Kabali (2016)

For people who expect to see moon during mid afternoon.. they will be disappointed.. What else can you expect.Not a conventional opening scene of a Rajini movie.. but thats what character based story work out to.. Each Rajini scene is an epic of class and style in itself, no wonder why he is still style king.. BGM is good, the girl coming as his daughter is done well and character will remain in viewer minds for loong loong time to come..The movie is made with an aged Rajini character alike the God Father classic in the story and it fits the bill very well.The climax is a bit drag, but apart from that, its very good... Can watch again and again for Thalaivar, his performace and acting..

This is another example, how the Indian film producer S.Thanu is raising the expectations for a movie way too high, without thinking about the quality of the movie. With all due respect, making marketing like this has nothing to do with talent. The movie Kabali is easily the best movie of Superstar Rajini since Enthiran. It's totally a movie you should watch for the plot and the whole cast and not only for Rajini. What was good? First of all, the best thing about this movie is the godlike background score by Santhosh Narayanan, which is one of the best in Tamil cinema history in my opinion. It's not only good sounding, but on top of that it is played very wisely. This guy really is some kind of Hans Zimmer of India. Then the character development of most of the characters were great, especially Jeeva, which was performed extra-ordinary by Dinesh. I totally love that Rajini was playing a role, which was fitting to him. And all in all the first half of the movie was great in every aspect. Story-Telling at it's finest by Pa.Ranjith. One could totally relate to the tension of Kabali. The last sequence was a master-piece.What didn't feel right for me? Evan if the story is great, Pa.Ranjith still put in some forced Rajini moves. This movie didn't need that. Sometimes it killed the atmosphere of the movie. Although the characters were great, the movie didn't use the full potential of the characters. Especially the potential of Jeeva and Meena was wasted. While the first half was great, the second half was disappointing. It was too slow-paced and it was dragging. If you've seen the movie, you know what I mean. What disappointed me as well was the Kumaran character. Kalaiyarasan wasn't really the right choice for this character and the character development of this character wasn't complete as well.So, don't watch the movie with the thought of watching a bad movie. But don't watch it with too high expectations as well.

Rajnikanth was in his full form as an actor rather than a superstar, he plays the role of an aged, reformed gangster Kabaleeswaran who had fought for the oppressed in Malaysia and returns from his jail stay after twenty-five years. There are hardly any scenes that pass which do not involve Rajinikanth in it, but Ranjith(Director) has made sure that he has put all his acting resources to good effect. All the characters have been established having Rajinikanth alongside them. Rajinikanth has quite a few sentimental scenes which have come out very well. When it comes to Kabali, more than his mass mannerisms, it is the sentimental scenes of him that will be the talking point. On the technical side, Santhosh Narayanan's score is a major plus to the film, the editing and the costumes, especially Rajnikanth's classy suit were good and the art direction was not a promising one especially in the flash back scenes, And last but not least the direction and script, Director Ranjith has did a wonderful job as a director he showcased an entirely new Rajnikanth to the new generation audiences who saw him only in mass masala entertainers and speaking of the script which was not a tight one, it lacks speed and not thrilling enough for a Rajnikanth film . All in all Kabali is Rajinikanth in a different dimension, but it might not work for everyone. But if you wanna see the actor in Rajnikath give it a try it won't disappoint you in that case and don't watch it expecting a Basha or Sivaji

I saw Kabali in Hindi. I think I need to see it again in its original language, Tamil, because I feel that there are certain issues this film raises that can be understood in a better way only if one watches them in Tamil. There are several references to history of Tamils in Malaysia. Kabali (played by Rajanikanth), his wife (played by Radhika Apte), and several other Indian and Tamil characters in the film are supposed to be new generation Indians/Tamils in Malaysia whose ancestors were taken to the Malaya peninsula from the India as workers in plantations run by the British. In these plantations, these Indian/Tamil workers were treated as being inferior to the Chinese (another community present in Malaysia). Kabali, in the first half of the film, has never been to India. He is shown as leading a revolt in one of the plantations demanding an equal pay for Indian/Tamil workers. This episode of the history of Indians/Tamils will, I am sure, never be shown in mainstream Hindi films. A Tamil film has shown this and this is an important thing. I did not understand if most of the Indian characters in the film Kabali were Tamils or a mix of north- and south-Indians, for some of them had north-Indian sounding names. For example, a villain named Vijay Singh. It could also be that some Tamil characters were turned into north-Indian characters in the dubbed Hindi version to appeal to north-Indian viewers. This method does not work, because it reduces Kabali to a mere entertainer. And Kabali, I felt, was not a mere entertainer. There were several slices of history in it that we need to mull upon. The history of the Tamils in British plantations in Malaysia is one. Then, there is the chemistry among the Indians (or Tamils) there. In one dialogue, Kabali explains the importance of wearing suit to one other Indian. Kabali says: "Mahatma Gandhi gave up wearing suit and Babasaheb Ambedkar started wearing suit for one reason." In Hindi, this dialogue seems powerful and entertaining enough. But why did Kabali speak this dialogue? What is the background behind this dialogue? This, perhaps, could be understood in a better way if this film is seen in Tamil, or if we get to see more films (in Tamil or in any other language, but best in Tamil) on the lives of Tamil plantation workers in Malaysia. Also, there is another scene where a Tamil character thinks that just because Kabali started wearing suits, he has become very arrogant. There are sequences like these which made me think about the lives of these Tamil workers, their journey from India to Malaysia, their history in Malaysia, etc. It is a remarkable thing that a completely commercial and mainstream film - that too one starring Rajinikanth - speaks of these things, speaks of the politics. How many Hindi mainstream films starring the biggest 200-crore-plus-earning stars of Bollywood would be able to talk of politics like this? I wouldn't say much about Rajinikanth. He is endearing, as usual. He plays his age; and even in his younger looks, the special effects have been suitably executed. He does his trademark style once in a while, though it was not needed. Rajinikanth looks special the way he is. The scene where he sits like a king on a couch with the Petronas Twin Towers in the background, that is one memorable scene. Radhika Apte shines in every scene. Reminiscent of Aishwarya Rai of the mid- and late-1990s, Apte lights up the screen the moment she comes in. I was intrigued by Dhansika's presence in the film's trailer➖her action scenes are awesome. However, more than its stars, I admired Kabali for its characters and the issues it talked about. Kabali is, I will say it again, more than a mere big budget entertainer. I need to see it again, in original Tamil, because, I think, much was lost in its Hindi dubbed version.