So, I went to Kabali on Saturday. I love Rajni, but I also love Kamal, Danush, Vikram, Karthi, and maybe more too. Point is, I am not this paal abishegam Rajni fan who loved Linga, but a normal Rajni adorer and a lover of good movies.. Just like you. Of course, you would have figured this out by yourself when you realized I didn’t go to the first-day-first show of Kabali.
That said, I simply loved Kabali. I whistled at almost every scene. I was scared my heart would jump out everytime Neruppuda bgm came onscreen. I was squealing like a pig when Kabali laughed. At times I was so engrossed in the movie, that I realized only later that I should have jumped from my seat and clapped at the end of that scene. There were moments that made me tear up at Rajni’s Godly smiles, and moments which made me sit back and look in awe at the seasoned actor who was actually breathing the role rather than play up on his stunts.
In all, Kabali to me was rich in action, love, sentiment, anger that we love to see in a movie. I relished every single Rajni scene just how a hungry man given a plate of chicken briyani would do. And yes, I agree this movie wasn’t perfect. Can you tell me one movie which was perfect now? Like others, this movie had its set of flaws, but not in the way some people just thrash down Ranjith and Rajini!! It was a movie that depended on the story’s realism and Rajini’s acting powers. It delivered in both areas, which is really saying something!
Soo…you can understand my confusion hearing these negative reviews. To be honest, I also didn’t understand why people raved about Iraivi, an overhyped movie whose only saving grace was SJ.Surya. But, let’s not digress. I am here to talk about Kabali and why some people hated it. And what exactly these negative reviewers had expected to see in a Rajini movie. Here is what I think.
1) Let’s start with Rajni’s intro scene
It was theri. There he was, shown as a simple man, reading a powerful book (My Father Balaiah, a book on Dalit discrimination), walking a normal walk, and being treated normally by police and the public. He changed from his casual prison wear (which he rocked btw) to a jaw-dropping suit, but that wasn’t enough for you.
You noticed P.A.Ranjith didn’t show Rajini’s face in slow motion – starting from his forehead and eyes, moving slowly down to his big smile and ending with a trademark wink or a head nod of Rajni’s. The intro scene also did not have any actions of Rajni defying any laws of science. He was reading a book! No wonder it didn’t resonate well with you Kabali haters.
2) Rajni’s intro song
Intro song wasn’t by SPB. Yes, Rajni broke many of his cine-orthodox rituals in Kabali. There was no Pillayar silai or snake either. In Kabali, Rajini was shown in the intro song as a people of the masses. To be fair, though the song wasn’t easily understood by everyone, the intro song in reality had lyrics that was inspirational to the downtrodden people, and had very few lines praising Rajni.
But of course, even when Rajini accepted this change, it didn’t bide well with you. You needed SPB to sing around 50 lines praising Rajini’s character and mannerisms, and how even a new born baby smiles and stops crying upon seeing his face. That’s what an intro song should be for you.
3) Let’s come to looks
Rajini looked brilliant in every single scene. Especially while sporting the salted beard. I went gaa-gaa over it! I am still dazed by that bearded look. Phew, was he hot! In most of the frames, he wasn’t even wearing make up. And still he dazzled. At his age man! Also, the director made him stick to his beautiful color instead of painting him differently. Just lovely!
I guess for people expecting a plastic faced Rajini, acting like a fake 40 year old, this would be a disappointment. The problem is, you got used to seeing the smooth skinned, fake colored Sivaji-Enthiran-Rajini that you forgot how beautiful our natural Rajini looked.
4) Costumes
Kabali Rajini looked simply stunning in his suits. Cut to flashback, it’s hard to get rid of the patterned brown shirt from our mind…or the plain shiny brown shirt for that matter. Rajini rocked his looks. Oooooo, not to forget his urban cool round glasses. It’s to die for. Let’s not forget Radhika Apte either. She looked lovely in her ordinary skirts and shirts and elegantly simple sarees.
