While I was waiting to watch Kaala in the theatre, surprisingly it dawned on me that, this was the first movie of Rajinikanth, that I was about to watch in a theatre. It wasn’t intentional, most of his movies came out long before I even got entry to this world and the rest were old enough to come on TV by the time I grew up enough to understand movies. I always had this crazy love for the language and traditions of TamilNadu, the reason to which I haven’t yet been able to figure out. So, while I grew up, more than the Malayalam movies I have watched Tamil movies; but Rajinikanth was never a huge chunk of the movies that I grew up with, it was mostly new faces who started off their career in Tamil Cinema like Ajith, Vijay, Arjun, etc., but I knew Rajinikanth was not just an actor but a sensation in TamilNadu.
It was ARRahman who intensified my love for Tamil, the amazing songs he composed in Tamil made it impossible, not to know the meaning of them. And it was ARRahman who introduced Rajinikanth to me too; since he did the music for Muthu and Padayappa, I watched both and started kind of liking Rajinikanth movies.
There was this very relatable humane version to all the characters he played along with the superhero elements. From a very young age I hated the concept of supremacy, no matter whatever justification people attached to it. I have seen subtle, yet impactful versions of suppressions acted out by my own dear ones and people around and it kept irritating me. Rajinikanth movies (at least the ones that I watched) always had this thread of rising of the working community against the power of class and caste plot, which kind of kept me interested in his movies.
And honestly, I can’t deny, there is a charm and aura that he carries so well around him which is at times impossible to avoid.
Cutting straight to late 90s and early 2000, director Shankar came into Tamil movie industry, introducing concept of “mass” movies and extrapolating the heroism of actors. His only movie I could connect to honestly was “Mudhalvan” and after that with each actor in Tamil Industry he started imposing the larger than life concept. Except for Arjun, who got his career best in “Mudhalvan”, I would say, Shankar’s version of heroism didn’t work out too well for a long period. The most hit person by Shankar’s “mass” efforts, was Rajinikanth.
From a simple and humane actor and human being, his movies with Shankar though economically successful, brought Rajinikanth to the extent of being a whatsapp joke.
The stupid or rather irritating storylines, efforts to make Rajinikanth look like god knows what not, pairing of him with actresses three times younger to his age and moreover taking the human out of that actor, Shankar literally destroyed everything Rajinikanth was ever known for. I will always question Rajinikanth, for his decision to sign such projects too. Anyways, all efforts went into the drain, Rajinikanth’s failed attempts continued through movies like Enthiran, Linga etc, which invited criticism and jokes rather than love from the real audience.
It was recently that PA Ranjith, gave him back his lifeline in Cinema with Kabali. It was for me, a huge relief to see the man as himself or at least relatable, in Kabali. I was too skeptical to watch it on the big screen because of my previous experiences with his recent films but finally, when I did watch it on Amazon Prime, I was rather surprised and happy as an audience. Ranjith had all elements of Shankar in him but he managed to bring back the humane element which made Rajinikanth, the star of the masses. There was also this fresh element of female characters with some strong base and thankfully not every action scene had Rajinikanth kicking villains with his foot to someplace out of the planet; instead it had scene where the supporting characters try to save him, not just by taking a bullet and asking him to avenge but by actually taking the control of the action.
Kaala’s plotline is similar to many of the Rajinikanth’s movies, except for the location and superb but subtle inclusion of the ‘he who must not be named’ . 😊
When Kaala impressed me with superb casting and refreshing characterization, it killed my hopes with the storyline which, in the effort of showing off too many things, ultimately forgot where the destination was.
Easwari Rao, as Karpooravalli literally stole the show, while Anjali Patil as Puyal, pulled off effortlessly the quintessential message which was really needed for every woman, who thinks life ends where their chunni falls off. Nana Patekar as “HE who must not be named” excelled as always and the new faces too did their best. Samuthirakani, kept confusing me with his role that whether he actually was not interested in anything happening around, was happily drunk and getting it done with or was he making fun of the entire team who were trying too hard.
Unfortunately, I could see the ghost of Shankar overpowering many of the scenes and plot areas of the film. I would really like to investigate where to find the umbrella that Rajinikanth uses during a fight; seems to be too powerful, can be useful to women in the current scenarios we live in. Sarcasm aside, the story had action sequences which will either make you laugh or think who in the world did the director think, he was making this movie for? One of the most irritating factors of Kaala was the songs; while Santhosh Narayanan’s BGMs were brilliant, the irritating and unwanted mix of genres of music made to an avial of songs were rather pathetic. A rap mix even at someone’s burial, like seriously?
Kaala is no different, it has all elements of a typical PA Ranjith film, but personally, I feel it failed to touch the chord, even after showcasing the reality of the urban poor picturized naturally to a great extent. It certainly will remind you of the fact that every single of our activity in the urban life we live, will be impossible without these people who we conveniently ignore and keeps meters out of our hearts and cities. And honestly the climax scene will make you wish you had a remote to rewind and watch again; it was pure, enjoyable “mass”.
But even after all of this, Kaala, couldn’t create the same feeling of relief after I watched Kabali, instead it lit the fire of doubts that if PA Ranjith will soon take the same path of Shankar. Rajinikanth, except for the action sequences and few scenes here and there, is the typical old humane version which is indeed a relief and acted really well to give elements for satisfaction to the “mass” crowds too. So, if you are a Rajini fan or a fan of “mass” movies in general, Kaala is indeed a good watch. At least this is one of Rajinikanth’s movies, where you won’t have to completely leave your brain outside the theatre.
***/ *****
