Enthiran/Robot: Review

Rajni-mania surely is not limited to Tamil Nadu.  All the English new channels too were in its throes thanks to the release of his latest movie, ‘Robot’/’Enthiran’.  There were multitudes of reasons for it to generate so much buzz; it was being directed by Shankar (of multiple blockbusters fame, who made superstars out of Arjun Sarja and Prabhu Deva); it was going to be the most expensive movie ever made in India;  at last Rajni was getting to act with Aishwarya Rai after repeated failed attempts (in ‘Baba’, ‘Shivaji’ and possibly, ‘Chandramukhi’), and that it was Rajni’s first release after 3 long years.  I had crinkled my (rather thick) nose at the trailers though.  “May be too much hype and little hope”, I thought to myself (couldn’t loudly voice this, lest a Rajni fan heard and caused me irreparable damage, Enthiran style).   But, watch the movie, I did, gleefully – hoping to get enough reasons to crib and carp on the movie (not coz of Rajni – I love him, but coz of Shankar – who I think is overrated as a director).

Dr Vasigaran (Rajni) is a scientist who invents a humanoid robot after ten years of research.  He wants the prototype to be approved by the highest research body in India so he could produce more such humanoids which can be used in the Army in place of soldiers, thereby saving umpteen lives.  Dr. Bora (Danny Dengzongpa, superb) – his mentor and Chief of the research accreditation agency – also turns out to be Vasi’s adversary, as he’s failed to develop  a humanoid robot himself. Rajni wants to establish the ‘utility’ of the invention.  So, you have the robot (Chitti) bashing up the baddies, saving women and children from a major fire and even delivering a baby at the hospital.  But Danny wants to deny Rajni his due.  In order to prove Danny wrong Rajni helps the robot develop emotions in it.  Add Sana (Aishwarya Rai, gorgeous) to this melting pot, who gets caught between the love of the machine and its maker.   And, the story heads to a heady climax. 

The movie is a classic Indian tale of love-triangle and good vs. evil.  That is the strength of the movie.  There are no pretensions of it being an English movie nor is the plot borrowed from any Hollywood venture.  Another strength of the movie is Rajini who excels in both as the scientist and as Chitti, the robot.  He is stupendous as Chitti that turns evil.  Aishwarya though has a pivotal role, she’s not expected to break a sweat.  Danny is menacing.  There’s hardly anything to do for anyone else (including the two side-kicks of Rajni).  Shankar borrows heavily from Hollywood movies while showcasing the special effects.  You have scenes that remind you of The Terminator (many scenes, including the prototype of the robot under development by Danny), The Mask (yeah, check it out for yourself), The Matrix (of course) and hold your breath, Anaconda!  It however must be mentioned that the SFX are SUPERB.  And, they are so well-enmeshed into the script you rarely notice that they’re special effects! 

If there’s something to crib about the movie, it’s its length.  At 3 hours it gets too exhaustive.  Adding to the misery are the horrible songs (Rahman at his CWG worst) – and in Hindi, they sound downright cacophonic.  Some of the characters are so silly (the two sidekicks of Rajnikanth) that they grate on your nerves instead of making you laugh.  The strength of the movie – the perils of creating a machine with ‘almost’ human abilities and the absolute danger of further making them human (with feelings and behaviour) – almost gets drowned in the long-drawn digital climax.  I really wish the movie were at least half an hour (ideally, one hour) shorter than what it is.  It’d have made for riveting watch with a message. 

I still recommend the movie though.  If you can forgive the director for his excesses and the megalomania of a scientist who wants the robot to look like him J