are as cliché as Chuck Norris Rajnikanth jokes on Twitter and some sequences cringe-worthy.
And then there is music. Totally uninspiring while you watch it in the movie (I refused to believe it was A. R. Rahman’s even tho my companion kept insisting.), weird lyrics, some of choreography was that should have been restricted to bathroom dances and worse thing was that songs popped into the movie when you least expected or wanted needed. (I swear I heard collective audience groans and sigh each time a song appeared.) Some costumes worked beautifully and went a long way in presenting Aishwarya as a delectable candy an alluring woman (tell me again, why we rile against Mallika for her revealing costumes when Aishwarya isn’t beneath wearing the same) who can even tempt a robot. Bold colours as fuschia, violet and red popped a lot, and some costumes reminded of the failed experiments Moms have during a fancy dress competitions for their children.
One of songs (Sana Sana) is shot in a beautiful location that I refused to believe existed on earth – it seemed like an only desert in this world to be blessed with a beautiful blue lake. (The location is real by the way. I need to google.) And a beach. Only Aishwarya was dancing there in a lime green sari and Rajni was at guitars – something about that image didn’t work. That brings me to my biggest grouse – Lead pair chemistry or lack of it. Call me iconoclast – but it was hard to swallow Rajni serenading Aishwarya. (Oh, no, I am no Aishwarya fan). Butter on a charred toast, to put it mildly. Thank God they never kissed.
That said, Rajni acts – not once, not twice but many times over as the robots. More than his role as the scientist, it was his performance as Robo Chitti who stole the show. Charismatic. Stylish. Lives up to the hype. Almost. Other than Hum (which now I don’t remember) and Bulandi (a Hindi movie with Anil Kapoor as lead), this is probably the first time in my adult life I am watching a Rajnikanth movie. I haven’t seen any of his Tamil movies, but decided to watch Robot out of curiosity – what maketh Rajni. All I know of Rajni is through those youtube videos of him performing those mindboggling, science-defying acts. This movie was quite different in that aspect as acts were more of ‘robotics’, aided by fantastic CGI imagery. Stan Winston studios – Academy award winners who have worked on Predator, Jurassic Park, Aliens and more recently Avatar- were roped in to create CGs. And why not, the director Shankar could afford it with a whopping budget of 180 crores.
Movie has action scenes galore – but two stand out clearly in my mind. One, in a running train and mostly it made sense since it had a purpose. Second, during the climax, mind-bending, neat formations of a mammoth robotic army – spheres, jaws, serpents, wall and what not – pure delight. (My cynic self refuses to believe this was an original imagination but my friend insists that he has seen nothing like it before. If you know a movie, where this can be ‘inspired’ from, please let me know.)
Again, I forgot Aishwarya. She is perfectly cast as an eye candy robotic in this movie that revolves around robots. (For some of you northies who worried :p, Relax she is as petite as ever, no weight put on like other South Indian actresses.)
Rating: 2/5 (That is generous. All for Chitti.)
Notes, possible spoilers:
Is it just me who finds something wrong with the term ‘Toy Friend’ Aishwarya uses for Chitti, the Robot.
Chitti’s antics and misses in the first part are delightful – perhaps one of the few redeeming things of the movie.
Robot and mosquitoes talk – how silly.
The first person to misuse the robot in the movie is none other than the leading lady Aishwarya – she cheats in her exam. Lame and cliché at the same time.
Why Machu Picchu and Incas in the song – there some costumes worked and some arrgh. Aishwarya looked like a vain peacock strutting about. No, I mean the dress and the choreography.
All that action in second half seemed senseless, bereft of reasonable purpose, a robot fighting for his love for a woman.
Robo sapiens – child borne of robot and human if that is even possible – left such a bad taste in my mouth. Maybe idea was just that.
Interesting that a robot thought that all the things that a woman needs is jewellery, clothes and perfumes. Wait, he forgot to steal the diamonds for her. And shoes. Oh, nitpicking, aren’t we. What else may a woman want.
Glitches, too many glitches in the story that claims to be a ‘sci fi’ flick. Oh, well, did I hear you say, who goes to Rajni movies for that. So, I won’t bother. Find out yourself. Or, maybe get yourself a copy of Blaft anthology of Tamil pulp fiction – you will get the feel of the story.
