sisi..vava..sisi..vava..sisi..vava...SIVAJI!!

Sivaji, a Review:
Starring: Rajinikanth, Shriya, Vivek, Suman, Manivannan, Raghuvaran...etc
Director: Shankar
Produced by: AVM

Its been a 2 year gap for both director Shankar(since Anniyan) and superstar Rajini(since Chandramukhi) and I must say they've both made good use of these two years, coming up with a movie like Sivaji. Am not sure about the budget of this movie...various websites are coming up with different values, the average being 80 crores, and wikipedia stating it at 100 crores. Whichever it is, Sivaji definitely is the biggest in the history of tamil movie industry. Most of this seems to have been spent on the fighting and song sequences(and of course, the superstar's salary, from what i learnt from various websites) and they have come out real well, I must say. Well now...on to the movie itself...

Story wise, Sivaji doesn't really have anything new...it differs from a typical Shankar movie* in only 2 ways:

1. There is no 'flashback involving the death of a loved one which causes the hero to rise up against the forces of evil in the society' kind of thing.

2. A bit more of masala than a usual Shankar movie, but this is perfectly understandable, as the movie has the superstar himself in it.

Our hero Sivaji is a 'software systems architect' (as he tells his mom) returning from the US ater amassing loads of wealth which he wants to spend on building colleges and schools to give people free education and hospitals to give free treatment. Quite the thing expected from a wealthy hero. He wants to do things the perfectly legal way, however he soon finds that doing things the perfectly legal way is impossible in our country and that there is a price to be paid(literally) for anything, even if it is social service. After innumerable bribes he gets his dream project 'Sivaji Foundations' up and going. The villain Adi Seshan(played by Suman, who once played Rajini's younger brother in 'Thee') a powerful industrialist owning many colleges and hospitals is quite obviously not pleased with Sivaji's idea. He fears competition to his own colleges and hospitals and wants to stop Sivaji, at any cost.Using all his cunning and devious means(one of which involves changing the government...ahem) he succeeds in ruining our hero completely and bringing down the almost completed 'Sivaji Foundations' to rubble. And the second half sees our Hero on the 'Singa Paathai'(as he calls it) meaning the lion's path, cleaning up the system and achieving his goal.

The first half isn't very serious at all and is filled with humour by Rajini and Vivek, who plays Rajini's uncle in the movie. Yeah Rajini's uncle, you read that right. A fact he himself thinks is simply too much, in the movie("Naan onakku maamava? Idhu konjam overa illa?"). But the dutiful maama he is, trying sincerely to find a bride for his 'nephew'. After they zero in on TamizhSelvi(Shriya), its a laugh riot, the way Sivaji and his family try to what they call 'socialise' with the heroine and family. At a point Rajini even tries turning white(!) and he even succeds temporarily(!!). The heroine and her family eventually give in. In between come a couple of hero-heroine duets. I must make a special mention of the songs. They are a real treat to watch. The sets are exquisite and filled with grandeur. Anyway the first half ends with our hero on the street sans all money and property, with just one rupee in his hand which the villain gives him, suggesting that he try begging as a career option. And it is this one rupee that our hero uses to get back at the people who brought him to the street and to achieve his ultimate goal. How? Well, go watch the movie people...am not here to tell you the entire story!

The issue Shankar deals with in this movie is black money and free education (it was free education in Gentleman, bribery in Indian, corrupt politics in Mudhalvan and the irresponsible citizen in Anniyan). It is the second half of the movie that absolutely rocks, though. The movie is a bit long, but there's loads of stuff for the hero to do, so I think it's quite justified. There's quite a bit of matrix style fighting in there(running on walls and some fancy flying kicks and cool martial arts moves). A lot of the whole movie is unbelievable, but hey...this is kollywood, ain't it? And it's the superstar himself, man...so one can't really complain about it being unrealistic...Personally I think there's no problem with masala movies, as long as things don't get too stupid like bullets bouncing back from archanai plates(which they do in certain movies). As for the music...it is ARR, isn't it? What more could one want? The songs, as most of ARR's grow on you the more you listen to them. The background score is quite good, too.

And about whether if it was a Shankar movie or a Rajini movie...well...can't say for sure. Let me put it this way: It's a Shankar movie told Rajini's way.

Why you must watch the movie:
1.Shankar, Rajini and A.R.Rahman...think you'll ever see them together again?
2.Beautifully shot song sequences...worth watching only on the large screen.
3.A really cool and gripping second half...it really rocks.
4.Vivek: Definitely his best performance since Anniyan...playing sidekick to Rajini in all his ventures...like Goundamani was to Arjun in Gentleman. He also gets the best lines in the movie.

Why you may not see the movie:
If you are a really hardcore masala movie hater, stay away. Don't see the movie and complain that is isn't realistic...a film can be good even if it isn't realistic.

My favourite scenes:
1. The scene where Rajini negotiates with Suman, outside the tea stall.
2. Where Rajini tries to turn white for Shriya.

My favourite lines:

1. Chittoor thandina Kaatpadi, Sivaji adichcha dead body...!!-Vivek
2. Whoever agrees to my conditions may stay here. The rest of you please wait in the 'Office room'-Rajini.
3. Villain(over phone): Who is this?
Sivaji: Paraasakthi hero, da!
4. Summa adhiruthilla?!!-Rajini

If you want to know more about the 'office room', go watch the movie. And my humble request to all fans is this. Please watch this movie in a theater...it is really worth it. Watching it on a pirated video would be like having apple pie without the apple in it.

Trivia:

• Shivaji is the name of Rajnikanth's character. Rajnikanth's birth name is Shivaji Rao Gaekwad.
• Was set to be released in April 14th 2007, was postponed to May and finally to June 15th 2007. The continuous change in the release date of the film has caused a confusion in the Tamil film industry. Many other big films stayed away because they don't want to clash with Shivaji, in the end there were no big release for the months of April and May. For the first time in the history of Tamil commercial cinema since the 50's there was no big summer release.
• This is 168th film for AVM, the production company and the 100th Tamil film (not counting his other language films) for Rajinikanth.
• The movie is releasing with 4600 prints worldwide and has created a record in India as the only movie to be screened with more than 700 shows on a single day. Chennai alone constitutes 140 shows on the opening day.

Source for trivia: IMDB

*Typical Shankar movie: A typical shankar movie is defined as one in which the hero is a single man fighting certain evil forces in the society that hinder the development of our country, usually resorting to means that are quite frowned upon by the law (stealing and killing people, for example). This phenomenon is due to certain traumatic events in the hero's past which is shown in the flashback, usually involving the death of a loved one, caused by the 'evil forces in the society' that our hero is fighting against.