KOCHADAIIYAAN MOVIE REVIEW

Enough has been said and written about Kochadaiiyaan being India's first photo-realistic performance capture 3D animated film. All of us realize that it is a path breaking attempt from a technological perspective but at the end of the day, Kochadaiiyaan has been intended as a quintessential Rajini film, and any such Superstar starrer is invariably expected to entertain with elements such as memorable punch lines, larger-than-life stunts, a racy screenplay, a simple but gripping story, beautiful songs and breathtaking visuals. Does Kochadaiiyaan offer these and more, to the viewer? The answer is yes.

The film, set in a bygone era, encompasses elements such as bravery, jealousy, revenge and inspiring leadership. K.S.Ravikumar binds them all with a gripping screenplay which soars particularly in the second half and he proves that he is a master at his game. His story gels well with the period and the characters being portrayed on screen.

This film wouldn’t have been what it is, without the dynamic presence of Superstar Rajinikanth. His magnetic voice gives life to all those powerful dialogs penned by Ravikumar and the veteran star infests marvelous screen presence even to animated characters.

Coming to the character models, Rajini looks delightful on screen with top-of-the-line styling and really colorful costumes. In all the avatars, Rajini looks a million bucks. Particularly as the heroic elder statesman Kochadaiiyaan, the Superstar owns the screen.

The work done on modeling Nassar is also impressive while the idea to bring back Nagesh to the screen in an enjoyable little role fills us with nostalgia. The voice artist who has dubbed for Nagesh’s character deserves a round of applause.

Sarath Kumar, Jackie Shroff and Aadhi are the other notable characters on screen and Sarath impresses with his convincing diction of chaste Tamil. But some of the ladies in the movie like Deepika Padukone and Rukmini could have been shown better on screen.

A.R.Rahman is among the main pillars bolstering Kochadaiiyaan and the ‘Isai Puyal’ even does the honors of introducing the movie’s milieu and characters in the beginning. His background score is out of the world and the work on the orchestration and instrumentation is world class. All his songs have been given pride of place but a few of them do stick out and hamper the movie’s pace, particularly ‘Idhayam’.

The stunt choreography team has gone the whole hog and we get to see a lot of imaginative stunts and stylish acrobatics. The animation medium seems to have given the team a free hand and there is nothing to stop or prevent the characters from indulging in all manner of stunts and moves.

Resul Pookutty’s sound design makes the proceedings as real as possible and stands out particularly in the battle sequences.

Coming to the all-important animation, the screen is filled with colors and there is a lot of intricate work which has gone into each frame. Among the song sequences, the ‘anthemic’ ‘Enge Pogudho Vaanam’, the 'Rudra Thandavam' and the beautifully worded ‘Maatram’ stand out.

Even though there are places when the animation work is average, we can’t be too critical of it as this is a pioneering attempt for Indian cinema. Soundarya and team have taken a brave first step and we only have to hope that future attempts in this line, have incremental improvements. Soundarya’s project management skills are exceptional and this being just her first film; her capabilities at pulling off such a film are truly praise-worthy.

Do watch out for the end credits sequence which is a fitting culmination to the overall Kochadaiiyaan experience. The team’s hard work and vision will humble you and might make you emotional.