Danny was the handsomest man in the movie. There, it has been said. Let the trolls come.
Visceral Observations 
Any action scene uninspired(apparently), is a delight to watch. If Robot can deliver that…I’d love to watch it.
Yeah I can’t tolerate Rajnikanth, though.
But dude, Rajnikant is South Indian God.
Aah..Another pompous critic with the usual self-important attitude.
Bah..no one ever cared what you think and no one ever will.When will you realize that?
The cynic in you can bitch all day long about whatever it wants…the truth is rajnikanth rocks,endhiran is gonna be a greater hit than dabangg and 3 idiots put together and people like you will still go on continuing to pretend as if you are much ‘smarter’ than everyone else living your sad and empty lives.
Go watch Big B seducing jiah khan,midget aamir khan being the best actor bolly has produced *pukes*,srk proclaiming he is the best in every other interview when he cant fuckin act,salman khan selling out the country and hailing celebrity-terrorists(sanjay dutt) in aiding further chain attacks.
(I thought dabanng was fuckin stupid by the way..but hey it appealed to your intellectual …well everyone has their own limits…not judging!)
Look around….endhiran has got a market(not fans…bolly has fans) in singapore,malaysia,japan,australia,us,uk…..rajini’s gone international…no not Big B,SRK or akshay kumar.
We dont fuckin need you.
P.S saw endhiran today…pleased to see half the theater filled with whites… 🙂
ok Mr. TheBoss, first of all why are you anonymous if you completely agree with what you said?
secondly movie tastes differ!! Rajini movies have a mass impact with the south indian crowd! it has never worked up north, n i doubt Robot will change that! it could be tough for them to connect to him! No one has denied the fact that rajini has his own style and charisma which has no competition.
again you gotta be effing out of ya effing mind to say BigB SRK Akshay or even Salman dont have international market! Get your facts right!
And Dabaang was a fucking good movie, it dragged here n thr, all around acting was good n the comedy was original n not force fit, like they do in all the other movies esp south indian ones!
at last not the least, get your sorry ass out of here if you dont like what she writes!
you might have see the movie with a theater filled with firangs, but first learn to respect others thoughts, else firangs wont be that hospitable!
peace’
***secondly movie tastes differ!! Rajini movies have a mass impact with the south indian crowd! it has never worked up north, n i doubt Robot will change that! it could be tough for them to connect to him! No one has denied the fact that rajini has his own style and charisma which has no competition.***
Agreed!
***again you gotta be effing out of ya effing mind to say BigB SRK Akshay or even Salman dont have international market! Get your facts right!***
Nope.Am not talkin abt NRI’s here.And i clearly state market,not fans.More people know BennyLava than srk.Rajini is beginning to make a mark.He has been famous in japan for a decade now.(Manmohan singh had to slip his name in a convo with pm of japan when he visited india.)
I was reflecting on how the author pointed that some scenes were ‘silly’….. dabangg was exactly the kinda run of the mill movie..nothin smart..then why the double standards…Endhiran was pretty much logical..its a movie not a Phd thesis..watch it as one.
***at last not the least, get your sorry ass out of here if you dont like what she writes***
Well when she gets to voice her ‘opinion’ and its evident from her post how perfectly aware she is that people are going to be offended by it but still goes on yapping away..then i guess the same rules hold for me too.
I don’t care if she hated the movie..hell everyone is different in their likings…my grouse is that she posts a review w/o an iota of professionalism.If you don’t like rajini,criticize him but sorry..you can’t ridicule him,he is beyond that.He is an icon revered by millions across the globe and the author knows that very well.Forget the firangs,tell your author to respect the thoughts of her own countrymen and believe me i am an averagely-crazy fan of rajini…there are crazier people out there.And tell her to drop the condescending tone else it will be too late when she realises people have moved to bigger and better things and she was left far far behind.
Anyhoo..don’t wanna bicker on and on about this coz it seems just silly…have a good one!
TheBoss aka Vinay: Why have you made it for or against Rajni debate. Or, for that matter Robot vs. Dabangg? or Robot vs. Nishabd. Tho it’s irrelevant, I must point out I disliked Nishabd ( https://alchemistpoonam.wordpress.com/2007/03/12/choked-on-words-nishabd/) and I had nothing fantastic to say about Dabangg either (check the previous post).
