Endhiran - My Point of View

Okay, it’s quite some time since I posted anything on my blog. Thought of entering back here with this lengthy post. :) Before I start with, first things first:

> I am not a fan of Rajini. The last film of his I liked was Muthu.

> I am not a die hard fan of A R Rahman. Especially I liked none of his recent albums very much.

> I am not a too big fan of Shankar. The last film of his which I felt was a complete work was Mudhalvan.

I am a normal film viewer and I have some expectations when I go for a Shankar’s film with Rahman’s music featuring Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai and a crew of topmost technicians from India and world over. This write-up is based only on these aspects and I want to make it clear that, I am not interested in sales or box office collection statistics because they make no sense or are of no value to me.

Endhiran is definitely the biggest film of India till date both in terms of production cost and the reach. But biggest does not always mean the best and this film is an example of that. Claimed as a science fiction movie by many, I found it is nothing more than a typical mass commercial film borrowing lot of science fiction ideas for the flow of events.

The story as such does not have strong foundation like in the case of Shankar's other films (barring Boys and Sivaji). Reasons later. It’s a triangular love story where in the third angle is unusually a humanoid robot. This fact itself was supposed to be very interesting but I didn't find it so. Again reasons later. The robot which turns from good to evil in the second half of the film routes for a gripping climax, thanks to special effects.

The film's main characters except for the robot lack a proper characterization and appeared as alien as their character names. Dr.Vasigaran (Rajini), the robotic scientist makes the humanoid robot named Chitti (named by his mother, I wonder where in Tamil Nadu mothers dream of naming their children with a golti name like Chitti Babu). Vasi is in love with Sana(Aishwarya) with whom Chitti also falls in love at one point when he is given emotional programming and gets lost in it, failing to serve the purpose for which it is created. Vasi destroys it and throws it away in frustration. Dr.Bohra, who is Vasi's Guru but jealous of him, gets Chiti back to form and implants destruction programming in it. This leads to evil consequences that form the rest of the story.

The scientists Vasigaran and Bohra have their own labs which look more like space ships (reminding aliens again). Whereas Vasi's lab has two dumb asses as assistants, Bohra is not even shown to have anyone working with him. It looks as if Bohra managed to create dozens of robots (as shown in one scene) single handedly. What a genius! Wonder if any scientists of today have such sophisticated and well equipped labs, which can function without even proper assistants. It would have been more convincing if it was shown that both scientists work for AIRD and do their research there.

The first half of the film shows the making of Chitti and how well it performs superhuman tasks to benefit mankind. But I don't know what sense it makes to do system/beta testing on a robot meant for defense purposes with household and edupidi tasks in domestic environment. Memorizing telephone directories, scanning exam books and reproducing it for Sana, cooking and so on, the robot's multifaceted capabilities are explained through so many scenes. At one point, it becomes too much to take and the 'Boom Boom Robo Da' song is heights of it. It is ridiculous to see a scientist use a robot created with so much ambition for wearing on his tie and tying his shoe lace.

Of course, the robot also fights goondas and does superhuman stunts by his fire proof, electromagnetic and various other capabilities. The train fight though well executed seems very lengthy. And as I do a rewind of all heroic deeds done by the robot, it all turns out to be what is done by a normal commercial hero in a masala film, but here the viewer is expected to believe that all of them is possible and feasible, because its a robot doing them and it has superhuman powers. The way robot clears up a critical pregnancy case just because it has memorized Sana's medical books is something that happens only in films. Anyways, an element of thaaikulam attraction.

The second half had lot of unwanted scenes, the most boring ones like the ridiculous mosquito sequence, chitti dance and lead sequence before Kilimanjaro song. Many scenes look placed just for the sake of it, like the one when power goes down and robots walk over to the road using car batteries to recharge themselves. I wondered what purpose the whole sequence served. Scenes like dumping the dismantled robot in a corporation dustbin and showing that it is taken to a dump yard of normal garbage look totally bizarre in today's era of e-waste disposal campaigns and considering the fact that a robotic scientist cannot dispose his years of work just like that. Add to it that fact that the robot can reconstruct itself even at such a crippled stage.

There are scenes of confused logic, like the one when evil Chitti kidnaps Sana from wedding hall and fights with police, 100s of bullets rain all over. It is accepted that Chitti survives it by some power it has, but there is no explanation how a human Sana and a normal car can survive all that, especially Sana escapes without even a scratch, turning out to be better constructed than Chitti. The end scene is supposed to be a tear jerker meant for Thaaikulams wherein Chitti dismantles itself and some ‘messages’ are forcefully thrown in for the audience.

