RAJA RANI MOVIE REVIEW

'Raja Rani' has been making quite some buzz since its inception due to all the big names associated with it. Produced by none other than A.R Murugadoss, who collaborates with Fox Star Studios (the Indian subsidiary of 20th Century Fox) for this rom-com. Directed by a newbie Atlee, who has assisted Shankar in 'Endhiran' and 'Nanban' and also known for his YouTube-hit short-film 'Mugaputhagam', it has the best of casting with good-looking artistes and best of upcoming technicians, behind-the-scenes. Hence, does 'Raja Rani' justify all the hype and buzz it bombarded in the medias ?

First, things first. Let's start off with the lead pair Arya and Nayanthara. Arya oozes charm and wits in his role. He is at total ease with the character he plays, but the actual plus point is his performance and matured handling of the emotional scenes. And the ladies' guy, shares great rapport with both heroines featured in the film. This film would have been a piece of cake for Arya ! Nayanthara made a perfect comeback to Tamizh cinema, after a three-year hiatus. A very composed and heartfelt performance from her. She definitely has the advantage of enacting the best-written role in the film, but still credits to her for pulling it off easily. Definitely, one of her career-best performance, thus far. And its an undeniable fact that she is the actual fulcrum of the movie.

Jai, makes a splendid appearance as the naive, innocent, timid Surya. His antics were good relief in the first-half, and his voice modulation as well as dialogue delivery complements the nature of his character. The latest sweetheart of Tamizh cinema, Nazriya Nazim has one of the 'cutest' heroine introductory scenes in Tamizh cinema ! The girl personifies cuteness and proves her mettle in dishing out typical bubbly-crazy Tamizh cinema heroines, perfectly. Sathyaraj plays the uber-cool urban dad, many teenagers and youths would die to have one for themselves. His stylish make-over looks very refreshing on-screen. Santhanam, has his right balance of emotional scenes as well, and he delivers it finely. But nonetheless, his comic is brilliant as usual, especially in the flashback sequences, featuring him in an odd-wig, with a Rajni-type mannerism. Sathyan was terrific with his comic timing and complemented Jai, very well. Rajendran's suave avatar was a crackling surprise and the other characters such as Manobala, Singamuthu, Dhanyaa Balakrishnan, Wang, Arun Raja, Misha Ghoshal and etc did their parts well.

Atlee has appointed four various costume designers for the film and each of them, Deepali Noor, Chaitanya Rao, Sathya N.J and Kavisa Rebello, should be congratulated for their excellent work in the costume department. All the artistes were looking at their best, be it in any scenes. The heroines were stunningly pretty, especially ! Dhilip Subbarayan's action choreography was simple and neatly executed. T.Muthuraj's production design was of A-grade ! The setting, be it for ordinary or for the songs, everything looked colorful, fresh and sparkling. The posh apartment setting, or even the middle-class home setting was very minutely done, in detailing. A swanky environment is what you get and feel for most of the film's duration. Very good job, T.Muthuraj ! Ruben's editing could have been better, especially with the lengthy climax portions, though his edits are fine for the songs. The real hero of the film is definitely the cinematographer. A sure-hot, next hot-property of Tamizh cinema, George C.Williams captures the sunlight beautifully and his color-palette usage were just terrific ! Brilliant visuals and deft camera-handling. The next big cinematographer has just arrived !

G.V Prakash Kumar's songs were complementary for the setting and mood of the script. "A Love for Life" theme music plays in the opening sequences, which had the church wedding scene. The framing and photographic-shots were just too good ! "Hey Baby" has good montages between Arya and Nayanthara and then transcends into a drunkard-song type, with even Gaana Bala making a sneaking cameo appearance. The second part of the song was shot in dark, dead-night streets of Chennai. "Chillena" was shot on Jai and Nayanthara, and had plenty of sequences, shown in montages. The usage of sun light and color by George C.Williams, in the opening portion of this song was catchy. "Unnale" is a bit-song, also shot on Nayanthara and Jai, with different backdrops of each character, shown interspersing. "Oday Oday" was shot on a lavishly decorated Binny Mills and was picturized on Arya and Nazriya. The colorful sets and costumes, complemented the mood of the song well. "Imaye Imaye" was shot on Arya and Nayanthara, and was used as a situational song, with a couple of montages, edited well. G.V Prakash Kumar handles the background score very well too and definitely 'Raja Rani' would be one of his best works, collectively. 

Now, the theme of life after love is not something unique nor novel. This same theme has been handled by greats such as Mahendran and Mani Ratnam in their films, 'Nenjathai Killathey' and 'Mouna Ragam' respectively. The only difference is that, such a themed film was missing all the while for the current generation of social network-crazed youngsters. Atlee shows maturity in the way he handles his artistes and getting the best from them. But the hallmarks of a good director-in-making, does not stop with that alone. The actual crux, which is the script, has plenty of flaws and weaknesses, in terms of logic and organic, emotional development. The foundations are there, but Atlee fails to establish a strong reason for the lead pair to overcome their past relationships and to accept their new life-partner. If you are to watch this film in hindsight, you could actually realize the amateurish writing and the kiddishness of the theme's presentation. The film has its own good moments and sequences and a couple of well written dialogues, but it just ends there. The flick fails to actually satisfy the rom-com genre its supposed to be and its only a rom-com in partitions. The long-drawn out climax is a turn-off as well, and there are some discrepancies in the character development aspect. As for Arya and Nayanthara, though this film did not do any sort of damage to their respective careers, such films can be avoided, as they have progressed ahead with more challenging and varied roles.

'Raja Rani' - A misguided, supposedly rom-com, with fantastic production outputs. A fairly good rating, only because of the technical outputs artistes' contribution.


Ratings: 3/5 STARS

BY:TAMIL