So, if I have dealt with those ‘allegations’. I’d like to point out I actually said Rajni can act in my review. Does that not count. And as explained, I watched Robot with clean slate. There is no agenda to hate. I was eager to see the good. I couldn’t imagine him as a romantic lead – the lead pair just didn’t work for me. Period.
P.S; I can’t help it if merely voicing my opinion is condescending. I have passed no judgement about people who like it. To each his own. Thank you.
dabangg shud have been dungbag…. a shit movie … i think u liked munnis balm
Am not watching this though some guys are going gaga over it.
me too.. Never gonna bother watching it. Good review Poonam 🙂
How have you been? Long time no posts? Wondering why all the big bloggers are slowing down!
Ok now to Enthiren. I am not surprised you didn’t like it much. To like Rajinikanth or his films for someone up the Vindyas is close to impossible I guess.
Being born and bred in a typical Tambrahm household in the south I am more a Kamal Hassan and Mani Ratnam addict than a Rajini. That said and done, I don’t hate him. The man is simplicity personified and a wonderful human and we down south know it well. That is one prime reason we people in the south admire and are in awe of him. He has style and a dangerous screen presence. We can agree to disagree.
To start with Enthiren (Robot) is an original idea and is an adaptation of the Tamil book written by eminent engineer (The
brain behind the electronic voting machine in our country) and writer Late.Mr. Sujatha Rangarajan (Sujatha is his pen name) called Yen Iniya Enthira (My dear machine) written in the mid 1980s. His book
was a stupendous hit and it also had a sequel. Any Tamilian would vouch for the fact that Sujatha or director Shankar can never be copycats. Trust me on this. Dialogues are
written by him as well. Find one Tamilian who doesn’t enjoy Sujatha Sir’s lines (laced with intelligence and humour) and I
would accept what you said. He has been writing dialogues for Mani Ratnam, Kamal Hassan and Shankar since the late 80s. Roja, Dil Se, Indian (Shankar-Kamal-Hindusthani) are all by him. If what you watched is the Hindi version, then a lot is lost in translation and that is the main culprit. Blame it on the lack of homogenity in our country, the culture and sensibility. I must also tell you here that my maharashtrian friend was zapped that we have a vocab for cervical bone in Tamil (remember the chitti delivery scene?). Talking about lyrics, let me tell you they are brilliant in Tamil and sucked in Hindi big time. It is impossible to translate the essence of rich poetic Tamil in Hindi and if attempted, they would suck. I am with you on that.
eg: The Arima song? the chant that goes “Sun iski mahima”?? I was zapped when I heard it in Hindi. Ask a good Tamil friend what does it mean in the tamil lyrics, even if translated, it would still remain flat. You can’t risk a 180 crore movie without songs, there are people in small towns who just love Rajini performing for them. ARR was mediocre I agree.
We south indians, mostly Tamilians may get really pissed watching elderly heros romancing younger heroines, but will carry no grouse against Rajinkanth doing the same. We are there to watch Rajini, not the heroine. You may ask, why not anybody else, why Aish…well cinema is economics and entertainment. 180 crores and a well known face across the globe is necessary for its wider reach. Let me add that we did not like Rajini and Shreya together in Sivaji but loved this pair and I would like to go on and add that Kaadhal Annukkal is the song we really loved, yes the desert that you loved so much..I will tell you about the desert in a while..that 5 second “Rajini walk”on the desert in the song Kadhal Annukkal got a loud applause and none of us were watching Aishwarya Rai. I heard she was gorgeous. I should watch it again may be and take notice of her.
Chitti in the second half is a replica of Rajini in his yesteryears film Moodru Mugaam. He was brilliant! How effortlessly he opens the top of an android and declares “Robo” when he discovers it is not Dr.Vaseegaran! I salut this man!
Danny was irritating. Wish Shankar had bothered to correct his lip sync.
And may I tell you that this is my first Rajini film in a cinema hall? And yes you must watch a Rajini movie in
Madras/Bangalore with a very good Tamil friend to really enjoy it 🙂
It is very a very ‘Tamil’ sensibilty. Difficult for people above the vindyas to comprehend. Every shot of the visual effect
sequences are ORIGINAL. Ask them to prove if someone says it is copied.
