Rajinikanth and Pa. Ranjith with an offer you cant refuse

Whistle – silence – action – the most famous dialogue + Neruppu da track – then the majestic walk, the first action scene, hits the right chord. Perfect entry for a SuperStar film, after the electrifying intro scene.

The script tries to connect emotionally once in every few minutes through dialogues or shotd, like ‘Enakku oru ponnu oru paiyyan irunthiruntha ippo ava vayasu irunthirukkum’la?’ and ‘Ava ennai motivate pannitte iruppa, chinna chinna vishayangalil kooda’, it comes at regular intervals till the family re-union.

Ilayaraja’s Timeless Magic in Kabali

In a beautifully composed scene, Ranjith utilizes Ilayaraja’s classic song ‘Thentral Vanthu’ with its slow female version, incorporating the lines ‘Oda Neeroda Intha Ulagam Athu Pola, Nilaiyaa Nillaathu Ninaivil Varum Nirangale’. The transition then seamlessly moves from the action scene to ‘Ida Pakkam Thudithidum, Iruthaya Isai Ena Irunthaval, Aval Engu Ponaalo’. The emotion it evokes in less than a minute is truly remarkable.

In another memorable moment, the song ‘Maya Nadhi’ plays during the reunion of Kumuthavalli and Kabali, adding a poignant touch. The music of ‘Vaanam Paarthen’ sets the background until their meeting, followed by a moment of silence, a few teardrops, and the entrance of ‘Maya Nadhi’. The subsequent scenes are simply awesome, featuring the classic lines ‘Naan seththuthaan poyirunthen, nee ennai vanthu paarkkira varaikkum’, followed by ‘Maya Nadhi Indru Maarbil Vazhiyudhe Thuya Naraiyilum Kaadhal Malaruthe’. A truly whistle-worthy moment.

The best things about Kabali are what are not found in the movie: flying rowdies, inserted comedy scenes, buffoons, an item song, etc. The storyline is explained within the first twenty minutes of the movie. Of course, this is nothing new; revenge is one of the most common themes in cinema, and Kabali is just another one in a million. The movie begins and immediately the plot is entered (even though the easiest path, voice-over, is taken) and progresses (slowly or quickly) without any distraction until the climax action scene in Neruppu Da.

The actor, few scenes, and the soundtracks.

Kabali is a slightly obvious mash-up of the ‘70s Hollywood crime movies. On the negative side, some scenes and characters do not connect with us. The most distracting part comes two or three times, i.e., the ‘emotion’ continuity miss. For example, the scene at the airport, which comes after the Chennai action scene as a continuation, does not have any link other than the costumes with the previous scene. This drastically changes the mood of the audience in a negative way, taking away even the lowest connection with the characters from the audience. Characterizations are thin on the ground; it’s a bit nutty. The characters are uninteresting apart from Kabali (Rajinikanth), even though Dhansika and Radhika Apte performed perfectly in the limited space.

It has violence with style by Rajinikanth, but an attempt is not made to make every death scene spectacular. Like Yun-Fat Chow movies, this isn’t that kind of film where the story takes primary presence. It is the character Kabali and his emotions which Ranjith wants us to follow. Rajinikanth did an amazing job depicting the character. It could have been just another mindless action flick, but the actor, few scenes, and the soundtracks give it some depth to make it a film worth watching.