Lingaa Movie Review

Movie: Lingaa

Rating: 3.5/5
Banner: Rockline Entertainments
Cast: Rajinikanth, Anushka Shetty, Sonakshi Sinha, Jagapathi Babu, K Viswanath and others
Music: A. R. Rahman
Cinematography: R. Rathnavelu
Written By: K. S. Ravikumar, Pon Kumaran
Distributed by: Eros International
Producer: Rockline Venkatesh
Direction: K S Ravi Kumar
Release Date: December 12, 2014

Rajinikanth is back. Well, after he gave the biggest flop in his career with Kochadaiiyaan, Rajini tries to make amends with his latest film by playing to the galleries in his characteristic style. Incidentally, the film’s release date also marks his 64th birthday and his fans are ecstatic all over. Now, let’s see how the film has come up and if does live up to the expectations…

Story:
Lingaa (Rajinikanth) is a petty thief who steals small jewellery for a living. One day, he decides to steal an emerald necklace on display at a star hotel and he makes Lakshmi (Anushka), the spunky reporter of Public TV his unwilling accomplice. Well, he does steal the necklace, but by the time he goes to the Marwadi to get his share, the police come and arrest the merchant. So, Lingaa is forced to run away from the city to escape the police hunting for him. That’s when Lakshmi comes into his life once again and convinces him to accompany her to Singanoor.

Here, the story goes back to 1939 and it is revealed that Lingaa is the sole heir to his grandfather Raja Lingeswaran who belonged to a long lineage of kings who ruled south India. Why do people of Singanoor want Lingaa to come back to the village? What does Lingaa find there? Will he stay back? The rest of the story answers these questions.

Artistes’ Performances:
Rajinikanth, the name is enough to draw audiences to theatres. At the age of 64, he still tries to do his best to play the superstar that the audiences want to see on screen. So he flies in air, yes literally during the climax, romances heroines who are much, much younger to him and finally does a message-oriented film that is expected of him. While he looks tired as the younger Lingaa, he is a perfect fit for the Raja.

Anushka who plays Lakshmi looks very healthy in the initial scenes. However, she does look fitter during the climax scenes. She has to compete with Sonakshi Sinha, but she does manage to hold her own as they don’t appear in the same scene together.

Sonakshi Sinha debuts in south with Lingaa. Well, she looks good as Bharathi, the girl who is in awe of Raja Lingeswara. Her role appears in flashback and she fits her part well. She looks good and adds glamour to her part.

Jagapathi Babu plays MP Nagabhushanam who likes Lakshmi. He plays the baddie once again. He seems to be the new favourite to play the bad man in south which has had an overdose of Hindi villains for the past many years. His role has no depth and his role is mostly limited to the climax scenes.

Veteran director K Vishwanath plays a respected village old man who also happens to be the grandfather of Lakshmi. It is good to watch him once again on screen after a long gap.

Santhanam is as usual as are Vijaya Kumar, MR Radha and others. There is a small ensemble cast of white actors, all of whom fit the bill.

Last, but not the least, Brahmanandam has a brief role.

Technical Excellence:
The opening shot of the dam is really good and the cinematographer Randy needs to be given full credit for it. He makes sure the scenic beauty of Karnataka is a visual treat to the audience.

Sabu Cyril is the art director and he is his usual best. Since Rajinkanth’s films are known for their grand sets, this one does not blow your mind away, but they are good. Dialogues are good at places.

Music is by AR Rahman which is decent. The song Indianvi will surely be heard for a long time in the playlist of Rajinikanth numbers.

Finally, director KS Ravikumar is a pro when it comes to handling big budget films. It is a huge risk to handle Rajinikanth’s film after he had the biggest flop of his career. But Ravikumar smartly sets his story in two periods to keep the audience interested. However, one has to say that the film is boring at places and the editor should have shortened the length a bit.

Highlights:

• Rajinikanth

Drawbacks:

• Length
• Boring screenplay

Analysis:
Yes, Thalaivar is back. He is introduced with a song set at the Ferrari store and with belly dancers whirling around him.

Amidst whistles from his fans, he jumps off from a hot air balloon to save his girl in a gravity-defying stunt in the climax.

Well, if some other hero would have done it, the audience would cringe in their seats. But somehow one expects these antics from Rajini and he does not disappoint them at all.

But be warned that the film is only for hardcore Rajini fans and the really fanatic ones at that.

The story is as old as the hills and the screenplay really tires you at some places.

While Ravikumar succeeds in giving the entire episode set during British times a realistic feel, it is not something that one hasn’t seen before. Such plots have been repeated time and again in Telugu and Tamil.

Also, the beginning 30 to 40 minutes before the flashback is definitely not up to Rajini standards with poorly conceived scenes.

After watching him in films like Robo, it is disappointing to see him vying to grab audiences’ attention with a film that has a tried and tested plot.

The Tamil audiences might simply love the film for the simple reason that they get to see Rajinikanth in flesh and blood after a very long time. But one is not sure as to how the Telugu audiences will react to the dubbed version which is reminiscent of many films.

Bottomline: Nothing New