That desert is somewhere closer to Austria and Shankar and his crew had to fly 2 hrs, drive for 2.5 hrs, sail across a
river for 1 hr and then walk for 30 mins with all the equipements to get there.
Sorry for hoggin up so much space Poonam, I had to comment on this. You might to watch this and this, his Hollywood venture called Blood Stone<
Praveen, first of all thanks, for taking time out to share info. Much appreciated. I didn’t dislike Rajni, no reason to hate either, but overall movie with all elements didn’t work for me. You are right about music, most of Tamilian friends have actually been praising lyrics.
My bad, formation sequences are original and credit is due there. They were fantastic. I am considering Fossil’s recommendation to watch Badhah, and will check out the videos you have posted.
In Hindi version, in Chitti delivery scene – they said hip bone. And btw, Roja is one of my favorite movies.
the hyperlink code messed up. I am sorry, do check them out if interested.
Don’t worry, Praveen. I will check them all at leisure. Thanks for the comment, I can see the effort you put into it. I will soon get back, watch this space.
man man! of all i have been hearing the movie has nothing in it! AM sorry but for a hard core movie buff like me a movie is not abt CG n acting alone! no matter who acts in it, no matter who is part of tht project, if a movie dsnt convey something to me, its bullshit! and am waiting for the initial madness to go down so tht i can watch it as a movie!
and Praveen good work out there! 😀 you are bang on point! like the punch dialogue
No punch dialogues in Enthiren, buddy. The movie has a plot, a neat screenplay and fantastic Rajini. Rajini the actor who was missing since Dalapathi, Badshah, Annamalai, Avargal and Moondru Mugham.
Try watchign it in tamil, not knowing the language might really get you closer to the story. Take my word for it.
I liked Dhabhang too 🙂
If the audience were hooting in the first half and were silent in the second, they are simply awestruck by it. I agree it was a little drag in the 2nd half, but it was worth it.
Take a look at this 76 year old lady in Mumbai.
And fossiloflife, dear buddy thank you for not hating me for expressing my opinion about the movie, I know how much Rajni means to you as well. I am so proud to realise that we can have completely opposite opinions and coexist in peace. May folks have more friends like you. /m\
I will check out your and Praveen’s recommendations to dig more.
Sorry again. That is not Austria.
This ‘almost unearthly’ location is very much down to earth, situated in Brazil, specifically at the Brazil’s northeast coast. ‘Lake by Simhalahe Cruces’ or ‘Maranhao sheets’ is a desert of magic colours, where sand depressions in the sand dunes get filled up with rain water, specifically from january to June. Technically you cannot call this place as a desert as rainfall in this area exceeds the general 25mm per year benchmark.
when all critics are going gaga about the scene, u say…..”My cynic self refuses to believe this was an original imagination…”
What i infer from this is that your ‘cynic’ nature feels it would be oh-so-impossible from some regional director to come up with such an extraordinary scene…if you have an alternate explanation for your ‘cynic’ nature….lemme know….i am all ears
If you say that’s not condescending and are gonna be all diplomatic again about havin no hidden agendas,clean state etc etc…then i guess it would be just foolish of me to further prolong this conversation with the likes of you.
At least you were frank enough when you posted the review initially…that counted for something.
Yes, that is simply because everything else was cliche – plot, dialogues, moves et al. We anyway are guilty of being inspired a lot. So, just trying to be certain before I credit it.
how long was i asleep??
totally cliched!!….every other movie we make now-a-days is about humaniods falling in love and trying to find a place among humans.
*sarcasm….i wasn’t sure if you would get it*
am sry, do understand what cliche means or you just wanted to use it because i-dont-know it sounded cool to you.
Funny how something regarded as a the first real sci-fi movie(okay Love story 2050) in india you call cliche.
The love story has to be there…its meant for an indian audience obv..and that doesn’t take anything out of the fact that it is a first of its kind attempt.what will you be complaining next about…. it shudnt have songs in between?
just when i thought you couldn’t get any dumber than this…bravo you went ahead and proved me wrong!
