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Somewhere near Kaziranga...

Robot Kaleidoscope

Superstar movie - first day. That is very special anywhere. To my utter surprise even the Panaji Inox was almost full for the 11:15PM Robot (not Endhiran).

Coming out at around 2:30 AM into Gandhi Jayanthi I find myself quite puzzled and disappointed. I miss Baasha (Tamil/1995/Suresh Krissna starring Rajni) and Indian (Tamil/1996/Shankar) days. No doubt Robot is a technological marvel and exhibits the homegrown talent in an impressive way yet and is definitely worth a watch.Hats off to Shankar and team for that...but wait a minute, where is the Superstar? Where is Indian Shankar?

Amidst a loose script, world-class graphics, the usual compulsions of an Indian commercial cinema and above all the huge responsibility of proving a point to the world - we lose the Superstar; And Shankar too. Superstar has done a very decent performance as Dr.Vasi and of course quite a great role as the robot Chitti. He has carried the movie skilfully and with ease. Superstar's acting talents are explored once again after a long time. Kudos! But soon the Superstar is engulfed in a maze of computer graphics to the extent that even I felt a little suffocated towards the climax that looked like a kaleidoscope where miniature toy Superstars in black goggles had replaced the usual broken pieces of colourful glass bangles. See it to believe it...King Kong, Anaconda, Godzilla, Globe, Cylinder, Spiral, Drilling bore...you name it you have it!

Director sir, your movies stand out for their taut scripts. (Thanks to the late writer Sujata too). Be it the all-time classic Indian or Muthalvan or the latest Sivaji the script plays a key role in your movies. Though thrilling at places like the hospital delivery sequence or the fire accident pages, Robot's screenplay is much below average and we know it from the "Not again!" murmurs for some songs. They just pop out of nowhere. Further, one vital ingredient in your usual movie recipe is the songs picturisation. Be it Chiku Bukku... (Gentleman, 1993) or Mukkala Mukabla (Kadhalan, 1994), Andankaka Kondakkaari (Anniyan, 2005) you have excelled in this arena. But here all the second half songs look the same with lots of people dressed up in aluminium foils dancing in a tech background. Even the song with full of Superstars was not exactly palatable.

And what was that mosquito sequence in name of humour? Comedy is another area where Shankar-Rajni had done really well so far...but now they seem to have dumped that. Karunas and Santhanam are used a little more than as props. It is a disaster.

Rajni is one of the best villians that Tamil cinema had ever-seen and the movie fails in the attempt to capitalise on that. Robot Rajni is a commendable performance by the Superstar but as you will see the technology and imagination that has run wild, take over from the Superstar. The movie as a whole could not give the high that motta boss Rajni gave in Sivaji in just about 30 minutes. I had that as the base level for Endhiran. I was asking for disappointment.

I liked the movie's plot and am just awed by the kind of efforts that has gone into making it. Robot will probably go down as a highly successful box-office piece and might make the world take a closer look at Tamil cinema, but when will the glorious days of Baasha or Indian return?

(PS: I guess the Tamil version will be a tad better with the Superstar's own voice)