'Annaatthe' review: Rajinikanth's every effort to make this click fails
Rajinikanth-Keerthy Suresh's Annaatthe is nothing but another version of Sivaji Ganeshan and Savithri's Paasamalar. The 70-year-old superstar is seen playing a 40-something brother Kaalayan who is not worried about bending the rules for his neighborhood's welfare. Some moments gave us an adrenaline rush. Needless to say, the superstar didn't spare any effort to make the film work, but in vain. Here's our review.
It was extended cameos for all other actors
If one were to argue that Rajinikanth's charisma is intact in all the frames, yes it can be agreed! But just the display of his name along with S.U.P.E.R S.T.A.R in the title card isn't enough for his fans to get Rajinified. It will not be an exaggeration to say that everyone in the film, except Rajinikanth and Suresh, played nothing.
Disappointing appearances of Khushbu Sundar and Meena Sagar
We don't know WHY Khushbu Sundar and Meena Sagar were even brought on board. Fans were waiting to see the magic the superstar had created with the actors in Muthu and Annamalai, respectively, but such a HUGE letdown that was! Their appearances in the trailer cover almost 50% of their presence in the whole film. They did nothing but crack some irritating jokes.
We are left to guess what happened to Nayanthara's character
No thought was given to Rajinikanth's romantic interest played by Nayanthara either. She, in fact, disappeared just before the climax and we don't know what happened to her. We can keep guessing several things though: Was she killed? Did she escape? Any answers, anyone, please?
Background music was unbearable, the songs were pretty decent though
Must say the superstar's introduction scene induced goosebumps. Before the intro, montages of news footage were shown in the backdrop of Kolkata, but the lip-syncing was horrible. The background music was unbearable and gave me serious migraine, especially during Suresh-Rajini's melodramatic scenes, however, the songs were pretty decent. Va Saami and late SP Balasubrahmanyam-Rajini's last collaboration, Annaatthe Annaatthe, deserve special mention here.
Not a satisfying end to the main antagonist
Jagapathi Babu, who usually plays a sophisticated villain, comes as a dirty dhoti-clad barbaric antagonist. One would expect him to be killed by Kaalayan in a cold-blooded manner, but his ending was so so so disappointing, just like that of Cersei and Jaime Lannister from Game of Thrones. Despite these logical loopholes, there were some awesome moments in the film (won't reveal those spoilers).
'Annaatthe' is a mixture of many of Siruthai Siva-directed flicks
In some sequences, we could see how tired Rajini was. It was too painful for us to watch him struggle to even go about his signature walks. Siruthai Siva obviously did not work enough on the screenplay. It has bits of all his films including Siruthai, Vishwasam, and Vivegam. End note: Annaatthe is disappointing, but Thalaivar isn't. Verdict: Gets 2 stars (only for Rajinikanth).
