What more can make the fanatic fan base of actor Vijay drool than his movie for Diwali? And that too with director Atlee who has made just four films (including Bigil) and three of them feature the star actor. Call it a marketing gimmick or a well-curated promotional blitz, Vijay films of recent times have leveraged on a grand audio launch to attain a grand opening upon the movie's release. The actor's speech and his politically satirical lines during such functions go well beyond the film and prepares the audience well in advance to brace for a commercial entertainer.
With such expectations, the big production houses (like AGS) go all out in promoting their films for striking a good bargain with the distributors and empower them with a grand opening for the theater owners!
So, how 'special' is 'Bigil.' For starters, it is a regular Vijay movie that has women's football as an underlying platform for the plot. If Vijay is considered to be the base bread for a pizza, the toppings change, the ingredients change, the sauce changes, the vegetables change, but every time you only end up having pizza and never a pasta.
So, Vijay films too have stuck to the same template, no matter how non-sensical that may play out on screen as a star is shielded with an image that characters like a Captain Americal or an Iron Man enjoy! The 'star' couldn't go wrong and always wins hands down.
As a result, the predictability factor creeps in. Sometimes, the director springs you a surprise with a masala that is immortal - as in the case of 'Mersal.' However, repeating it time and again is no joke. That is what has precisely happened with Bigil. We realize that Michael and Bigil are the same, and Rayappan, the old Vijay might meet his end. And what next? Or how next? How the son is going to get back his revenge. On top of it, we've got director Atlee who has thrown in content from Bollywood into the fray this time (Chak De!).
Director Atlee's cocktail is a sort of a mixed bag this time around, and the concoction was too concentrated with women empowerment and over-the-top star worship that one felt the dizziness creeping in soon after the interval. To keep up with the trend of pulling in villains from Bollywood for big-budget south films, here too, Jackie Shroff has been pulled in to do the honors. He was reduced to a piece of a joke after a point. Daniel Balaji and IM Vijayan have done a much better job as the goons from North Madras.
Vijay, for the first time, has donned the role of an aged man in his 50s. A North Madras don who fights for the righteous things and stands by his people. Though Vijay has tried his best to pull off the role, his looks and body language weren't convincing. We see the same Vijay doing similar stunts with some greyed out hair and an old makeover. The stutter in his speech was a careful thought, but that came across just like a gimmick.
As usual, Nayanthara fulfilled the obligations of a heroine in a 'Vijay movie.' Since it is Nayanthara, she had some allowances like delivering a few feminist verses at the end. She was even allowed to walk with some relative sanity when compared to her counterparts in the past.
Other girls in the cast (as part of the women's football team), were carefully handpicked and surprisingly brought out their uniqueness in their characters, given the little time they had on screen. Reeba, as the acid victim, was the pretty impactful one, and her lead scene into the 'Singa Penne' song was a 'high point' for the narrative. Vivek, with his lines and slapstick, had a lean presence in the second half, while Yogi Babu made merry during the first half. Indraja Shankar (Robo Shankar's daughter) has made a 'solid' debut.
Songs by the master, AR Rahman, have already become anthems and were a big hit on the screen too. His presence in the Singa Penne song was another sweet surprise that was kept under wraps. Other technicalities were decent enough for the big-budget movie to hold its grandeur till the end. The football sequences might not appeal to the ardent football fans but seemed to work well for the general audience who would like to watch good win over evil (C'mon, it's Diwali folks)!
Like the past Vijay movies, this one too has been targeted at the masses. However, director Atlee, who has been the go-to man for Vijay in the past couple of films, has tried to do something different and as a result, has delivered something that doesn't gel well with the general audiences. Of course, Vijay fans won't complain, because if they do so, they can't be his fans!
Verdict: For 'Thalapathy' fans!
Rating: 2.3/5
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