Anything which falls in a wrong place into the wrong hands will suffer obvious tampering and in turn lead to non benignant results. Technology is not just an exception but a conspicuous obviousness and that is what Endhiran is all about!!

Well, as perceived by many Endhiran is not a sci-fi movie as such. It fits right into the shoes of Tamil movie category, but with some extra spices here and there. The undeniable fact is that the key factor driving such sci-fi-ism is none other than the story line. It was a perfect mix of logic and magic. Every bit of the movie emanated Indianism or rather the Kollywoodism than being exposing foreignism. I felt a consistent flow in the story line and the screenplay aided in all the cases. Many times many movies fail to impress due to its poor screenplay. Endhiran was outstanding in its own way.

Surprisingly all the music tracks including the Chitti dance have come out very well. Music has been a great plus point to this movie without which the movie would have failed to please everyone’s heart. Right from the title “Puthiya Manitha…”, which was a pleasant and melodious number to the “Arima Arima…” which was an awesome R&B number, the music tracks rocked in its own way. “Kilimanjaro…” sounded a bit hip hop than being a folk.  A thing which invites a mandatory mention is that, Rehman has definitely wanted to sound loud in most of the tracks. The technical lyrics were just a topping for all the technology enthusiasts.

Memory-il kumariyai thanichirai pidithen, Shutdown-eh seyaamal iravinil thavithen…

Google-il kaanatha thedalgal ennodu…

Kaathal anukkal, udambil ethanai, Neutron, electron..Were few lines worth mentioning

Though the plot was yet another technology movie script CTRL+C and CTRL+V-ed one, it derives great courage to present it in a format that Tamil audience can accept it. Keeping aside the script, something which needs more attention is the CG. The graphics, I should say that it’s just flawless. It wasn’t just another graphics as in “Bannari Amman” or “Amman” type spiritual movies. But one can confront with international standard graphics as in Matrix and Terminator. The array of robots forming either the Sphere or the Snake or even the jack hammer, the formation was just awesome.

Aishwarya plays a cool, sexy medical college student who is the girl friend of Vaseegaran. Her looks and the performance were really at par compared to her performance in Raavan. She looked more graceful in this movie Endhiran. Rajini for the first time has shown some performance than basing his actions on style and mannerism. He has done a decent job. **Claps**. Danny Denzongpa has equally played a terrific and decent villain – a perfect man for the character and for the story. The Chitti Robot magnanimously and outstandingly gets the voice command from Vaseegaran, the scientist Rajini and it walks, dances, fights, sings, applies Mehendi, cooks and obeys its master sincerely and it captures not only the images around but all our hearts too!

Rightly said “Chitti Chitti Robo, Chitti Chitti Robo, Patti thotti yelaam nee pattukuttiyo!”!!!!!!!!!

In spite of the movie having so many awe inspiring scenes and story and a positive outcome, the movie does bear few fall backs.  The smirking inline comedy tracks by Santhanam and Karunas was not really required. They could have been used more usefully than using them just for the sake of having someone to do Humor. Cheap jokes such as “Enga kitta irukkura onnu, un kitta ille” could have been avoided. I’ve seen children and oldies sitting in the theatre. Such a dialog was expected but need not be in place. The dialog between the Traffic police (Late Cohin Haneefa) and the Chitti could have been avoided. That was so irritating, as those were obvious ones. The scene just before the Kilimanjaro song was just another piece which stood in solitude. Why at all they need a song in that place? The climax court scene wasn’t giving any impact. I didn’t realize that the court scene just ended.

Surprisingly, the fall backs of Endhiran were not just Intrinsic but there were many extrinsic factors which impacted the perception about this movie. The hype which the Sun Pictures and the Endhiran crew created by staging a show for each and every move for the movie, created havoc, when the reality showed its face. The functions for the audio release, movie release and a function for everything under the sky that the Sun pictures and the Shankar did in Sun TV, inflated the movie’s expectation meter incredibly to whooping high value that it appeared to the audience, as if a Hollywood movie is gonna be made in Tamil. But when the movie was released and hit the theatres, many of them felt to be disappointing and felt that Shankar failed miserably.

But the reality is that, this movie was not worth the hype. Since the movie involved all biggies from the industry viz. Rajini, Aishwarya Roy, Shankar, ARR and the Sun Pictures who were ready to blow the trumpet whenever they want to show that Endhiran is under their charm, it beckoned such a commotion and chaos in the media. I shouldn’t forget to mention that this movie gained a national recognition and was a buzz word amidst the Ayodhya issue on the verdict day and the Common Wealth Games initiation period. Every channel you tune into, the first news you encounter is the Endhiran/Robo/The Robot. This much of high expectation did not stand so well and wasn’t held intact post the movie. Many audiences were so reluctant to accept the movie for the hype that was created.

Few strong points which were thrown which defended the argument “Endhiran disappoints”.

Those were

1. It wasn’t a Rajini movie as of Baadsha, Padayappa and Shivaji.

2. There was no Rajini-ism

3. No punch dialogs

4. No style making scenes – Cigarette catch, Wearing coolers, Blazer push, Style Salute etc.

5. Not a strong stand point for Rajini.

On giving a deeper thought on this, it really makes sense that, the role performed by Rajini could have been done by any other actor; say Vikram or Arya, considering the recent hits they have given. Even Vikram’s Anniyan and Kandasamy were in par with this movie except for the graphics. If Vikram had done this role, this movie would have been just another commercial hit but sans hype and the audio/release functions by Sun Pictures. Tamil audiences were used to see Rajini in the silver screen as a style icon. Their inner conscience couldn’t accept this movie as a Rajini movie as it has no Rajini essence in it. This is a real problem considering the fact that, it is difficult to try something new in Tamil Film Industry. They always want to eat Idly with Sambhar and Chatni rather than trying a Masala or stuffed Idly with Chilli Sauce!

They always want to eat Idly with Sambhar and Chatni rather than trying a Masala or stuffed Idly with Chilli Sauce!

When people can accept Simbhu in Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaya (VTV) without his notorious fingering mannerisms and annoyingly long loud dialogs, people should be assertive to accept Rajini sans his renowned mannerisms and style in Endhiran.

One thing which I really loved is the way the title song “Puthiya Manitha” was shown. It will be a robot assembling sequences with the song. This song actually says how it should be in the world. It is like advising a developing child in the womb, on how it should behave and how it should be in character. The song says, “Ella uyirukkum, nanmayaayiru, entha nilayilum unmaya iru” (Be good and helpful for all the living beings and in any situation be Truthful). I could imagine the way the Robot was created by imparting good characteristics into it while its creation. Wooww!! A great applause for that!!!

Finally, the message that the movie was trying to convey was well delivered. Anything which falls in a wrong place into the wrong hands will suffer obvious tampering and in turn lead to non benignant results. Technology is not just an exception but a conspicuous obviousness and that is what Endhiran is all about. Hats-off to Shankar, for choosing such a nice theme for the movie and message for the audience. The way he has conveyed it, is worth the mention. It was a real brilliance that the Robot realizing that humans do lie at times to save themselves in uninvited situations.

Verdict: Endhiran is an Indian Samosa Chat with US Pizza

Rating:  ■■■■■ (3/5)

P.S: Watched Endhiran on 9th October 2010 (Saturday)