Story:

Kabali is the story of an aged and a reformed gangster, Kabali (Rajinikanth), who fought for the oppressed people in Malaysia. Things go worse and Kabali is forced to spend 25 years in jail. What will Kabali do after returning from Jail? How he rediscovers his life again and his relationship with the mafia world is the remaining film all about.

Performances:

Kabali has created a Tsunami of hype and expectations as the only Teaser of the film revealed the Superstar’s lost style and grace. However it is true only in parts in the film. We see Rajinikanth straining to generate that enormous amount of energy and style on screen, understandably due to age. Style with effortlessness is a hallmark of Rajinikanth. The style existed in the film but the effortlessness is missing much to the disappointment. But still when he is in the frame, he dominates every one. Radhika Apte is good and matched even the Superstar in the scene where Kundana Valli meets Kabali. Dhansika is good but never got a chance to shine bright. Kishore is good as well and Nassar is okay in the short role he is given. The sea of foreign actors in the film are wasted in poor characters.

Technical Performances:

PA Ranjith let go the biggest opportunity of his life. He seem to have struggling between his own style and Rajinikanth’s aura. The realistic setup, screenplay and pacing of the film carries his mark but then it is too small to accommodate South India’s Biggest Superstar. He tried to fit in the Superstar in his setup and in the process, things ended up neither in his style nor in Rajini’s style. The first half begins well but things move at rather snail’s pace. The interval bang promises something but second half makes no difference with the first. Except few scenes here and there, the entire journey is testing and boring. Santosh Narayanan’s Good work only confined to the title track which is repeated several times as a theme. The back ground score is rather disappointing. Camera work is a big plus while dialogues missed Rajinikanth’s trade mark punches. Editing is a big disappointment.

Plus Points:

Rajinikanth’s screen presence
Parts of first half
Interval

Minus Points:

Extreme slow narration
Weak and predictable story
Editing

Final Say:

Kabali is not as bad as some films we saw this Summer but the team totally misguided us with that Teaser. Audience come to the theaters with a sea of expectations and will be totally disappointed at what is actually in the film. The movie at most can cater those expectations with a handful of scenes here and there. Give it a try if you are eager to look at those scenes.