Billa 2 - The most expected film of 2012, not only because of Ajith Kumar but also for the character that he played. Thanks to the excellent marketing and promotional activities, the hype and expectations grew many fold. The trailers and teasers were a class apart from the other films, and the standard was expected to set the bar of commercial cinema several levels higher. A gigantic opening is ensured since it has Ajith but will it satisfy the audiences' expectations completely?
The film has a different set of artistes performing and making their debut in Tamizh cinema. First and foremost, the heart and pivot of the film Ajith is a magnet. He just pulls the attention of the audiences, even if he just walks or appears in a scene. His mannerism and appearance were stylish to the core. His usage of his eyes to convey emotions is a strength to his character. Of course, not to be missed is his daring stunt sequences, especially the fight in the helicopter. The charismatic and gorgeous actor, could have reduced his weight to look younger since this is a prequel, so that it is in tune with the first installment. Two leading ladies, Parvathy Omanakuttan and Bruna Abdalah make their debut here. Sorry to say, they don't have anything to offer except to showcase the rocking body, especially the latter. No dialogues, no scenes to emote. (Not their fault, though). Sudhanshu Pandey and Vidyut Jamwal make their debut as the antagonists. Sudhanshu prepared well for his role to look older than his age (kudos to him for dubbing himself) and Vidyut performed his deadly stunt scenes perfectly. But they too have nothing much to contribute or to make an impression. The rest of the cast, Yog Japee, Manoj K.Jayan, Rahman, Ilavarasu, Sriman, Sricharan, Rohit Khurana, Dinesh Lamba, Daniel Kaleb, E.Karthik, Janaki Sabesh, Sarath Mandava, 'Theepatti' Ganes and etc did what was expected from them. We get to also see some hot girls such as Meenakshi Dixit, Gabriela Bertante and Nicole Amy Madell appearing in the songs.
This film has very high technical work and they should be individually appreciated and for their wonderful work. Nithya and Rafi's costume designing was stylish, in order to make the lead artistes to look good and the style was not too contemporary keeping in mind, the period the script is set in. Choreograph by Raju Sundaram, Aadil Shaikh & Fareeda and Ahmed Khan was okay, and only "Madurai Ponnu" had good dance movements. The VFX work under the supervision of Madhu Sudhanan by Reliance Media Works, Tata Elxsi and Future works was okay as well but the sequence where a car was shot and burst into flames, had bad quality in graphics. Stephen Gomes' sound effects was brilliant, especially the action sequences where gun shots, machetes, bomb blasts and etc were recorded realistically. The highlight of the action sequences is the stunt. They were very well choreographed and neatly executed. German based Stefan Richter, Kecha Khamphakdee's Jaika Stunt team and K.Rajasekhar are the stunt choreographers and their stunts were in sync throughout the film and apt with the characters that they choreographed for. V.Selvakumar's production crew did well with the sets, be it the whore house, gun factory, small restaurant, club house and etc. The props used, especially cell phones, cars and weaponry were specifically designed keeping in mind with the older period since this is a prequel. Suresh Urs's editing could have been better by making the film look racier with the screenplay as it lags, though it runs for just above 2 hours. Cinematographer R.D Rajasekar has done an awesome job with the RED EPIC Camera. Every shot has good detailing and the camera gives the film a very glossy look, with right correction in the color tones. The sequences shot in Georgia was beautiful and R.D once again proves why he is the man to can action sequences. A search is always visible and that makes the action sequences look better. Definitely it will be one of his best work in his career.
Yuvan Shankar Raja's music especially the background score is good but there's nothing much of variation from the previous installment of 'Billa' and some portions reminds one of Hans Zimmer's score in 'The Dark Knight'. Songs are average though but the picturization was even more average though the RED EPIC camera was used. "Madurai Ponnu" was the best picturized with good lighting and art work with earthy colors and top of that hot girls as dancers with Meenakshi Dixit leading the troupe. "Idhayam" is a mellifluous song and one of the best compositions from Yuvan. It was picturized on Parvathy running in slow-motion along the beach with intercepts of her scenes prior to the song. "Gangster" song had Yuvan making his cameo but it was reduced to a mere credits song with intercepts of blooper scenes. "Yedho Mayakkam" the best dance number had awesome girls like Nicole Amy Madell and Gabriela Bertante with Ajith, Sudhanshu and Bruna as well but the concept was poorly etched out and was boring to watch. The color tone and lighting was good, though. "Unakkulle Mirugam" was shot with many scenes of Ajith showing his rise to the status of a don but it was infused with graphics, resembling graphic novel style used by Guy Ritchie in his 'RocknRolla' film. Though its an interesting idea, but it was totally unnecessary and an awkward thing to do. The "Billa 2 Theme Music" is a fantastic score from Yuvan and will be remembered for its haunting mood.
There is saying which goes like this, "Too many cooks spoil the broth" This film had the story written by Chakri Toleti, Eric Felberg (creative consultant) and Sarath Mandava (assistant director) and the screenplay was written by the same trio with an additional member in another assistant, Mohammed Jaffer. So did they "spoil the broth" indeed? Actually no. They did not even cook a broth!! What these four individuals can do, is to take the script of Oliver Stone's 'Scarface' and simplify or 'Indianize' it. Except for Ajith and Yog Japee, and Ilavarasu, the rest of them, all looked like caricatures. There's no strength in the characters and most of them are shallow. The film has no spark or zing or charisma and contains plenty of loopholes and unnecessary graphic violence. They should have realized that the film has grown from just a mere attraction of Ajith, to the intriguing factor of David Billa. Being a prequel, this film should have addressed how David Billa became the dreaded mafia of the underworld. Instead, we were just shown snippets of some photographs and the process of few dozens of shootings and man-slaughterings by Billa to raise his stake. There's no connectivity between the audience and the characters and no one understands why Billa is the kind of a person he is, which is what the main aim of a prequel should be! Instead we only get to see gun shots, bomb blasts, people dying and hot gals prancing around. The sad fact is that, the movie did not even evoke 5% of satisfaction which you get by watching the trailers. If there is any relief for the fans, it is the brilliant dialogues of Era.Murukan with the assistance of Mohammed Jaffer. The film is replete with stunning dialogues for Ajith and when he utters them, the effect manifolds.
Conclusion: Billa 2 - HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT.......
Ratings: 2/5 STARS
BY:TAMIL
.jpg)