So, I guess you are blind if you didn’t like these. Maybe you wanted Rajini to sport a jean jacket and cargo pants and act like a US return all the time. And maybe you preferred the heroine to wear dresses like what Aishwarya and Shreya did.
5) The story
Some people say there is no story in this movie and that was why people weren’t able to accept it. Probably these people feel, a woman falling for a guy just because he looks “manly” and where she plots her revenge through snakes and cows was a better story. Or may be you think, a scientist having a dome shaped structure in the middle of the city and wrecking havoc through a million dollar robot who develops real feelings for a woman, was a more realistic movie.
By now, you must know Kabali is a movie based on a bunch of real life incidents in Malaysia. The movie had our dear Rajini acting his age and playing a subdued character, for a change. He doesn’t jump around multi story buildings or trains as you expected.
Kabali has a powerful story. You would have to be blind to miss it. Blind to reality but open-eyed to masalas.The problem was, Kabali was very real that you were never able to accept it. You wanted Rainji to be shown as an Avengers hero fighting fantasy problems. You couldn’t believe he could give his voice for the people who wanted to be heard. Maybe if you lived in Malaysia, you may appreciate the film more. Or maybe if you opened your eyes and heart, you would realize the problem.
6) Action
So some people said Kabali didn’t do anything in the film except sit and talk. I really am exasperated people. Were you even watching Kabali??? The same movie that I watched? Kabali had wonderful action shots, taken impressively! Btw, Kabali didn’t have his goondas doing his job for him, he was doing it himself in his ultra cool way. For God’s sake, Rajini killed more people with his own hands in this film, than any of his earlier films!! You better go to Kabali again and this time open your eyes, shut your mouth, and really watch the film.
The problem for you is, the movie didn’t have Rajni staring at a bull and making it stop hard in its tracks. It didn’t show Rajini stopping a train with his bare hands. What the hell, he didn’t even make an auto go front and back with a flip of his hand. Here, you see Rajini taking slow steps to get close to his enemies, and killing them himself. He doesn’t go around thrashing twenty different men of various sizes. He doesn’t fight against a robot who has superhuman strength. And no, he doesn’t fly high up in the air, defying gravity and age. Maybe that was why it was hard for you to accept it. Because, the movie was realistic.
7) Punch dialogues
Yes, Kabali doesn’t have your kind of punch dialogues. I say your kind, because the movie had the famous “Magizchi” in it, but I guess you people needed punch lines to make fun of, and not really something to repeat. It had lines worthy enough to raise eyebrows, “Gandhi coat potathukum, Ambedkar suit potathukum oru reason iruku”. Would you care to repeat this? I guess not. And, of course, who can forget his laugh? I mean, seriously!
I believe his punch was his laughter throughout the film. In Kabali, Rajini walks his trademark walk, laughs his trademark laugh and smiles his trademark smile, in every single scene! And man, when he laughs… his sound fills the theater with such warmth that you would be at a loss not knowing whether to whistle non-stop, cry like a one year old or jump on stage tearing the screen trying to hug him!
8) Sentiments and Kabali’s women
So Rajini’s movies always had sentiments attached to it. For you a Rajini’s movie means showing a mother who Rajini worships with his ultra big heart, or a sister who Rajni protects with his incredible strength, or a girlfriend Rajini acts goofy with and a sweet wife. Also you expect Rajini’s films to contain women who depended on Rajini.
But Kabali’s women were different. They were strong and at times shown to add power to his character. They were not shown on-screen mainly to dance around or play an innocent, doe-eyed, soft female character. They were all shown as equally powerful characters. Which..of course was hard for you to accept in a Rajini film, wasn’t it?
9) Rajini’s Caste
This is a big change. None of Rajini’s films, (as far as I know, but I may be wrong) had Rajini playing the character of a lower caste person. Many of his films showed him as a downtrodden wrt money, but never was the problem of caste explored. Yes, Ranjith had Rajini say some lines supporting people of lower caste. Maybe your brain was wired to not accept this scenario where Rajini is a lower caste person? Maybe if Ranjith had Rajini casted as an upper caste, voicing out for the lower caste people, some of you people might have been able to accept it? Just wondering here.
