Kabali: A gimmick-free Rajinikanth is no actor either
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Kabali
Direction: Pa Ranjith
Cast: Rajinikanth, Radhika Apte, Dhansika, Winston Chao
Rating: 1.5/5
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The weeks of hype and hoopla, the mind-boggling promos that included an Air Asia ride from Malaysia seem to have come to nought as I watched Pa Ranjith’s Kabali, where the writer-director has been promising us a brand new Rajinikanth — whose immensely adulatory fan clubs are legendary. Sadly, the Tamil superstar came off as neither a swashbuckling hero his millions of admirers are so used to seeing him as, nor as an “actor” that Ranjith had promised to turn him into — the kind of actor which helmers like Balachander, Mahendran and C.V Sridhar created out of Rajinikanth in the early years of his career. Even later, when Rajinikanth turned into a showman — somewhat like a Raj Kapoor — there were some movies like Billa and Baashaa which capitalised on the actor’s sheer gimmickry to pull crowds. And the crowds came all right to watch an extremely stylish Rajinikanth flicking cigarettes around and setting the boxoffice on fire.
But Ranjith, in his seemingly desperate effort to rebuild the Rajini image in a completely new kind of avatar, misses his step, pushing a positively tired looking star to walk a tightrope, by telling him,
“do not walk too fast, and be less exaggerated”. Rajinikanth is completely out of syn with this kind of performance, with the result that he fails to impress in a story which is so full of characters that it becomes impossible to keep track of each and their murderous misdemeanour’s.
In short, Rajinikanth’s Kabali is a plantation worker in Malaysia during the British Raj, and is sucked into gangsterism — much like Velu Naicker in Mani Ratnam’s brilliant Nayagan was — in order to help his fellow workers win dignity and fair wages from their white bosses. Gang rivalries lead to Kabli’s 24-year incarceration, and the death of his pregnant wife, Kumudhavalli (played by a bright, looking Radhika Apte).
The film opens with Kabli walking out of prison — his loyal friends and foes both waiting for him. But the enemies are innumerable, and the plot twists get the narrative into a tizzy spin, and the movie begins to look absolutely out of focus. Half way through, we find Kabali’s daughter (essayed by Dhansika as a gun-totting Yogi) emerge. There are more surprises in store, surprises that appear like a ploy to keep the film sailing on a note of hope. So what if all this is such an artifice.
Honestly, Rajinikanth needs to do some serious rethink if he wants to get back to being appealing, and a wonderful example for him can be Amitabh Bachchan — whose performances in works like Piku and Te3N were variedly different from the heroism he portrayed for decades. Rajinikanth needs to give himself a different look to beat style with substance.
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