The Boss/Vinay Kumar: You need to read more stuff – in fact, go no further look into Tamil pulp fiction – robots, love triangles, misuse of robots and science, evil unpatriotic greedy villains – we have read them over and over many times.
I won’t applaud a sci-fi story just because it is first or second or whatever. It has to be good to earn that applause.
I agree Rajni maybe a great man, he has mass following, he has charisma, he acted well – but not of it kept me entertained all through the movie. It just was not enough. Period.
Also, suggest you stop making aspersions on my intelligence and intentions just because my choice doesn’t match yours. I am not ridiculing you for liking the movie, I suggest you do the same.
You don’t review rajini movies..they review you 😛
But hey! who told you to take your brain along? These movies are all about styleu, classu and dumb dialoguesu!
Vishesh, brain ghar kaise chod ke aate hain. And no, as I said in review, it was the lead pair that didn’t work for me. Music, esp its placement was almost unbearable.
dumb dialoguesu idula illa da kanna! 🙂
there is no doubt am watching about me watching in Tamil! in fact i have asked poonam to watch Badshah
Badshah is a killer 🙂 though inspired from Hum, it is different. Rajini was awesome!
you can read about the regional director Shankar here
“Butter on a charred toast, to put it mildly. Thank God they never kissed.”
I don’t care what you think about the movie or if your review is awesome on planet earth. Your involvement of the color of the skin to evaluate the kiss-ability of someone is disturbing (That is me being Generous for not accusing you of racism)
Dilip, don’t we Indians love alleging, racism at the drop of hat. I hate to break it to you, I am a dark-complexioned myself. Last thing I would do judge someone’s beauty (did you really say ‘kissability’?) by their skin colour. 😐
For me, the chemistry just didn’t work. You have to admit in a story where love plays such an important role, chemistry is important. And 61-year-old man who is now not-so-in-prime may not always be every girl’s idea of dream man – perception of beauty are matter of personal choice and I don’t see a reason why I should even defend it.
“And 61-year-old man who is now not-so-in-prime may not always be every girl’s idea of dream man – perception of beauty are matter of personal choice and I don’t see a reason why I should even defend it.”
this is pure stupidity well First of all lemme clear you Rajinikanth is 61 in real life and he does not play as 61 year old in the movie ,he plays as a middle aged scientist.Cinema is an art and not real will you say an actor who rapes women in film shoul be a real rapist? This is not a film like NISHABD.
The film is well made and lets see the people verdict by the means of boxoffice collections.
And one question to poonam do you agree with me that a single reviewer can neither hamper a film’s success if it good nor can he/she make it a success if it is not good.
THE PEOPLES VERDICT IS FINAL.JAI HIND
How can you’ll go ape shit over a movie like robot when there’re loads of other better movies???People r comparing robot with classics like the terminator,the batman and other classics..agreed Robot has one good actor,but only that aint enough to elevate the movie to a cult status!!there’s a big hype regarding the graphics involved..but films like “alien”, “the thing” (even ET fr that matter) have better CG..and mind you these were d movies of 70s..
In my defense, I went with clean slate to check out the phenomenon for myself. Great man maybe, but over hyped movie certainly.
very interesting exchange of views. ITs true there is total change of perceptions between others and tamil films, to some extent telugu too. Any movie which is overhyped will disappoint a set of audience, certainly not the fans ( some are fanatics too) they welcome the hype with great jubiliation’
In most of the films where hype is created the expectations will be very high from common viewer ( not fans ) they get disillusioned.
But looking at the subject and the techology and the places covered to shoot should make this a specila one. I have special liking for Rajani please note.
Film at present looks to be doing good at box office
age age dekhnege hota hai kya
bumper marega gota padega
**beep****beep****beep****beep****beep****beep****beep****beep****beep****beep****beep****beep****beep****beep****beep****beep****beep**
One of the worst reviews I read on net.Very biased.It doest look like a review.(“”‘Yeah, I spent lot of time watching the people””‘).Next time watch the movie too before you write a review about that.If you just want to write a review based on people’s reaction wait till ROBOT smashes all the records.That is real people’s reaction.The movie is superb even though it have a few flaws.Just a blend of nice story , good camera work unbelievable sfx.watch it and decide people.