Whatever be it, Ranjith played smart. He used Rajini to voice out for the masses who were affected. The scene where Rajini sits in his chair and speaks, is one example. In his flashback scenes, Rajini argues so fluently in English to be offered the same wages as the Chinese. Thinking about it, if Ranjith had actually filmed this movie in Chennai, where he could have spoken about the diversity in wages (wrt to caste), I am sure all hell would have broke loose. Ranjith played smart and made sure the difference was not between caste, but between race. I salute you for bringing this issue to main screen media and out of the lips of our Superstar.
10) Acting
Rajini was without a doubt, at his best in Kabali. His hands, eyes and at times even eyebrows spoke volumes. The scene where Rajni eats his first meal outside prison in his friend’s place – you would feel as if Rajni was inside your house, talking to you, cracking up Vadivelu jokes!
In fact, that’s how I felt in most of the places…as if Rajni was using his own words and was speaking to us, the normal public, without any flair, any drama or unnecessary punches. Remember the scene at the hotel where he sits and looks at the person sitting opposite him and smiles? Sighhhhh. It was times like these that I felt Kabali was so original.. Rajini was so…natural.
But…this was a problem to you. What you don’t see is a lot of noise in the background. You don’t see him plotting at every single scene. You don’t actually want to see him smiling a lot. You want him to jump around. Act crazy. You want to see him talk dialogues like “Paninga thaan kootama varum, singam sinlgea thaan varum” and whistle. You don’t want to see a normal man. You don’t want him to act like you would act in that scenario. Right?
11) Rajini as an ordinary man
You saw Rajini take cover during gun shots. But you wanted him to bare his chest and catch the bullets in his hands. You were literally stunned by the scene prior to the interval. You could never think Rajini would be shown as an ordinary man acting on his heart, who wasn’t aware of what villains were up to. You wanted him to have super sensory perceptive skills, who can see the dangers lurking at every possible corner, smile knowingly and always a step ahead of the villains.
To put it bluntly, you wanted Rajini to be shown as the meme you people created for mocking him. You couldn’t accept Rajini being shown as a normal man. Maybe if Ranjith had thrown in a couple of dragons, it would have worked for you.
Anyway haters, let me end by saying this.
Kabali was a Rajini film throughout. He carried it successfully on his powerful shoulders. Kabali was such a refreshing change to any of his other films. This was one of the best Rajini movies I have seen. Kabali earns its place, right between Mullum Malarum and Baasha.
Most haters didn’t like the film because it didn’t show Rajini as a Superhero for them to mock at later. Others felt they weren’t able to connect to the film and it didn’t move them. You guys all have to understand Ranjith brought a sensitive subject to main screen media. If he had been given the freedom to express whatever he could on screen, regarding the problems Dalits face in TN/Malaysia, I doubt the film would ever have been released.
Thank you Ranjith for Kabali. And Rajini sir, you are the best.
😀 😀 😀
Padhu that was a super awesome review. Just was hoping someone would write such a review. Hats off to u.
🙂 Thanks!
Well said mate. Enjoyed reading it. You are right, people expect him to be a super hero all the time so that they can praise him now and mock him later. Poor guys.
Thank you. It was a pleasure to hear from you 🙂
I fail to understand why people try defending the Kabali movie on grounds where it was never accused at it in the first place ! The movie is a bad movie because it fails in ‘Screenplay’ and also a little bit in ‘Casting’. I have been watching Ranjith’s post release interviews as to whether someone would ask him this question directly but no one did. Everyone is trying to frame the movie as being marked bad on terms of Social issues or because it is a different Rajini film.
