What made Rajinikanth select a shallow story shows a grandson as a joker and the real hero as a a learned Raja Lingeswara? The contrast was not compatible with each other till the end.
Why the same makeup, hairdo and cowboy costumes used for both the dual roles? When you are showing two generations, the simplest copybook rule is to show contrast in characterisation.
Why does Anushka the heroine for the grandson Rajini insist on taking him to the village of his grandfather? What is her connection to the village or the legend of Linga? Not very well answered.
Was the film based on true story? Why does it give an impression it is based on the life of Sir Arthun Cotton - who built a bridge, splitting the tributaries of rivers Godavari and Krishna which were anyway flowing into the sea and changed the livelihoods of Andhra farmers forever? Was there any king who built a dam like this? The nation wants to know.
Why was the film so low on entertainment? Why did we not have more of Santhanam in the second half?
Why director Ravi Kumar who relies on good story-telling and drama give such a weak characterisation for everybody?
Who is the main villain in the film? Is it the Britisher who opposed Linga's efforts to build the dam? Is it Jagapathi Babu who abuses the people of Singanoor? If it is Jagapathi Babu, as he's lasted out, why is he under-utilised? Rajinikanth's best blockbuster hits have been movies where the antagonist gets equal if not meaty footage.
Why are there so many lags in the film? What happened to director's sense of energy and speed in story-telling? Why do you have to show a museum robbery for 25 minutes? Why do you have to show a dam construction in such detail? Is this a documentary or a film on dam construction? Why is the shot selection so bad? Where did you highlight Rajinikanth? Did the director do justice to Rajinikanth's charishma and one-liner witticisms?
In the scene where Rajini and Anushka get ensconced in a close room, when Rajini tries to open up the locked door by using magnets to attract the keys up the path he navigates on the other side of a strong wooden door, does the director know that wood is not a magnet conductor?
Why were there only one duet song with each of the heroines? While full marks for the lavish settings and the extravagant picturisations, why was there no other relief moments in second half with the heroines or atleast a mass song?
What was Brahmanandam doing in a film with star comedian Santhanam? Why did Brahmi get such poor lines? Why did his appearance go waste?
Why is the interval so weak? Even if you use flashback for over two hours, did it not occur to the director Ravi Kumar to use current time period to bring a good interval block? Even inexperienced directors do not use flashback scenes for interval bang effect.
The period drama dates to 1939 when the ruling queen of England was Queen Elizabeth. But the pictures show Queen Victoria all the time. Why? You could have used Mona Lisa if you had to use a lady's picture. More masses would recognise her.
When the only conflict in the film is between the Britisher and Raja Lingeswara, why didn't the director concentrate more on that in revving up more emotional quotient - through feelings of patriotism, righteousness and fight against poverty? The only highlight of the film is the dialogues between the Britisher, his wife and of course Linga the Senior. That could have got more mileage and emphasis.
In the opening shot of the introduction of legend Lingeswara, Rajini sits cross-legged reading a seminal book rated amongst the most influential books ever released: Joseph Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces". The scene looks impressive with shots in the dark on a moving train where a group of bandits try to kidnap Rajini. The shot had all the elements of a firebrand sequence but gets lost in translation into special effects. Why? And why use a book which was originally published in 1949 when the period setting pertains to the last stage of the second war? But the book highlighted was good - it has inspired many film-makers world over.
Why were there so few songs in the film when the scenes lag? The resonation of AR Rahhman's music with Rajini fans is so good that there is room for more songs in a film dominated by too much flashback. The background music, as usual is good but the scenes were not dramatic for a commercial film. So Rahman's effort looks wasted. But the songs - "Mona Mona" and the song with Sonakshi Sinha stand out in picturisation and feel of the sound.
The dam is in Singanur but the king Linga is from Gadwal. Agree it is a dubbing mistake. But what is the connection?
Director KS Ravi Kumar shows woman as strong and powerful characters. But in this film an over-weighty Anushka and a naturally plumpy Sonakshi Sinha are used as mere paper weights in visually-rich songs. Rest of the time, they have no screen presence. If you take the "Padayappa" or "Muthu" for Rajini or for Ravi Kumar's previous films with Kamal Hasan like "Tenali", "Panchatantram" and "Dasavatharam", the heroines got great screen-shares with the hero. Why? And why is Anushka over-dressed? And why is Sonakshi so under-dressed?
Why make films with 2 hrs. 55 minutes? At the end of this unbearable duration, why are commercial elements awfully missing? Where is the swagger of Rajini Kanth? Where is the style of the style icon? What is so creative about this film which got completed in less than 100 days?
Why am I writing such a long post-mortem for a dud fillm? Why are you even reading this?
My rating remains at 1.5/5
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