Comments on: Review: Sivaji

By: M. KEERTHIVASAN

M. KEERTHIVASAN — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:55:18 +0000

DO NOT RATE RAJINI AS PER HIS LATEST FILMS LIKE SIVAJI AND ENDHIRAN AND PADAYAPPA, AND ARUNACHALAM. AFTER 1985, HE BECAME A SUPER STAR AND THAT TIME HE LOST HIS ACTING SKILL. BUT BASICALLY, A TRUE CHARACTER ARTIST BY BIRTH, HE CAN PERFORM ANY ROLE CASUALLY, WITHOUT ANY PROPER MAKEUP AND GETUP LIKE KAMAL. SIMPLY, HE IS A REMARKABLE CHARACTER ARIST, THE FACT ACCEPTED BY KAMAL HIMSELF. BUT KAMAL ALSO CRITICISED HIS HEROISM ONLY, WHICH IS NOT SUITABLE FOR RAJINI. HE SHOULD DO ALL TYPES OF ROLES, WHICH HE ATTEMPTED IN KUSELAN. HE SHOULD GO BACK TO HIS 1975-1985 PERIOD WHERE HE PLAYED SRI RAGAVENDRAR WHICH NO TAMIL ACTOR CAN ATTEMPT BOLDLY. THE VILLAGE 45 YEAR OLD PERSON KUMARAN IN ENGEYO KETTA KURAL, AND DSP ALEX PANDIAN IN MOONDRU MUGAM, AND BATSHA (UNDERGROUND DHADHA) IN BATSHA. HE IS VERSATILE IN ACTING, AND IF HE CAN CONTROL IS STYLE AND ACTING TO SOME EXTENT, HE IS REALLY THE MASTER ACTOR OF TAMIL NADU AND AFTER T.S. BALAIAH, HE IS THE ONLY SKILLED ACTOR AVAILABLE IN TN. DIRECTORS SHOULD NOT USE HIM LIKE A COMEDY HERO LIKE DOING CIGRATEE STYLES HERE AND THERE, AND DOING SOME COMIC THINGS LIKE MGR. RAJINI SHOULD TRY TO GO TO 1975-1985 PERIOD AND SHOULD BECOME A PERMANENT CHARACTER ACTOR FOR THE BENEFIT OF HIS WELL WISHERS.

By: Saikrishna

Saikrishna — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 17:33:02 +0000

Hello Mr.Rangan,
I have read your reviews in Indian Express and always appreciated them due to their amazing sense of humour but then even I though I don’t feel let down by Sivaji, I feel let down by your review..very poor review man….very poor….only Rajni fans will like this film and I see that you aren’t one of ‘em. I agree that the script is very weak but then its a commercial potboiler and completely entertaining. Shankar has missed an opportunity to create a masterpiece but then has created a film which all the Rajni fans will love. Rajni’s performance was mind blowing. If he ain’t there then the movie would have been like RGV Ki Aag(Imagine RGV makin’ this film with Nisha Kothari as heroine and in that train scene….lol). At the end of the day, Mr. Baradwaj Rangan has disappointed me with this very weak review(weaker than Sivaji’s script).

Regards

Saikrishna

By: rajesh

rajesh — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 06:12:05 +0000

hi bharad,
was a nice review. i believe since it was shankar, rajni would have nodded for everything with full trust and hope. thats y, he ended up choosing a film with no plot

By: Vidhya

Vidhya — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 09:16:12 +0000

I would be damned if i dont post anything here in Sivaji’s review even though you must be tired of approving my comments.

Thalaivar padam pa – Naan edhuvum solla matenn. $16 koduthu first day first show in bayarea, $20 Sweets to distribute it among friends in the theatre, $ 10 gas to drive from my place to theatre – I got my paisa vasool in sultan preview. Artharth…Hum fan nahin..Fanatic hain sahib.