Everybody accepts that Rajini was stellar in his performance. It is just that as a movie it failed due to bad screenplay which makes the movie bland. Apart from that lot of simple scenes could have been shot better given the budget that comes with a Rajini movie. You don’t have to use green screen and VFX for an ordinary terrace shot where he sits on a sofa (Climax party scene). You can go to any tower top in KL and shoot the same naturally without it disturbing the reality of the scene. It shows either bad production or bad use of production. Why doesn’t anyone look or address these flaws ???
Kabali had it’s set of flaws too. I didn’t say it was flawless. My point is, this movie was good ‘inspite’ of its flaws. As far as casting goes, I didn’t have a problem with casting, so I couldn’t relate to your message. As for screenplay, I felt Ranjith brought us aware of socio-economic conditions of Dalits and how they coming to power is always a problem in Malaysia through this movie. He touched several issues but didn’t focus on one single one. In my opinion I felt he could have approached this aspect bravely. But I have no idea the politics that is involved in this. May be he wasn’t allowed to voice out on several issues as openly as he felt? You and I could only presume certain things. But at least he made us all read about what is happening there. That is a victory by itself.
About the subtle socio-economic messages in the movie, I agree. At least some of us were inspired to go and read what is going on in Malaysia actually to try and get a better grasp of the movie.
All that I am saying is most of the critics, at least the well known decent ones like Bharadwaj Rangan, Bosskey are only pointing at the flaws in movie like Screenplay and Casting and not about Rajini’s acting or about the movie’s political nature.
About Casting, I feel Ranjith just overloaded the movie by bringing in his whole team. There was excess casting which led to excess running time adversely affecting the screenplay. Also a movie like Kabali which is semi-commercial where amidst all that it tries to convey, it is still a Hero rising against a Villain kind of storyline, the villain should have been shown in a more tougher sense and make the hero in this Rajini feel trapped. When that tension is lost or not present on screen, viewers can’t relate to anything shown on screen. Which is why I will proceed to say Kabali as a movie, in terms of its making, is an above average movie.
I think, trying to give a message to an audience that primarily wants entertainment, is tricky ground. Very few directors manage to give both. That said, I have not watched the movie yet. Looking forward to see it sometime.
Do watch it :). It would be a Rajini treat. Ranjith had touched several problems wrt Dalits in Malaysia, and didn’t focus on one single one. There definitely might have been reasons behind that. Thinking about it, I don’t think many films have approached the subject of Dalitsm. I wonder the politics behind that and whether the reason for Ranjith not showing several discrimation related scenes to strengthen his point, might be related to that. Whatever be the case, I am willing to overlook that for a good movie. And this was a good movie.
I never was a fan of any actor. But after kabali I could connect to the legions of fans…thanks for the review. Hats off to Ranjith.
Wow, not a fan of any actor? Really? :). Just wondering, has a movie ever moved you to tears?
lot of inconsistency in your review, or whatever this is. Kabali took cover, was unaware of what was happening around him, and then in climax reloads his shotgun in one hand and kills 100 people point blank while avoiding all there bullets.
Plus, just give reasons why you like kabali, not why it is better than sivaji enthiran etc. The intro scene in Sivaji kicks Kabali intro scene’s butt by a mile -and there was no special effects, no punch lines (in the intro scene), just a “MASS” scene.
The one line story of Kabali is great, Kabaleeswaran stands up for the downtrodden Tamils. But the script, dialogues and screenplay was weak.
Thanks. But I stand by my views :). The script and screenplay…what were you expecting? Just curious.
first you have ti understand the movie “madras”was a dalit politics movie.it gelled with the audience and was a hit at the box office.so dont gi jumping to conclusion that movie is being lashed at because it glorifies dalit politics.thats stupidity at its peak.I saw the movie ,it was very slow ,no connectivity in scenes.awful screen play.Too much characters and too big a story to keep it short at 2.30 hours.this is the story of a man named kabali who stood uo for the rights of his co labour workers,suddenly the story shifts to the chinese trying to introduce drugs into malaysia ,nasser gets killed cos of that hell breaks loose and kabali becomes the don and gets betrayed and sent to jail.he is out and looks for his lost family and extract his revenge on the bad guys.i dont give a rabbits crap if rajini is a dalit in the movie.given proper treatment the movie would gave been good.i found linga to be better than this stupid movie.stop jumping to stupid conclusions.
