The Man. The Machine. The Legend

I watched Thalaivar’s Endhiran last night. And I am yet to come out of that world which was created in the movie. What I wrote immediately after the movie, in the name of a one word review was actually two words. Mind Blowing. That was the kind of trance I was in.

This is a movie review coming from a Rajinikanth fan. I won’t claim to be his biggest fan, but I am a big fan nonetheless. Yes, I appreciate his acting as well as his style. And importantly, I appreciate, respect, admire and love Rajinikanth the human being more than Rajinikanth the actor. If you are wondering how one can “love” him, come out of the cocoon and take a look at what he has done for the needy. And how humble he has remained even after all the successes. Mind you, I am no fanatic who will go to a temple to worship him. Or pour liters of milk on his posters to wish him success with the movies.

I have been a part of the army which has made jokes about him. The ones similar to what they make about Chuck Norris. No. Not the ones where you just replace the name Chuck Norris with Rajinikanth. Likewise, Rajinikanth is not Chuck Norris.

Before you go to watch this movie. Don’t expect to come out of the hall, having learnt a lot about life. This is not a movie for you. And don’t definitely expect to see your every weekend movie with slapstick comedy. Don’t expect a movie which adheres to the laws of physics. Why do you put that thinking hat on, only when you are watching an Indian movie and not a Hollywood flick? Don’t they do death defying stunts? Don’t they survive amidst bullets? Don’t they do the unimaginable escape acts?

Now to the movie. This is our answer to Terminator(1, 2, 3, 4 and any more of the series that will come up). Taking it one step further and giving the machines, human emotions. And what follows is close to three hours of entertainment. And in the end, if you are the type who wants to put on a thinking cap after the movie to dissect it and come out with only the flaws from the movie and project that “I’m uber cool” image, how did you miss the message provided in the movie? This movie has got its own messages to give out. Just like with Hollywood flicks with man-machine conflicts. The message of the Creations turning against the Creator. The perils of artificial Intelligence. Like some wiseman once said, “Artificial Intelligence is no match for Human Stupidity”. This is what will happen if you clone humans. Or give machines, the human touch.

Another message that comes across is about the red chip of jealousy, greed, selfishness etc which are embedded in human minds. Which are passed on to the innocent minds. One generation to the next.

Of course, there are a few flaws in the movie. If you come to that, there may be flaws with the best of movies. Does that stop anyone from rating it so high? Such flaws are for some bull crap media websites where they post such things and then, trolls rule the place.

This movie is about Rajinikanth, the phenomenon. The Superstar. Every one else is just there to prop it up. Aishwarya Rai is just an eye candy. Like the joke that has been doing th rounds, don’t mistake her for the robot. Danny Denzongpa does a fantastic job as a villain. Till he is dead. Then, Chitti the robot takes over. You like him in the beginning, grunt at him, hate him, loathe him. And in the end, you may love him. I loved him.