The popular notions are that super-hero films are strictly an American creation and that Martial arts films must come from China or Japan. However, in this genre-bending film from India you have BOTH types of film rolled into one!
Anand (Jiiva) loves martial arts and is exceptionally good at it. However, he also has trouble keeping his temper and ends up beating up a gang of tough guys right in front of the girl he wants to impress (Pooja Hegde). The trouble is that she sees him as a thug and never gives him a chance to explain his actions. So, he comes up with a crazy idea--to impress her with his skills by dressing up as a masked crime fighter! This is insane, clearly. However, in the process he ends up being pulled into the real world of organized crime (secretly operated out of the Dragon Kung Fu School) and actually helps the police catch a bad guy. But how can one hot- head take on an entire gang of hardened crooks. And, how can he ever get the girl--especially because later she comes to think he's shot Granddad?!
While much of this sounds very unconventional for a Bollywood or Tamilwood* film, it does also stick firmly rooted in Indian films in style. The typical romantic notion of love at first sight is a very common cliché in Indian romances. So, typical with this cliché, Anand is tenacious and it does eventually pay off. There also is the supposedly cute meeting where she attacks him (this is a TERRIBLE scene by the way and makes no sense at all). In real life, such behaviors could get either of them arrested or at least in serious trouble due to sexual harassment or assault! And, like most contemporary Indian films, it does have the obligatory song and dance numbers--though they are fewer than you would typically expect in such a movie. And, like some Indian production numbers, these ones feature some very odd locales and camera-work to say the least.
So is this odd melange any good? Well, yes and no. As I mentioned above, the scene where the lovers-to-be meet is really dumb and there is one scene with a robot--why the robot?! But, it also is hard to dislike as well. While the martial arts aren't as good as you'll see in the better Chinese films, the technique isn't that bad and makes for some exciting scenes--even if the baddies have the silly habit of attacking one at a time! Plus, with such an outrageous combination of film genres, it's really hard NOT to like the film despite a few deficiencies and I have a hard time believing that the movie has such a low current rating of 5.0 (this is well below average for all movies, which is probably closer to 6.5 out of 10 on IMDb for some unusual reason). Well worth seeing--particularly if you are looking for something unusual...and in so many ways, this is unusual.
*While the word Bollywood has been applied to all Indian films, the Bollywood films technically come from Bombay (Mumbai) and are typically filmed in Hindi. However, this is not the only film center in India and many are also made in Southern India in the Tamil language. "Mugamoodi" is such a film.