Well, first I didn’t say that “the movie is lashed at because it glorifies dalit politics”. May be you are voicing out someone else view here or your own view, I don’t know. But it’s not mine. Second, so many ‘stupid’ in your comment. Why were you so frustrated!
I think you are missing the point…I can watch any Rajini movie without much expectations. Fans and public are upset because of the lackluster screen play, lack of coherent scenes, lack of humor and incorrect portrayal of movie as a thriller gangster movie in teaser leading up the hype. I agree with all the above reasons for not meeting the expectations. Apart from that it is a very different story with an apt acting from the super star.
Rajni was indeed superhuman during the gun fights. Kills everyone around him without getting hurt. How’s that for a film close to reality? The movie is scattered. Doesn’t have a coherent storyline. The antagonist Tony Lee was a big let down. Did not play a good opposing force. It always felt like Rajni could swat him like a fly. Not much of a challenge. A movie succeeds when a protagonist overcomes a big challenge. Even films close to reality need the protagonist to overcome a worthy enough challenge. This film was not engaging just because the protagonist solved his problems very easily or at least that’s how the screenplay presented it.
If people love it, they love it. If people hate it, they hate it. Just like how you wrote a blog on Kabali haters, There will be another guy writing a blog on kabali lovers. I watched Kabali first day first show by the way. Thought it was little violent and the search for his wife was a little drag. Nothing against Rajni kanth., Its the script and screenplay.
I have nothing against or for rajnikanth as well :). But true, it is impossible to please everyone. I do wonder what people mean when they complain about screenplay.
Well written .. I watched the film yesterday (Sob!!!) & loved it .. big Thalaivar fan and enjoyed the film throughout ..
Yayyy, high-five for finally getting to watch the film!! And an even bigger high-five as I am sure you would have loved Rajini in the film 😀
Firstly, you’ve shifted the goal post here. The movie was lashed at, not because of the dearth of “mass” elements or a shortfall in Rajni’s heroics. It’s being despised for it’s completely incongruent screenplay, laced with hideously shot sequences. It’s just plain foolish to claim this was a film close to reality. Taking three bullets in the previous scene, but sitting upright with just one bandage and mouthing a completely unimpactful mass dialogue. Reality? A tawdrily shot gun fight in the climax, killing scores of guys like a vidoegame. Reality? All of a sudden the antagonist’s drug factory is rounded up? Why didn’t that happen at the beginning itself, why wait till the climax? Reality? Lol. The scenes were totally unconnected and none of the scenes made an impact, my dear friend. This is a passionate defense of a below average film, but doesn’t add up.
lovely write up.. wont say i agree to it and i dont and i mean never pick up arguments over the web. adhu romba tappu.
that being said, since you tried to give us the haters a thought, i thought i’ll speak for myself.
The thing is.. While Talai factor was definitely epic in the movie Kabali, everything and including the talai’s character failed in the movie.
intro was mass, yes, song was mass, yes, talai’s punch dialogues were epic, totally yes. I’d be extremely happy if the movie was just that. Unfortunately, the movie tried a lot besides that too.
1. Gang. in all honesty, the word gang was used like how RGV used the word company in D. it felt forced. Gang is a problem in many countries. It’s wicked, its violent, it has a life of its own. This movie.. not so much. Apart from kids talking glorious malay jargons for what is a gang, the entity solely exists so that one can associate Talai’s character as a Gangster.
