Greeted by a mind-boggling euphoria displayed by the fans all over India, KABALI finally arrives with Thalaiva Rajinikanth playing the lead character. But he is again back with a typical gang war film having an emotional family angle too showcasing every single feature the icon is known for. So you have the good old stylish walks, elegant poses, slow motion action sequences, the synchronized sound effects and a glimpse of Rajini’s younger days too asking for the deafening loud cheers and whistles in the theater.
However the moment you manage to rise above the larger than life, cult image of the Star and all these typical insertions, the film disappoints and it disappoints hugely with nothing fresh or novel to offer either in its theme or execution turning out to be too flat to be called engaging or entertaining from any angle.
In short, though it had a potential plot talking about the plight of migrated Tamil-Indian population in Malaysia, KABALI fails to deliver anything substantial and its simply like a cruel betrayal for all the die-hard Thalaiva fans expecting an explosive, well-made project from the reputed team.
And the following chronological notes on the film will give you the exact picture.
- The energetic opening music adds to the visible excitement level perfectly. But the usual introduction of all the gang leaders and build up is too filmy generating the feeling of Deja-Vu (including a Chinese gangster).
- Rajini enters in style as expected and background score enhances the sequence brilliantly catering to the cheering crowd.
- The sound mix seems to be a bit imbalanced and dubbing as usual awkward with ‘the reference of Amrish Puri’ in a dialogue going over the top.
- The first song doesn’t work but gets a big boost with KABALI dancing to the beats.
- Family references are here (as typically seen in a gang-war film).
- A mole in the gang can be easily sighted, (nothing can be more cliched than that).
- A social angle of A Rehabilitation Centre is thrown in (that’s always there in a Rajnikanth film as a must.)
- The emotions work for a moment followed by an all seen before story progression.
- A gangster killing sequence works, again enhanced by the title track running in the background.
- A new smart girl enters the scene as ‘a contract killer’.
- Surprisingly the cult Hindi song ‘Lag Ja Gale’ is used in a sequence.
- An unimpressive sad song runs in the background making no impact whatsoever.
- Its 45 minutes and vengeance is the only theme till now with the usual intercuts of flashback thrown in following a set format.
- The ‘Questions and Answers’ session looks childish and the expression of ‘Papa’ raises laughter in the theater sarcastically.
- The young Rajnikanth appearing in a flashback gets the cheers back but the magic stays for only a few initial moments.
- Its 60 minutes but nothing works in terms of entertainment for the Hindi viewers in particular.
- The reference of old time romance also doesn’t make any impact despite the presence of the impressive Radhika Apte.
- Another song praising the heroic character with a rap is thrown in that again fails to make any contribution along with the slow motion action.
- The emotional killing sequence doesn't work either due to the lack of novelty.
- The pace drops again and the story shifts to Thailand (which clearly seems to be a set instead of the actual location.)
- As a sudden twist, the word PAPA brings laughter into the theatre instead of tears...... becoming the most ridiculous move in the storyline.
- At mid-point the film strangely offers nothing different from the usual seen before stuff, either in terms of subject or execution except THE CULT FIGURE.
----- INTERVAL -----
- Another routine sequence, after a shootout doesn’t excite you at all.
- Resurrection of everyone already declared dead, actually makes it highly insane and boring.
- Background music regularly keeps trying to create some thrill in vain.
- Dhansika playing Kabali's daughter looks good and makes the best of the opportunity given.
- The repetitive gang-wars and plans to kill the rivals add to the boredom pretty badly.
- Emotions take over with the story focusing on the search for the lost family member in India, that ideally should have been the main subject giving it a new angle.
- The two loving souls unite and Radhika excels in these 2 minutes making a strong impact. But another average song added just after the emotional scene pulls the film back to the same mediocre levels.
- Gang wars return adding to the unbearable length offering NOTHING.
- A long action sequence further adds to the monotonous progression.
- The whole family returns to Malaysia with a rap playing in the backdrop and a strange roof-top party is here where all the gang leaders are brought in together heading towards an obvious culmination.
- The finale dialogue tries to bring in a bit of patriotism too and the long climax fight ends on a pretty ordinary note without any exceptional execution.
- The VFX gets caught very easily in the last shot and that’s supposed to be one of the biggest film of our industry.
- But it’s still not over, as the director decides to end it on another highly cliched moment presenting his last bad move.
In all such hugely disappointing, tedious and unoriginal project wasn’t expected, wherein no one seems to be interested in moving out of the set-comfortable-format giving something unique, engaging and entertaining to the eager followers/ viewers. Wonder why our icons agree to do the same things again and again so irresponsibly resulting in such a big letdown? In clear words, apart from Rajinikanth’s magical persona onscreen, an impressive background score and one particular scene of Radhika, KABALI fails to give you anything in return for your time and money spent. And this is in continuation post Rajini’s last mediocre venture titled LINGA.
On a personal note, KABALI turns out to be a bigger disappointment for me and BTC specifically, as at one end I constantly keep trying to influence the younger friends to essentially watch the regional cinema of our country making some exceptional gems and here comes a KABALI painting a completely different picture of our South cinema quite similar to the mainstream Hindi movies.
Anyway, lets continue with our work of exploring the must watch regional gems made in different Indian languages at the site, and hope Rajinikanth comes up with a much better venture soon forgetting this poor KABALI.
Rating : 1.5 / 5
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