THE THING THAT CRIED SHEEP

My standing in the universe is very very minute; thus my views on things again should be treated the same way. This is not generally I would like to start a movie review, but the movie in question has a million or more fans waiting to tear up anybody who says anything wrong (again I say if any, please do spare my life) with it.

The world is changing collectively; now even networking sites are used as a medium for the above mentioned manner. Such is the hysteria surrounding one single man, not something to be proud. I mean we can like a person for what he does but treating him as an equivalent of God is quite a stupid thing. It does blur the concept of telling a story.

Endhiran is a very big film, if all the stats are right; it is the biggest film in Tamil History; but then that reverts to the fact that the film is the biggest film because of Rajnikanth and nobody else would have made the producer put such an amount into production, that doesn’t do much does it?

But then, Endhiran has a storyline; much depending on the earnest mind of Shankar to bring sci-fi into tamildom; and roping in Rajnikanth was a wise decision indeed. Giving more credit to the director rather than the star, I will proceed with the review treating the film as a sci-fi Shankar venture and not a Rajni film.

Science fiction is very new to Indian cinema apart from some forgettable films like ‘Love Story 2050’ and Koi Mil Gaya; and if memory serves me right this is the first big scale science fiction film in the south if you don’t count a film called Vyabari which dealt with cloning albeit in a very bad way.  So comparing Endiran with the above mentioned movies makes it the best sci-fi film but that’s not much to boast of.

Superstar Rajnikanth plays Vasigaran; a scientist who develops Chiti the robot after ten years of struggle and aims at delivering it to the Indian Army. The science fiction element ends there, we are then put through certain time tested clichés like the ‘ignored girl friend’ here played by former Miss World Aishwarya Rai (a small note here, Rai won the title in 1994 and there have been more than 15 people who have won it after her, someone please remind her and the public that Miss World is not a permanent title and allusions to her being the most beautiful woman is ridiculous)

Sana, medical student and irritated girl friend is a sketchy characterization, we the audience are never made to feel the love that she has for the scientist; it sounds even more unreal when she keeps repeating it twice or thrice in the film, actually I think or was made to think she loved the robot more.

Anyway, Chitti the all knowing robot does not qualify the norms because the robot is deemed too dangerous and lacks emotions; so how the coming of emotions affect the robot forms the rest of the story.

The film itself is an introduction to science fiction, but it is also a mass movie so it lightens down on the serious element; not once through the gruelingly long and jarring climax was I made to feel the impending doom if robots take over planet earth, the only feeling that remains as Sana puts it “robots are toy friends”. Certain Indianisations have been done quite enjoyably like the local Amman festival even though they appear only for seconds.

The second half of the film is by far the weakest, Shankar tries to do a double act trying to balance the aspiration of countless and growing Rajni fans and desperately seeking the aid of computer graphics to end the film.

None of the songs are actually required and derisive sub-plots to introduce the songs also do not help, my personal favorite will be “Kadhal Anukkal” shot in the desert where the Superstar is allowed to do his characteristic style walk.

Endhiran overall is not a very bad film; it entertains at the right moments but then it’s not a very good film either, in the sense that it does not surprise you in any way as it falls to the category of four song-three fight formula film rather than a hard science fiction film towards the end, the red chip Chitti does not deserve such hyped adoration, even the sheep crying isn’t much.

Dot.