UberReelz ..CRITICal Stuff !!

Well, lets start off the proceedings with a review of Kuselan

Movie: KUSELAN (Tamil , 2008)


Director: P.Vasu

Cast: Rajinikanth,Pasupathy,Meena

This is not your typical Rajinikanth movie . If you are looking forward to a dozen punch dialogues , a handful , or rather , fistful , of fights , you will be disappointed , my friend. The intro scene is the highlight of any Superstar movie. This one is no exception.

The very sight of Rajinikanth , riding on a pegasus , in a Zorro costume , in the desert , to the tunes of "Cinema Cinema" , was enough to send a Thalaivar fan like me into a state of frenzy.

But before his intro , you have to endure a very slow moving and rather boring half an hour.

The movie starts off rather interestingly with certain interestingly shot frames , which show the contrasting lifestyles of the barber and the Superstar.

After this there is nothing much which happens , worth mentioning, and the audience is made to endure unwarranted torture from Livingston and his bunch of homies , in the name of comedy !!

And when Vadivelu decides to join the party , things take a turn towards the worse. Frankly i expected some rib tickling comedy , which Vadivelu is very good at normally. But Kuselan has very few comic scenes worth mentioning.

There are some very well shot scenes which manage to keep the audience interested in the movie. For instance , the one in which Pasupathy tries to meet the Superstar and ends up getting bruised in the stampede

Or, the one in which Vadivelu bumps into Rajinikanth and cant hide his feelings. The bulk of the movie , sadly,is spent in unwanted attempts at comedy.

The sentimental scenes involving Pasupathy and his family , are well intended , but get fairly annoying beyond a certain point.

The acting is very ordinary as far as Meena and the other actors are concerned
But the character of Barber Balu, who is constantly in a tight spot , is played with ease by Pasupathy . Although not as powerful as his act in " Veyyil" , this role by the talented actor is definitely worth some praise.

Ah... The Superstar himself.

Although there is not much scope for displaying the Rajinikanth phenomena which we have been accustomed to in his movies, he underplays his character , with trademark Rajinikanth elan and style.

There are loads of unwanted scenes in the movie. For instance , the voyeuristic Vadivelu ogling at a gorgeous Nayanthara. People will question my orientation if I were to say that I did not like the scene :) . But c'mon guys , this is sooooooo out of place in a Rajinikanth movie.

And P.Vasu 's attempt at self advertising could have been avoided. "Chandramukhi" need not have been re-created in Kuselan.

The music is fairly good . And the lyrics praising the Superstar are truly out of the world , and will be a treat for Rajni fans.

The climax is by far the only good thing about the movie. It is its saving grace. For people who say that Rajinikanth cant act , this will serve to be a perfect "nose cut". The pin drop silence in the theatre during the climax speech was ample proof of this , as a few lines which he delivers frankly would have brought the roof down. The climax is a tear jerker in every sense of the word. And for his fans , who will be able to correlate the dialogues to the Rajni in real life , will truly experience the Rajni magic in the climax scenes.

On the whole , this movie is a huge disappointment . We know this was always meant to be a small role for the Superstar , and I don't grouse that fact. But the movie could have been much better if many scenes had been shelved .

The execution of such a good story , falls flat on its face. I have not seen the original version "Katha Parayumbol" , but am sure the Tamil version is a poor attempt in comparison.

We had promised that there will be no room for bias in our reviews , and Kuselan is a stellar example . Even though we are MAJOR fans of Thalaivar , we will go with 1.5 out of 5 for this sorry excuse of a movie that is Kuselan. Thalaivaaa... waiting for "Sultan".

Verdict : Don't waste your time . Unless you are a Rajni fan. 1.5 / 5