About much awaited and talked about Rajanikanth film ‘Kaala’

About much awaited and talked about Rajanikanth film ‘Kaala’

Superstar Rajinikanth’s most awaited movie ‘Kaala’ released today.This is the second consecutive outing of director Pa Ranjith with the Thalaivar after 2016’s Kabali.Kaala has an ensemble cast including Rajinikanth, Nana Patekar, Huma Qureshi and Easwari Rao among others. And it is produced on a budget of Rs 140 crore by actor-filmmaker Dhanush.

In the film, Rajinikanth will play the ‘king of Dharavi’, while Nana Patekar will play the role of the antagonist. The film charts the journey of a South Indian man who turns into Dharavi slum’s humane gangster. When the serenity of his people is threatened, he rises up to fight against the corrupt politician.

Kaala begins with an animated story-telling device similar to Bãhubali, wherein the importance of land and the suppression of the downtrodden by the power-hungry is shown. The film quickly shifts to the present day, in live-action multi-colour . We are shown evil politicians and land mafia hatching plans to destroy the slums of Dharavi to make it Digital Dharavi and Pure Mumbai (an obvious reference to some of the actual government schemes).

We get a casual, but sweet introduction of the Superstar, as Kaala (short for Karikaalan). However, the pace picks up when it is established that he is the King of Dharavi and no one messes with him. The love track between Zareena (played beautifully by Huma Qureshi) and Kaala initially seems to go the Kabali-Kumudavalli way, but Ranjith is quick to realise his folly and sets up a beautiful dinner scene featuring the ex-lovers, where Kaala clarifies his priorities. Watch out for an amazing performance by the two actors here. 

Also Read : Rajinikanth’s ‘Kaala’ official trailer is out : Watch Video

Ranjith gives a spin to the classic white-is-pure-and-black-is-evil logic. Here, Ram is bad and Ravan is good. Watch out for the confrontation scenes between Nana Patekar and Rajinikanth. They are total paisa vasool. Hearing Rajini speak in Hindi and Marathi at times will be a delight for his fans. 

Special mention should go to Easwari Rao (as Kaala’s wife, Selvi) and Anjali Patil (as Puyal, the girlfriend of one of Kaala’s sons). You will fall in love with their characters. The theme song, which, by now, is hugely popular is where Ranjith stamps his brilliance as a writer and director, carefully feeding the appetite of Rajinikanth fans. This would be remembered as one of the best climaxes in a Rajinikanth movie. Ranjith owes to his excellent technical crew (cinematographer Murali, music director Santhosh Narayanan, editor Sreekar Prasad and art director Ramalingam) for helping him visualise and deliver this 51% Rajini-49% Ranjith movie.