By: Srivatsan

Srivatsan — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 06:45:00 +0000

Baradwaj,

As usual superb review, I lost you for a few days though

By: Shiva

Shiva — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 18:49:37 +0000

Dear Indian, in the present busy world one wishes to spend the 3 hours in an useful and entertaining way. The sivaji movie is a business trick lured by the wealthy people to become more richer. There is neither entertainment nor message in the movie. Gone the days of tamil cinema we heard good screanplay,background scoure and lovely songs. The movie kickstarted a bad culture and i bet we are going to have more movie’s similiar in this way.Nowadays to taking movie is like a cake walk simply book a superstar and you can take whatever you want and this will be a hit. Yes —— India shining in this way.

By: a really common indian :)

a really common indian :) — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 22:22:28 +0000

BR,
You just took the words out of my mouth. I have drawn quite a lot of flak for expressing similar views. I have for long deplored the influence wielded by some senseless cinema over politics in TN and AP. What is appalling is that even the educated people are so carried away and actually absorb faihtfully, the political propaganda sent out in our movies esp here in south. Then they say “it is just entertainment”. There are a million blogs already praising this movie and of course Rajni. However, please note that I have nothing against any actor in particular and Rajni is probably a good actor too. It is just scary how we (even educated indians with access to blogs,internet etc) never take time to analyze the policies etc made by politicians and judge them but instead get so excited and swayed by vague statements made by someone controlling some movie.

By: Lakshmi

Lakshmi — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 05:52:11 +0000

Hi,
Finally managed to watch Sivaji. Bharadwaj, I did not go expecting a great script. For a Rajnikanth film, one should never do that. Frankly, you may have found Padayappa and the rest with some sort of screenplay, but, I thought they were as good or bad as this one. My grouse is with the editing team of Sivaji. It is so evident that each one in the team was in so much awe with the man, that they simply forgot when to use their scissors! Especially, towards the end, the film just goes on and on. I was expecting that the film would get over after the new Rajnikanth’s swearing-in ceremony and was already running my imaginations wild of building a sequel to this film. Shankar promptly answered me by extending the film to a length only put off the audience. Phew~ This was one Rajnikanth’s film I wanted to end. I know am going to hurt a lot of sentiments here, but please guys…I strongly feel that Rajnikanth should accept his age gracefully. Though his antics are fun truly entertaining. I loved the way he ate his chewing gum and tossed the coin. But, the producers spent so much money to only make the man look young, unfortunately it has not really helped. In all the close-up frames (there were very few of them) with the girl Shreya, I could well imagine them as a father-daughter duo!
Bottom line: Thalaivar should retire.
PS: I agree with your views on JBJ. I prefer Ricky Thukral to our very own Sivaji!:-)

By: Poorvi

Poorvi — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 16:17:23 +0000

Hey Bharadwaj

Read your reviews of Sivaji & Cheeni Kam. Liked both of them a lot.

I am not a Tamilian but I grew up there so I do not understand song lyrics. I also read your music review and liked the explanation of lyrics of the songs. They are definitely catchy songs and I like it when they come along with meaningful lyrics.

A critique needs to be unbiased and from all possible angles and you are so excellent at it. I wanted to write my own reviews too but cannot come up with such wonderful words to express what I feel about the movie(s). Sigh! Maybe I should at least make a beginning….

By: Qalandar

Qalandar — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 20:04:10 +0000

Vajra: on your last point re: Kamal: I am one of those who is quite critical of Kamal, but that has nothing to do with Shah Rukh Khan’s inadequacies. That is, it is precisely BECAUSE Kamal is a fine actor, precisely BECAUSE he must be considered Tamil cinema’s most celebrated actor, that the bar is different and higher for him. It is not to “diss” Kamal but to critique a certain self-indulgence that he is prone to; the question of comparing him with lightweights like Shah Rukh Khan cannot even arise.

On a different note, while there are multiple actors I prefer to Kamal (Mohanlal, Amitabh, Mammoothy), on the strength of Hey Ram and Virumaandi Kamal is a fantastic director, and one of my favorite Indian directors…