1. It is Rajnikanth's movie.
2. Hero of the movie is the superstar, Rajni.
3. It is THE highest budget movie made in Ranji's movie career.
4. It is Rajni's movie after the blockbuster Chandramukhi.
5. Rajni looks even younger in this movie.
The other reason for making it special being that the director of the movie is Shankar of Premikudu (Kadalan in Tamil), Gentleman and more recently Oke Okkadu (Mudalvan in Tamil) and Aparichithudu (Anniyan in Tamil). This is Shankar's first movie with Rajni. Add AR Rehman to this lethal combo of Rajni and Shankar, you have more than reasons for the hype. But wait. Its not done yet. The movie is produced by AVM, the prestiguous production house of South. The budget of the movie? Well..it is somewhere between 80-100 crores (i am not sure which newspaper to take and which magazine to quote coz all of them have quoted different numbers).
Rajni, SUPER STAR for all and Thalaivar for people in Tamil Nadu and some parts of Andhra, is truly the BOSS. The fact that the movie got released in about 43 theatres (again some newspapers say anything between 42-44, so I took the average) in twin cities tells all about why Rajni is THE BOSS.
Sivaji is the story about a Software Engineer (or architect as Rajni says) who returns home for a noble ambition of setting up an educational university and a hospital. The University is meant to be the best university which offers education to poor without taking any fees. The hospital is meant to be a state-of-the-art place which would again treat poor without fees and bills. Obviously the ones running universities and hospitals wouldn't be too happy about this and make the movie happen infusing the twist. Of course, for simplicity sake the character Adiseshu (played by Suman) is the bad guy or villain who is minting money through universities and hospitals. As a result, Sivaji loses everything he has. All he is left with is his brain which he then invests to launch a mega-scale money laundering program all over the state in a bid to raise all the money to get the university and hospital started. Sivaji succeeds in this and there is then a need for climax which is introduced.
Does it meet all expectations?
1. Sivaji doesn't have the Rajni's flair for most of the movie.
2. Sivaji doesn't have Shankar's strong social message.
3. Sivaji doesn't have great music.
4. Dialogues lack the punch of Rajni.
5. The regular comedy in Rajni's movies is missing. Even Vivek is wasted in the role.
The movie is very long with over 3 hrs. When I saw the movie it took about 3 hrs 30 mins including intermission. This is very long. The love story between Rajni and Shriya is bad at its best and should have been cut short by about three fourths. There are too many scenes which are constructed devoid any logic. The entire sequence starting from Shriya commenting that Rajni is dark and Rajni's attempts to change/improve his colour are useless.
It does have a few things to brand it as Rajni's movie
1. Rajni's style.
2. Rajni's look which reminds of his appearance 2 decades back.
3. Rajni using a dialogue throughout the movie. Ee Basha okkasaari chepthe, vandasaarlu cheppinatte (Basha). Naa daari rahadaari. Adduravaddu (Narasimha). Rajni uses the word "Cool" liberally in this movie.
4. Rajni's way of tossing the cigar into his mouth. Only that here it is a bubblegum (i guess so).
The best thing about the movie is the few scenes where Rajni imitates NTR, ANR and Chiranjeevi. Rajni is good as Sivaji. Rajni carried various getups in the movie, especially the 2 main getups, with ease. Music by AR Rahman is ordinary but for the title song. Though Shriya does not have much to do except in songs, she is gorgeous. A fine dancer she is, Shriya is a treat to watch her dance with lot of grace. She looked great in traditional dresses and western wear too.
Sivaji was meant to be a movie for viewers of all categories and I guess all category viewers in spite of being a let down. The success of the movie depends on how much movie of the first half is cut.
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