*The Mani Ratnam film is called Dalapathi
you might like to read this.
rajini is great
One of the worst reviews I read on net.Very biased.It doest look like a review.(“”‘Yeah, I spent lot of time watching the people””‘).Next time watch the movie too before you write a review about that.If you just want to write a review based on people’s reaction wait till ROBOT smashes all the records.That is real people’s reaction.The movie is superb even though it have a few flaws.Just a blend of nice story , good camera work unbelievable sfx.watch it and decide people.
From Amitabh Bachchan’s
Not to impose other’s POV on u, but just to see various people’s reactions. Hope you won’t mind me sharing.
Here is one more
Whether it’s Amitabh Bachan, Obama or his neighbour, everyone’s entitled to their own opinions. It’s that simple. Though personally, I feel the entire film fraternity is obliged to wax lyrical about Rajini and his movies. It’s absolutely foolish to condemn a man so important, so influential and so famous publicly (just look at the anger [and denial] a seemingly harmless blog post can stir up). I laud Rajini for his efforts, for being such a sport attempting something that’s well beyond his age or image BUT unfortunately that alone cannot save this movie. Only the crazy fans that we have on display can.
Enjoyed your review, by the way. Especially the Rajini-serenading-Aish part. It was so unbearable to watch, really. Made me cringe. But the only consolation is, this time around he was romancing a woman older than his daughter! 😛 Oops, Praveen, fans & company, no bashing please. Am running to my lair.
@ Lychee Martini: Of course everyone has their opinion 🙂 I don’t think I bashed Poonam either. I am just glad she is back into blogging.
I am from delhi and neither a fan of Rajini nor do i hate him.Saw the movie it was better than most of the recent bollywood films .The first half was good no complains and the second half is little sagging but after some time it catches up with a tremendous speed.I frankly didnt expect this type of graphics from an indian movie.So i can assure you this is a good movie and a plesant change from the normal films.
Thanks for the review. Won’t be going to the theater for this though 😀
discovered the place for sana sana by any chance? if yes.. do share
oh by the way i discovered it… its Lençois Maranhenses in brazil
Yep!
posted above
thanks praveen… damn for all the google i did! lol… 🙂
Hi All,
First let me say that we need to watch a movie like a movie. I don’t subscribe to the notion that films have to reflect reality, they have to be logial and / or have some message to deliver to the society. I go to films for being entertained – completely unabashedly enjoy myself. From that perspetive the movie was fantastic. But if Poonam was looking for something more, then she has every right to do so. I appreciate her being forthright in telling that the film did not work for her – at least parts of it.
Hats off to her for being bold enough to express opinion that goes against millions (sorry billions) of fans of Rajnikanth. She has guts. What all need to understand is that opinions differ and there are no absolute rights or wrongs in this world.
Let us behave like we are in a democratic country by respecting all differning veiwpoints without getting offended. I like Rajini as a person – he is a Gem of a person, no doubt – but some of hie films border on the rediculous. People need to have the right to voice their opinions.
Please allow Poonam to do so without getting vindictive – by all means diagree with her and post your opposing views, but please do not disparage her as a person.
As far as I am concerned, the movie was fantastically entertaining and worth the money and more inportantly the 3 hours I spent watching it.
Let us be a free country with free voices – always debating but bever disrespecting or hod malice against anyone.
Cheers…. Srikanth
Indian hair has its own inherent advantages: it is simultaneously thin and strong. The hair comes from Indian widows, who are required to shave their heads, and then put through an osmosis process where the color pigment is removed.
No matter how you look at EndhiranRobot it shines and rocks internationally. With God blessings EndhiranRobot connected every link that was missing in all directions of our super power country India DOT!
GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now C’mon yaullll……… This movie ain’t rajnikanth kind… Its about Indian Cinema Going BIGGGGGGG….. Though the tech used is imported , don’t yaullll feel proud that we Indians can afford it…. Cheer up guys…. MI, TERMINATOR,MATRIIX…. We soon can stand in the list…. not really far from it,ain’t it?….
Thought I’ll share Sudhish Kamath’s review here.
Hey, Praveen thanks for all these links. So far I found only one link utterly useless – one that by Mr. Bachchan. These days his opinions on most subjects are the worst.
I guess so!
I think one post of mine slipped into your Spam 😛
I had posted 2 songs in it.