2. Lets come to talai’s character. Talai was a revolutionary. He stood for what was right . He stood against oppression. This makes him a nuisance in the eyes of the oppressor. Not the audience, not the people around him. How does a revolutionary suddenly become a Gangster. I understand that in indian movies, the good gangster has altruistic ambitions. that differentiates the good from the evil. But this was more of a #Meh.. the entire movie reeks of a fixation towards the word GANG
3. All the rowdys in the movie actually behaved kinda well. Remember the scenes in pondy and chennai. The rowdy gets shooed away by a gate security guard. He said, go home and come tomorrow.And we all oblige. So much for focusing on guns and rough and tough macho mafia in our country! I really couldn’t digest that.
4. Mood swings. I totally appreciate the quest for finding the lady of his life. But truth be told, it felt like playing a good game of Pokemon. There is a GANGwar that is brewing in Malaysia, Talai is in the heart of it all. One mega action sequence is waiting to erupt, but no.. we all decide that lost family members come first.
5. Villain speaks tamil. especially before he gets to die. Thats a classic 🙂
6. Tony lee, at least to me made Dong lee from 6am Arivu look like a bad punk. All that Dong lee could do was to stare at people without blinking..
That being said… i dont hate the movie. i find it boring. That being said, Loved Talai in the scenes where he totally rocked the socks outta me. When he says let the birds fly and let them decide their fate, i had tears in my eyes.. now thats the power of our superstar.
Unfortunately, this is something that i keep repeating every time.. Kabali the movie . not so much. Kabali the character.. thats worth every single penny, esp when he’s not busy playing pokemon in india
totally didnt mean to offend you or anybody in between. just shared my thoughts..
Hey, no offense taken! You have all the rights to share your views, never be sorry for that. There will be haters and there will be lovers for any movie. Kabali is no exception. My point is, I am willing to overlook the flaws and still say the movie delivered what it set out to deliver :).
Scraps… All rajani fans are defending him
…. Movie was like a serial…only few people say its a okok movie…Pl do appreciate good movies like visaranai…n not a scriptless movie lyk this… I kno rajani fans can take this… But Pl do watch other low budget movie’s…
I am a Rajini fan and I watch all kinda movies, I don’t care about the budget as you know are really aware of how a movie production costs!! Visaranai was a wonderful movie, intense and deep. Loved that too.
I almost feel asleep halfway through the movie. Was a total waste of time and money. Glad we chose to go watch it on Tuesday, when the tickets go for $5. Radika Apte and Dhanshika were the only saving grace !
Never trust any movie’s teaser or trailer..it will in a way tell you to expect something big and what else more is there to say when it’s thalaivar’s movie..so next time when you’re gonna watch any movie please go in the theatre with no expectations..I watched the movie with no expectations and thoroughly enjoyed it to bits..being a singaporean the movie felt very much like home..I’m still thinking why is there so much of negativity surrounding this awesome movie..anyways a big thanks to rajinikanth sir and ranjith sir for making such a movie..
Hi Singaporean! 🙂 Glad you enjoyed the movie just like I did! I heard the negative reviews as soon as they released, but just like you, kept an open mind and went to the theater. I guess people need to empathize more and not just set aside something just because they can’t relate to it. This movie led people to read about what’s happening in Malaysia and be aware of the socio-economic conditions of several people there, which is a victory by itself I think.
Super review indeed….
Padhu padhu great..juuz wat i was thinking u wrote it with full of patience..hats off…biarkan
Thank you very much! You are full of enthu, haha!! 😀 😀
As a Malaysian i am not happy .We have the tallest Murugan statue at Batu caves.Thaipusam is celeberated in big scale .Hindus are given freedom to worship though Islam is the official religion.The one to be blame is Malaysian Indian Congress representing the indians not seriously looking into their problems.
Well said. It was indeed a good movie. Some don’t like it because they don’t know what’s happening in Malaysia. Gang war is isn’t about beating up 20 people. Gang war has its silent moments as well. They just don’t get it.
