Rajinikanth magic waning, direly needs a good plot

Barring a few interesting confrontations scenes between Rajinikanth (slum lord) and Nana Patekar (political leader) along with Rajini’s moments with his lovable wife(Eswari Rao) and family, besides his episodes with his ex-lover Huma Quereshi, this is just another action film, set in Dharavi slum in Mumbai. The 1980s was a period when the Tamil population living in this slum had to fight against the locals for their home and livelihood and many Tamil slum lords rose to the occasion.

This is one of the stories inspired by a real-life slum lord, who fought for the poor and the downtrodden against the land sharks. It seems that director Pa Ranjith is fascinated with slums and the downtrodden. As his protoganist takes on the Malaysian honchos in ‘Kabaali’, this time, he puts him opposite a Maharashtrian leader with a tilak who is eyeing the land of the slum dwellers worth Rs 40,000 crore.

Surely, Rajini has his moments but Nana Patekar is exceptionally brilliant as a baddy in this much-hyped film. Yet again, the Telugu audience may not be able to connect to this plot- fight for Dharavi slum- which could go against this film in the two Telugu states. May be, more dialogues against political leaders and establishment could have given the film an edge, considering Rajini’ political avatar, but it disappoints even on that front. Less said the better about songs and absence of entertainment quotient adds to the audience woes.

Coming to the story, Dharavi slum in Mumbai is under threat of being ransacked as a political leader Hari Dada (Nana Patekar) has grandiose plans to build a huge residential complex and remove slums from the city. However, he finds a tough opponent in Rajinikanth (Karikaala aka Kaala) who vows to fight for protecting the legitimate rights of the slum dwellers, who built the slum region after making many sacrifices for generations.

At home, Rajini is forced to argue with his youngest son who wants to fight against the land sharks in a just manner and their confrontation leads to the latter walking out. Meanwhile, Rajini meets Huma Quereshi, his ex-lover, who arrives in the slum heading an NGO to make the life better for the slum dwellers, unaware of Nana Patekar’s evil designs.

Although, her presence rekindles love in him, but he finally informs Huma that he loves his wife (Eswari Rao) too much and likes to keep a distance from her. When Nana is insulted by Rajini in his slum, the former kills Rajini’s wife and son and also vows to kill Kaala too. But finally, how the good triumphs over the evil forms the rest of the story.

It seems that Rajinikanth is preferrring subtle performances these days but still he has his share of fiery moments- when he confronts Nana at home and the police station sequence and chides cops for trying to fix a deal for Dharavi. However, it is Nana Patekar who walks away with all the acting honours with his menacing baddy act. He is a soft-spoken and cool killer. Huma Qureshi is effective in her role, while Eswari Rao does a good job.

Director paces out his screenplay well by loading the first part with Rajini’s family life, ex-lover and his bonding with sons and gradually, lifts the pace in the second half and reaches the pinnacle for the climax.