The only solace for second half is the climax sequence visual effects with ideas heavily borrowed from popular Hollywood films like Matrix, Anaconda etc. The effects are very well done as in Hollywood but the worming, deworming, electromagnetic blah blahs, though technically needed for the sequence are too heavy for a layman to understand. And again in this scene, when everything around the robot is crushed by it, a mere caravan with hi-fi equipments remains as it is and dodges over all the robotic destruction skills. Heroism!

Rajinikanth has done lot of work for the film especially with the makeup, robotic acts and so on, a remarkable feat for his age. But just makeup can't hide his ageing face which looks very odd with layered makeup in many scenes. He puts up a good show as a villain towards the end, but the robotic body language is totally missing and he acts like a normal human, may be director's fault. An evil chip can change the programming logic but cannot make a robot act like human villain. So the villainous laugh and all other acts are unconvincing when you think it is done by a robot.

Considering that his fights in recent films usually contained unbelievable sequences and over the top action, the fights does not seem to evoke any wonder, unless you remind yourself that it is being done by a robot here. And even the robotic dance in Irumbile oru Idhayam is nothing so different from what robotic steps Rajini did in his previous hits like Thillana Thillana. The romantic scenes between Rajini and Aishwarya might be enjoyable for may be die hard Rajini fans, but to me it was such a pain to watch such scenes.

Aishwarya surprisingly looked beautiful though lines of ageing showed up even in her face in some scenes. Given a heavy footage for a major portion of the film unlike Shriyas and Soundharyas, she could have done a better job than just looking beautiful. Scenes in which she emoted or tried to emote show that she is still of same standard as what she was in Jeans. The oddest thing is the way she sits in the scenes after evil Chitti kidnaps her, like someone waiting in a passport office. Looked like serious lack of acting skills or interest to act.

Danny Denzongpa as Dr.Bohra had nothing much to do rather than mouth some lines in a base voice, look intelligent in some scenes and frustrated or furious in others before he dies in the hands of evil Chitti. The other characters hardly had anything significant to do in the film and their absence would have been no big loss to the film. Infact, it would have atleast made the film more gripping.

Of Rahman's songs, Kaadhal Anukal (I hate this song's audio for no known reason) and Irumbile oru Idhayam are visually brilliant. Arima Arima has the grandeur of a Shankar's film song but is not very interesting like Mudhalvane or Adhiradi kaaran. The background score was just fine but definitely not what one expects from Rahman. Kilimanjaro song except for the locales, is a totally wasted song with the slow paced, uninteresting picturisation and its unwanted placement, which mars the sagging pace of the screenplay further.

The film is anyway supposed to look brilliant from technical point of view considering that a huge portion of the budget is spent for these and thankfully all of it has come out well. The technical crew of the film is the one that deserves credit for anything good about the film, be it the sets (Sabu Cyril who appears in a cameo) which show the massive thought process put in, costumes and makeup especially for the robot, brilliant camera work by Rathnavelu throughout, climax visual effects which give a feel of watching a Hollywood film and editing which was good but could have been much better particularly for second half.

Shankar deserves a big appreciation for all the conceptualization and execution, but this is one of his bad outings as a screenplay writer. What could have been made excellently as a slick 2 hour animation film has been overcooked with heroism, unwanted sequences and songs. There is a social linkage with Shankar's films like Gentleman, Indian, Mudhalvan or Anniyan, which makes you relate to the characters in the film. This is definitely lacking in Endhiran. The societal impact a robot is not explained in concrete terms even though the film touches upon it here and there. The film is more about the havoc created by a robot in Vasi and Sana's personal life.

There are lot of action sequences scorched with over heroism which would have been a topic of fun if present in any other hero's films. There were logical loopholes which would have been blown out of proportion in any other hero's films. There existed zero chemistry between the lead pair which would have not mattered even if it existed in any other hero's films. Songs appeared out of the blue when not asked for but that should not be the case when it is any other hero's film. Okay, I am not supposed to find such faults or question them, because it is a Rajini's film. Ok, Done!

On the whole, the film offered a good time pass, more of a children's kind and was worth watching once. The experience was better than Shivaji, which for me was nothing but a elite standard Perarasu film in high budget. It lives upto all its Hollywood-like expectations, only for the technical aspects. It is like a half cooked meal offered in a five star hotel. You enjoy the entire ambience but not the food.

The Rajini factor seems to have been added for just for the sales promotion, revenue generation and getting the film a very big reach which could not have been possible with a normal animation film or a film with a hero of lesser market. The end product is unfortunately something that lies between a Rajini style film and a sci-fi film with Shankar's extravaganza for support. Rajini fans may love it for his presence, but for me it makes no difference.

To end with: "Enaku Endhiran pudikala nu sollala. Pudichirundha nalla irundhirukum nu thaan sollren" ;-)