True that. “Gang war has it’s silent moments as well” – very poignant. You got to write more! 🙂
When is the issue of Dalit a problem here in Malaysia. The problem is between race. Indians are treated as third class citizens in this country. We dont get equal opportunity for tertiary education and employment. Heck, even renting a house is difficult as most properties are owned by Chinese and they advertise publicly that only Chinesr tenants are wanted. Govt sector is for the Malays and private sector is controlled by the Chinese. People in India trying to equate this with caste is simply mind boggling. It is not just the lower caste Indians facing this, even if he is Brahmin he is just known as Malaysian Indian. It is a problem crippling the general public. Statistics show that more than 60% triad members in Malaysia are from the Indian ethnic group. This is poignant as we are the smallest ethnic group in Malaysia accounting to 5% of the population. We support Kabali in Malaysia. If you want a better view, watch the Malaysian movie Jagat, which illustrates the movie better. Thank you Rajni saar for highlighting the problem we are facing here. I do not feel so lonely going through this battle anymore.
Actually, the attempt was good, Rajini’s acting was to the best of his potential given his age and the diverse emotions which he was able to show quite naturally on screen, the action sequences, etc. But I believe what went against the movie were things like the screenplay in the sense that the sequence (scene 1, scene 2, scene 3) could have been worked upon as movies are more appreciated if they move like a story, and the chartbuster “Neruppu da” at times was running in the background with no Rajini in the visual.
Plus, though it is a social message that is being conveyed you also have to consider that it is a movie at the end of the day, obviously now and then you would want to have some entertainment and melodrama as much as there is reality / real subject, say a 50-50 of both. One example which i can quote is “Kaththi” which arguably is a “PERFECT” mix of message & melo-dram that not only educated the audience but also kept them engaged, that balance was something which Murugadoss pulled off so well and made Kaththi a success, which i felt was slightly off the mark in Kabali.
I mean Rajini could have had something as powerful as what Vijay had in the scene where he addresses the media about the plight of farmers.
Good review. I watched the movie and loved it too though I know it was far from perfect. It did seem like the director was trying to pack in too much and the climax was all a bit rushed. However as many hv said I loved rajni’s character and his acting. The way he searched for his wife and found her was one of the highlights. Can’t understand when ppl say that was a drag. The fact that he left the gang war behind in Malaysia and went to look for her shows us his priorities r right. Lot of importance given to her and the daughter which was refreshing. And the caste issue was addressed as much as possible. The movie madras as someone mentioned was very good and well received but besides being based in North madras and on grass root politics, it wasn’t really vocal abt dalits or low caste as such. That’s probably y ranjith wanted to try harder with this. Appreciate his efforts and hard work and appreciate rajni for doing a role so different and so well!
Exactly. Madras was taken in North Madras and was supposed to be a story of Dalits and the clashes between them and the upper caste. It wasn’t portrayed out loud but most of the people got the idea. I think he is the only director who has boldly stated he is a Dalit and so wants to broach their life. And his screenplay was terrific in both movies. Hoping the next would be good, let’s see! And…welcome to my blog!
Having watched Kabali twice already at the time it was released – first in Telugu and then in Tamil after a few months, I was set to watch Kabali entry scene few hours ago in Amazon prime and to finish up after few minutes. But I ended up watching the whole movie again. This time. I focused on every dialogue, every scene, every logic, every expression, every fight and every bit I see on the screen. And I again don’t understand why many people didn’t like it. So, I googled again why many people didn’t like Kabali and I read your whole article again for the second time just to let my anxiety out. Thanks for the wonderful article But I am happy that Rajni is happy with the film and is doing another movie with Ranjith.
I want to share my immediate thoughts after watching the movie for first time. I copied this from my facebook activity history 😀
– Kabali = Father of ‘The GodFather’
– Kabali is the most realistic, stylish and heartful Don movie I’ve ever seen. Rajnikanth is back in the best form with the most righteous movie. Hats off to Pa Ranjith.
– Those who says Kabali is not good, they have no real taste of movies.
– Rajnikanth beat Kamal Hassan in acting with this movie
– Thinking of the background music and the whistle still giving me goosebumps!
– No director could have have the courage to take that last 3 sec bit before closing titles, just for the sake of realism and a message, except Pa Ranjith.