Lingaa Movie Review

(12 Dec 2014)

Maharaja Rajinikanth as Raja Lingeswaran

Raja Lingeswaran is Raja Rajinikanth all the way. He is the personification of all goodness. Thalaivar surprises us time and again with his magic. Energetic, charismatic, stunning delivery and playful humour as ever. Fulfilment comes only through service and can never be derived by merely accumulating wealth - This is the message of the movie presented with a good storyline and perfect punch lines. 

With blaring vocal chords and ecstatic fans near the screen, only while watching for the second time after FDFS, I realized that Sivaji-the-boss BGM is used for 'Superstar' title. 

Because of the KSR & SSR combo, some people go to theatres with 'Muthu' & 'Padayappa' in mind. Fighting hardships, doing an 'athiradi' comeback with adrenaline pumping sequences is what they anticipate throughout the movie. Though Lingaa has few such sequences, however, it's a full-length movie about a personality of someone like the 'Zamindar' (Old Rajinikanth) in the movie 'Muthu'. Lingaa is about generosity, benevolence, unshakeable conviction in philanthropy and a tranquil mind without the anxiety about materialistic world. Neatly packed with other entertaining aspects. 

I agree that one or two insignificant scenes that didn't help much to carry forward the story could have been trimmed down. But we have to realize that a Rajini movie is made for the masses with diversified levels of socio-economic background and age group. Certain sects need such short intervals for relief in coping up while watching a movie. Gripping and fast-paced screenplay which today's teenagers expect may not suit for the diversified audience of a Rajinikanth movie. Some critics(actually fans of other actors) were complaining about the climax hot-air balloon stunt (which comes for just 5 mins), as if logic-defying is new to the world of cinema. But we (Rajini fans) were actually wondering, instead of springing from bike-to-balloon, why the director didn't sketch a stunt sequence involving bike-to-spaceship-to-moon :-) Dude, Rajinikanth is the force of nature. If you expect nature to be comprehensible by human logical mind, then how are we going to realize extra-dimensional 'tesseract' universe, wormhole, singularity, etc as shown in Interstellar? ;-)

Metaphorically, I can see some characters in the movie as real-life elements around Rajinikanth.

1. 'Saami Pillai' (Ilavarasu) character depicts Rajini's real fans/well-wishers. They just stay with him irrespective of his success, hardships & circumstances without expecting any future favour from him. For they know the real benevolence and goodness of Rajini, they are just happy by associating with him. 

2. Santhanam and Karunakaran can be seen as Rajini's childhood friends. They saw the entire- span of Rajini from bus-conductor to Superstar and relish their friendship without any hiccups. 

3. R.Sundarrajan character represents those media which purportedly spread false/negative news and twists his words/actions to the general public so that they find some temporary material gains. 

4. Vijayakumar and Dev Gill are those people who are good-hearted by nature, but react/express their hatred towards Rajinikanth, too quickly for mischievous claims/prejudice, only later to regret their deeds and realize the real Rajini.

5. British villain represents those elements who would devise all sorts of deceitful tricks to object/misrepresent Rajini's welfare activities in an attempt to save their own power/ego. They either defame him or try to derive gain out of his present/future political associations (while possibly playing the role of a seed for such political associations). 

6. Radharavi character portrays a healthy critic around Rajini. He applies his discretion and weighs public opinions if necessary, reacts intellectually for baseless claims. 

7. Finally, the Dam is the legacy left by Rajinikanth through his stardom, benchmark movies, inspiring real life rags-to-riches success story, strength of character and modesty that will be cherished by the generations to come. 

Only K.S.Ravikumar (KSR) can amusingly weave Rudraksh, Snake and Temple in a story about Lingeswaran and title it as 'Lingaa' :) Special thanks to KSR for having a cake-cutting scene for the 'Maharaja of Anbu Samrajyam' and releasing it on his Birthday. Long live Thalaivar. 

With love, Rajni Magesh