Endhiran

How does one put a spoiler alert for a movie whose awe-factor is not plot driven, but technical? 

Let's just say that if either Rajinikanth or Shankar were not part of this movie, it would fall flat. For a Shankar film, there is a moderate overpresence of the Rajini factor that makes the plot a little less intricate than Shankar's earlier offerings like Gentleman, Mudhalvan and Anniyan. Having said that, for a Rajinikanth film, there is more of the director and less of punch dialogues, the hero intro song and heroic flourishes.

In Endhiran, Shankar turns the concept of protagonist and antagonist on its head.  I'm sure it has been done before, but in India, we feel cheated if we aren't subconsciously cued to who the protagonist is right from the beginning. Shankar does this very cleverly in Endhiran.

Dr. Vasigaran (Rajinikanth) is oblivious to the world and his girlfriend, Sana (Aishwarya Rai Bachhan), as he painstakingly creates a humanoid robot that looks like him. It's an act that screams 'god creating man in his image' and comes up as a statement many times over during the movie. 

The robot, called Chitti (Rajinikanth again) is devoid of shades of grey - he only follows the rule book of black or white. Chitti is a robotic wonder as he dances, cooks, cleans, and 'reads' tomes in a matter of seconds. Sana is quick to tap his capabilities and Chitti is put to the test when he has to rescue her even when his battery is low.

Vasigaran's mentor, Vohra (Danny Denzongpa) sets out to steal Chitti's neural schema. He is also part of the panel approving Vasi's project for the armed forces, and he proves that Chitti is a dangerous machine who cannot discern good or evil, friend or foe. When this fact reinforces itself in an unfortunate incident, Vasi goes back to the drawing board and imbues Chitti with the ability to feel human emotion. 

Vasi is jubilant with the results, but Vohra warns him of the perils of having a robot with feelings - Chitti falls in love with Sana.When Chitti goes all out to win Sana, Vasi decides to stop Chitti. At this point, if you still thought Vasi was the protagonist, you will be faced with mixed feelings as  the creator turns destroyer  chillingly hacking up his creation. 

Life goes on for Vasi and Sana. Chitti's mutilated parts are found by Vohra and with the last vestiges of battery power, Chitti pleads for life. Vohra recreates the robot but introduces a new look and a red chip - a destructive nuance that Chitti Version 1.0 lacked. Chitti 2 goes berserk, abducting Sana and creating an impregnable fortress guarded by his humanoid robot clones.

At this point, if you thought Vohra is the antagonist, Shankar again turns the tables on you when Vohra is found dead, killed by Chitti 2. This is where we realise that the protagonist and the antagonist are two versions of the same character - Chitti. In retrospect, I now realise that Chitti (not Vasi) had a version of the 'Rajinikanth intro' song that is a staple in all his movies.

It is now up to Vasi to rescue Sana and destroy his creation. Chitti 2 proves to be nearly impossible to kill. After the ear-numbing climax Vasi finally removes the red chip and reverses Chitti back to his earlier version. In the end, Chitti spouts the essence of the movie - unlike his robot self who can be righted with the simple removal of the red chip, humans cannot remove the evil that exists in them so easily.

This is a Rajinikanth fest for his fans. I watched Endhiran at Aurora in Matunga, Mumbai - a single-screen cinema that will soon go the multiplex way. There's no describing the fervour and frenzy at a single-screen, especially when you have to exit the theatre from between the legs of a gigantic Rajinikanth in his robotic serial-lit avatar.

What Works

- First, full marks for the characterisations. You quickly bridge Rajinikanth's off-screen persona and on-screen scientist one with a moderately unkempt Vasigaran. Then, the differentiation between the human Vasi and the robot Chitti 1. And finally, the differentiation between tho two robots - Chitti 1 and 2.

- Rajinikanth must have had a blast playing Chitti and Chitti 2. Chitti 2 evoked the most whistles from the audience. He is portrayed as unstoppable, diabolic, funny and hopelessly in love with Sana. He had the best lines and the most sinister gravelly laugh. He has a streak of grey, signifying perhaps, a robot who is now wiser to the ways of the humans after being let down by his creator?

- Technically, this movie is impeccable. The Special effects are spectacular- try figuring out how they did the snake thing in the end. Also, having two characters played by the same actor, sharing a scene is so passe. Here, there are hundreds of Chittis moving about and doing different things.

- The Rajini factor - some of his old lines are recycled to good effect. There's even the Rajinikanth movie trademark guest appearance by a snake, albeit one of a spectacular kind.

- The Rajini stunts - those uber-cool things he does defying gravity and the speed of light - all are there, but performed by the robotic Chitti character. It makes it more believeable that Chitti would do those, not Vasi.

- One of the highpoints of Endhiran is the way sci-fi sits comfortably with Tamizh culture and lifestyle. Eg: Rangusky, the mosquito and Ayudha Poojai are tapped well. Also, the sequence where Chitti and Sana go to the kuppam to protest the loudspeaker is hilarious. An absolute fusion of genres, if one may call it that.

-There's even a fitting (intended?) dig at Kamal Haasan's fetish for multiple roles when Chitti creates many more in his image, a veritable army of Chittis. Maybe this movie should have been called Sahasravataram ;-)

Mixed Bag

- For those who found Ramayana references thanks to Aishwarya Rai Bachhan, the asura reference and the abduction, there is a mixed characterisation here - it works only if you can accept that loyal Hanuman fell in love with Sita, turned into a Ravana and abducted her.

- Aishwarya Rai Bachhan looks better than she has in a long time, but some looks in the title song were not very complimentary. She was cleverly used to draw in the audiences for the Hindi version and this seems to have worked. A younger heroine like Shriya may have looked out of place paired opposite the self assured Vasi. But with so much Rajinikanth, there's little place for a strong female character. Aishwarya is mature eye candy rather than female lead.

- A.R. Rahman's music - it doesn't work for me without the trivia associated with it. One too many songs but yes, BGM was fitting.

Pics courtesy film's official website - http://www.endhiran-the-film.com/

Post Script -  Just realised that at the end, Chitti signs off from the world with Vasigaran's trademark sign-off, 'dot' with the gesture. Is it to signify that with Chitti, a part of Vasigaran has also ended?