Opinion Chitti Chitti Bang Bang

But just this once,there is another reason to watch a Rajini film. His name is Shankar and he is the director of the film. Just this once, Robot is more a Shankar film than a Rajini starrer. Mind it,Rajini saar is in full form. He does everything,he is in every frame,in one frame there are even thousands of them. But Shankar is the real hero of this film. Robot is Shankar’s James Cameron moment.

He has crafted this film like a visionary— the stunts,the effects,the animatrix are top notch. Almost 40 % of the film’s monstrous budget of Rs 175 crore has been spent on the effects and its money well spent. There are a few stunts (like the human sphere climactic fight and the LPG cylinder chase) where Shankar’s vision almost overshoots the technology he has at hand.

While Shankar sets his film brilliantly,its Rajini who keeps us engrossed. Robot interprets the term ‘star vehicle’; this one comes with a story. Rajini is the protagonist— the genius scientist who wants to create a robot that will serve the Indian army. He is also the robot,Chitti,who can do what Spiderman,Superman and Batman can’t. Come on,our Chitti,can fire a bullet from his finger tip,he can converse with mosquitoes who have the evil intentions of spreading dengue,malaria and he can even deliver a perfectly healthy baby in what is the world’s most difficult pregnancy case. Seriously,there is nothing Rajini Can’t!

Puns aside,Chitti is a cool superhero. He is even more fun when he goes evil. As expected,Chitti happens to fall in love with his Scientist-God’s girlfriend played by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. In love mode,he goes berserk on the roads. He gets all Hulk-ed up,clones himself into thousands,goes on a zombie attack to destroy his creator. We all know how it ends right? Like always,only Rajini can hit/kill Rajini.

And to think that the film was initially planned with Kamal Hasan. Then SRK came in the picture but he and Shankar had creative differences. After watching Robot ,it’s difficult to think of anyone else as Chitti. Of course now the pressure will be on SRK to better Robot in his sci fi Ra.One . Shankar’s shoes are big,hope SRK and his director Anubhav Sinha can fill them.

Robot has its shortcomings too. Forgive the pun but Ash is quite robotic in her expressions. She looks stunning,dances like a dream and has carried off some really OTT costumes — boa feathers included — with élan but she is too insipid. The second half drags and the music is a huge let down. AR Rahman was clearly not inspired enough. The lyrics are howlarious — at best a bunch of proper nouns like Kilimanjaro,Mohenjo-Daro,Einstein and Newton masquerading as sci fi poetry.

But as an experience,Robot holds good. It deserves to be the event it is.

Bottom line: Rajini saar’s Robot kicks ass. But it is Shankar’s film.