Btw long time that you reviewed books!
I try to use whatever free time I have to read book and watch movies as much as I can, so less reviews. Will try to do something soon, hopefully. 🙂
And Shankar’s CNBC interview link too.
Been a year no? Last being, Two States?
You might like this book
http://www.flipkart.com/serious-men-manu-joseph-book-8172238525
I have read many – Basharat Peer, Hanif Ali, Bill Bryson and currently reading Alfred Hitchcock’s biography. So many books to read, that am not buying anymore. Staying away from Manu Joseph – just stick to read his occasional articles on Open Magazine. Sometimes I don’t like his going-out-of-the-way-to-be-controversial attitude.
You have read it, I presume?
Alfred Hitchcock’s biography is a good one 🙂 Even better is this book which has a conversation with him and Francois Traffaut. That book is so damn rare!
Reading Serious Men and liking it. I read his articles on Open Magazine too and know what you mean.
Thanks, sounds like an interesting book. I’ll try to get this from Flipkart. If you say it is rare, am sure by the time it arrives, I’ll have done with my book backlog. 🙂
*conversation between him and Francois Traffaut
🙂 I was a bum to not read it completely, when I borrowed it frm my prof back in film school. I should get a copy too.
And Meluha you read?
Nope. Are you on Twitter – it would be easier to converse there.
posted
Can you read me?
Mailed u
I think i see your point. You were expecting to see tattoos, sun glasses(wait is it called shades now) and a song in swiss to fill a story or a single creative scene in the usual hindi movies. Of course you would be disappointed. You are right, hindi movies are so logical and realistic than movies from the south **snicker**.
jaja
Delightful review! I thought i was the odd man out when I wrote in my review http://badrirag.wordpress.com/2010/11/07/endhiran-what-i-liked-and-didnt/ that the first half with Chitti was wonderful and the second half was pathetic.
Subtle and stinging comments. Wish ARR and Shankar would read this.
Great stuff man! I loved it
It is an unexpected praise, otherwise this review was doomed to be bashed. Look at the comments about. Thanks for stopping by, and having your say here. 🙂
absolutely loved the witty writing, specially the crossed out parts 🙂
Some of the gripes you have against the movie are far more cliched than some of those you managed to point out from the movie.
The one about Rajini romancing a lady as old as his daughter has been around for ages now.
I’ve got two words for you- “Roger Moore”
In case you don’t get it, (which from your review you may not so readily) here’s the crux:
He played Bond from the age of 45 to 58 and was even asked for some more but he refused (because he felt he was too old for the demanding role).
The big news- He was voted as the “best Bond” by 62% in an Academy Award poll (the Oscars vote bank).
An actor romancing ladies no older than his daughter voted the best in his roles. (hope I’ve made my point)
I could just point a million things about hypocritical your review is. But then again, any form of critique is hypocritical since we are all flawed beings so I’ll just point out a couple of things.
You said you went in with a clean slate but, on the contrary, from your review and the following comments, you clearly had a mountain of baggage about Rajini.
What does it matter if Rajini is 60 yrs old? I don’t think he looked his age in the film (the age difference wasn’t so conspicuous. At most Rajini would have been in his 40s and Aish in her late 20s and this quite natural for any romance between a top scientist and a college going student)
I do agree there was no lead pair chemistry but truth be told nobody who watches a Rajini film cares!
In fact, the only lauded screen chemistry he has had with a female character is the one with the villain “Neelambari” in the movie “Padayappa” (he was the hero facing off against her, by the way)
And if you replaced Aishwarya with any doll faced actress in India and the film wouldn’t have lost anything and would have still made the millions it did and the gotten the reviews it got. But nobody could have replaced Rajini in his roles.
Aishwarya has a huge following in south India but she was the least watched star in this movie for them.
So Rajini romancing her was just an excuse for some songs and the premise that the Robot falls in love with a woman.
Rajini is an acquired taste and when you watch his first film you won’t even know how to watch it. There are specific rules about what to watch each scene and only if you follow those rules will you enjoy it to the fullest and stop cringing/gasping/mocking/whatever you are not supposed to doing.
Rajini followers have learnt this unwritten rule through years of watching his movies and it is like second nature to us. So we don’t have to take any special effort.
