With master actors like Vikram and K.Viswanath, reputed technicians like music director Yuvan and cameraman Madhie and last but not the least, with a talented director like Suseendiran who made his mark with a movie like ‘Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu’, a natural thought is sure to creep in that we are all set for an extravaganza in the name of “Rajapattai”. The reality was somehow bleak and proves yet again that directors should play to their strengths. Let’s see why?
Story of Rajapattai was wafer thin and was all about land mafia. Vikram earns his living as a gym boy in movies who aspires to make it big in the silver screen by donning a villain’s role someday. He happens to criss-cross with the land mafia gang when K.Viswanath gets entangled into it because of his own son’s greed to achieve his political motives. The rest of the movie deals with the showdown between the good and the bad.
The intention of the entire team would have been to make the 2:45 hour long movie a fun and rollicking experience. Sadly, they missed the bus when it came to screen play and dialogs, which forms the essence of a commercial mass masala movie. There were hardly any scenes which garnered applause from the audiences. Some big time booing went on during the romance scenes between Deeksha Seth and Vikram, which was numb.
Vikram with his brawny look, freaky costumes and bizarre hairstyle had once again taken the responsibility of carrying the entire movie on his shoulders. No wonder he had a great screen presence which made the movie watchable. He had given 100% as always to the character he portrayed and sported an authentic ‘gym boy’ look. His age showed off many a times during the course of the movie, especially during the romantic interludes.
Deeksha Seth was pleasant to watch on screen, but her chemistry with Vikram sadly failed and fell flat. She had very little scope and sported the run-of-the-mill heroine’s hat.
K.Viswanath, though he brought in all his experience, was reduced to a caricature and had been wasted thoroughly. An actor like ‘Delhi’ Ganesh would have done justice to such a role as it demanded some comic elements to put in place.
Sana debuted as the antagonist, ‘akka’, fitted the role to a tee and oozed pride and hate through her eyes.
Others in the cast including ‘Thambi Ramaiah’ have tried their best to make us laugh, but the screenplay hardly provides any room for some genuine laughter.
Yuvan’s music failed to impress this time. There were no hummable numbers and I still cannot understand the reason of placing the double heroine number while the climax credit rolled on.
The action sequences were well choreographed and shot in a novel way.
Suseendiran’s strengths are his taut and slick way of presenting his story which made him successful in the past. This clearly goes to show that directors can easily fall into the traps of fantasy when it comes to making a mass masala commercial entertainer which requires meticulous planning and precise execution. Better luck next time!
Verdict: Disappointing!
Rating: 1.5/5
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