Movie Review: Enthiran

Dr Vaseegaran aka Vasee(Rajnikant) works hard on creating a humanoid robot for the military. He is assisted by Siva(Santhanam) and Ravi(Karnuas). He is so immersed in his work for days at a stretch that he is unavailable for his family and his girlfriend Sana(Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan). All his hard work pays off and he is successful in creating a humanoid robot who is a look-alike of Vasee. The robot is christened as Chitti(Rajnikant) by Vasee’s mother.

Chitti amazes everyone with his ability to behave like a human and assimilate knowledge like a machine. He reads through the telephone directory in seconds. Then, he is not only able to recollect the telephone given a name but also a name given a telephone number. Chitti is presented to the a group of eminent scientists wherein he wins over the audience with his knowledge in multiple subjects. Only one person is unimpressed. He is Bohra(Danny Denzongpa), Vasee’s teacher.

Amazed by Chitti’s abilities, Sana takes him to her house with Vasee’s permission. Sana lives in a mansion which also serves as an abode for war widows, mothers who has lost their sons to war and war orphans. Chitti helps Sana prepare for her exams. He also impresses the inmates of the mansion with his culinary skills and saves Sana from the local ruffians. While spending time with Sana, Chitti also learns about the lying nature of humans. The rest of the movie deals with the transformation of Chitti because of Vasee and Bohra.

Shankar directs this movie based on the story and screenplay by him. In this movie, Shankar moves away from his familiar territory of anti-establishment. Instead, he examines the two sides of science; it’s usefulness and dangers. In spite of having a colorful imagination, Shankar falls flat because of a lackluster script. The story takes forever to move forward and in fact gathers steam when Chitti fights on the train. But within no time, the steam is lost. The placement of songs are flawed and hampers the pace of the movie. The abilities of Chitti – before and after transformation – are shown during the fight scenes. Here, the abilities are shown to the audience so fast that they get no time to enjoy what unfolds on the screen. The VFX used in the climax is excellent. But most of these scenes confuses the viewer. The best scenes, which shows the brilliance of Shankar, loses impact because there are too many things happening fast. AR Rahman’s background score is nowhere near the Sivaji one. The makeup is excellent as Rajnikant looks young! The action on the train is excellent.

Rajnikant puts in his best efforts in the two roles which are different from his usual set of roles. As Chitti, there is nothing much to do. The dialogues are funny and he needs to look impassive. Here, he mostly plays to the gallery with even a getup that is similar to one which he sport in one of his yesteryear hit. But it is Vasee who impresses. Vasee is brilliant but with human failings. He is a workaholic. But, towards the later stage of the movie, he is insecure with Chitti. He also gets flustered when Chitti responds. It is in this part where Rajni is superb.

Aishwarya has a lengthy role but without any substance. The rest of the cast are neglected by the script.

Colossal waste of money! Skip it!

Language: Tamil

Genre: Action

Rating: **

Picture Courtesy: http://www.robotthefilm.com

Tags: Movies,Rajnikant,Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan,Shankar,Action