The present shape of his latest movie has not just shot out of blue. It has been perfected over a tried and tested formula after a series of films starting from “Basha” (you could start from Basha, which I believe even newcomers can follow) to Muthu-Arunchalam-Padayyapa and countless other movies in between and some even before Basha (yes its not Badshah) to become the present shape it is.
So if you started off as a child watching those movies and then you watch his present ones, you can notice how much effort the actor has taken to introduce novelties while still keeping up with the refreshing formula.
Several actors have tried to copy this formula (most notably Vijay) and have miserably failed and merely earned the mockery of the Tamil audience.
Every Rajini movie is supposed to be a celebration. It rarely pertains to a single theme and sticks to it.
Not all the scenes are supposed to be taken seriously either.
The mosquito talking scene was pure comedic gold in Tamil that I couldn’t stop laughing.
It was obviously meant to be a funny scene with no particular grounding to the actual sci-fi possibilities.
All of us who enjoyed never quite cared if it was possible to converse with the insects but just enjoyed the scene and the dialogues. It was just masala and such scenes are normal in Shankar’s movies.
Once again these are scenes in which you can just forget the storyline and watch them like a separate short video (like an internet meme).
After all, are not all songs featured in Indian movies shot in exotic locations supposed to watched like that- utterly unrelated music videos? Why can’t you realize that regarding the mosquito scene?
Was that meant to be a joke in your own review? Well it certainly didn’t seem like it. In fact, try as I might to look at your review as a funny take on the movie, it keeps showing up as a massive rant over something you have no idea about.
I’m an Electronics Engineer and I would know how very clearly the director explained the sci-fi and how feasible it is. This wasn’t some magic movie like Harry Potter or Koi Mil Gaya or Spiderman where you get superhuman powers from a radioactive spider bite (you’d believe that but won’t laugh for a mosquito joke? Hilarious- not just the scene… but your attitude)
Why didn’t you ever mock those movies saying the only thing you get from a radioactive spider bite is a bloated finger (No you wouldn’t be radioactive from just a bite- the amount of radioactivity that comes to your body will quickly die out)
Regarding injecting feelings into a bot- for starters even those who are in the business of making androids (No, not the phone) do not feel that it is their duty to instill feelings into it.
That’s because it’s so damn tough and unnecessary, since all bots at present are semi-automatic.
As for actually teaching feelings- it could be possible especially by a brilliant scientist who actually designed an autonomous robot (according to the movie) all alone. So you just assume he could instill feelings. You don’t just mock that and laugh- that’s just lame on your part.
I have no beef with you- just that you must understand the next time you write a review about someone so loved it’s not enough that you just voice your opinions. It’s far more important to mince your words.
If all of us were blunt then there would be no need for the million words that English has or its enormous literature.
Suffice to say that some parts of your review is as crass/tasteless as Winston Churchill’s comment about our beloved Father of the Nation- “Half naked fakir” (perhaps apocryphal, but you get the drift).
If you wished to write a completely unbiased but truly useful review that considered the sensitivities of the various readers, then look up this article by an American on Rajini
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/movies/2010/09/superstar_rajinikanth.html
He has seen many of Rajini’s films and has understood why he clicks.
Now that article has far more humor than yours and he didn’t have to stoop down to mock the great star even once.
Sachin is worshiped as God in cricket and none of the foreigners or the opposition players understand the reason. It is the same with Rajini.
When Rajini retires from the industry, he’s gonna leave a gaping hole that nobody at present will be able to fill.
When Sachin retires, India may miss him badly, but still they would still win games, but when Rajini goes, no one can make movies like him.
For every Kamal Hassan, there’s a Clint Eastwood.
For Shankar, there’s a James Cameron.
Even for Amitabh there can be parallels.
For Rajini’s brand of film-making, there’s no parallel.
PS: Sudhish Kamath’s comments on the movie were prescient too but one must know Rajini and his films before understanding it fully.
For newbies- the link to the Grady Hendrix article in Slate is the perfect place to start your adventure into Rajini movies.
Hello just wanted to give you a quick heads up and let you know a few of the images aren’t loading correctly. I’m not sure why but I think its a linking issue.
I’ve tried it in two different internet browsers and both show the same outcome.