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Baba (2002)
1/10
Three minute documentary turned into a 2 hour piece of crap
16 June 2005
Warning: Spoilers
Rajinikanth becomes born again after getting a magical power which he can use seven times.

There are several problems with this movie that are obvious to the casual audience: the 50ish Rajinikanth is still at home with his parents; the father of the girl next door thinks that he is a compelling "boy" ('vaseekaramaana paiyan'); Rajinikanth suddenly interrupts the movie with his sermons, the worst being how women of yesteryears got their exercise through household work--yet we are to believe that he is not a theist; even though he was well read, he wastes six of his seven powers on a stupid kite; I can go on, but you get the picture.

There are god-men, there are gods, and there is Rajinikanth. The directory has difficulty fitting Rajinikanth into one of these categories. Initially, Rajinikanth is just Rajinikanth doing what Tamil heroes do--stand up to villains and, in spite of being the oldest, getting courted by the prettiest girl in the movie. Rajinikanth does this well and some of Rajinikanth's trademark styles are actually enjoyable--"baba count" is a novelty. What makes this movie unbearable is that those few initial minutes are just a preface to an worst book to be ever written. Even that preface is punctuated with some comedy which are forced and obvious.

The director doesn't explain the purpose of the hero; we see that the hero is facing several hurdles (from politicians, as usual) but we can't really root for the hero because we don't know what the hero's ultimate goal is. At the end, when everyone wants him to be the leader, the hero gives another one of his sermons and walks away to become a hermit. The director offers no solution to the problem in the climax scene.

A. R. Rehman's score is really interesting. Either he shows patches of brilliance or he didn't bother to invest himself fully into this movie--who can blame him. There is one scene where Rajinikanth steps into the van of one of the crooks and then throws the knife and starts his baba count. The music is very apt for the moment and acts as a catalyst adding further tension. The songs are all mediocre, no one would bother with the songs from this movie after a few years.

Unfortunately, 1 is the lowest rank you can assign in IMDb. This movie has all the elements that justify its rightful place at the nether of IMDb's ranking.
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Mudhalvan (1999)
4/10
Rather average film making renders the (good) message weak.
10 March 2001
Warning: Spoilers
** SPOILERS **

A man is challenged to run the state for a day and he takes up the challenge and attempts to fix the mother of all problems (corruption) in just a day. He then becomes the chief minister and tries to run a clean government in spite of hardships. The message is that it IS possible to run a corruption free government.

The message is tainted because of the super human qualities attributed to the hero. He is able to survive a gang attack after his challenge day as the CM. He personally "takes care" of a rowdy gang by fist fighting with them while the cops look over (in awe, should I add). Is there director trying to say that an average man without martial arts knowledge is incapable of running a clean government?

The plot does move swiftly but is punctuated by the pace-breaking song and dance sequences. Tell me how Shusmitha Sen's cameo adds to the message or to the entertainment. It's just a waste of time.

This is a Bond movie with 007 promoted to be the head of state. If you like action movies with grand guignol violence scenes, this is for you. Hey, you can even convince yourself that it's worth your time. This movie is average and instills in the audience that it is possible to provide a good government for the people but you have to be very good at self defense as opposed to be selfless.

The good things are powerful performances by Raghuvaran and Manivannan. The minuses begin with Manisha and Arjun (the poor guy is just acting out his part) and some put-a-bag-over-me type canned embarrassing scenes involving Arjun's mom and dad.

4 out of 10
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