Kochadaiiyaan

Hero taking revenge on Villain is the crux of Kochadaiiyaan.. What is different in the film is the technique used in the movie, which is absolutely new to Indian films and is definitely interesting. From the beginning to the end the movie keeps you hooked up with , thanks to our Superstar and his styles. I can clearly see with how much passion was this movie crafted. Likable and enjoyable characters ( Legendary actor Nagesh does a cameo and brings in lot of value ) . Simple yet top-notch dialog s. Known story yet, unique and refreshing in its own way. Even those simple scenes like Rajini s eye-contact engulf you with emotion. And, of course there is one huge plus for the movie. The background musical score. Cannot have a complete review of this film without penning few complements on the Maestro. There's nothing to do, every piece of music he creates is able to touch the deepest strings of our hearts. With a soundtrack that ranges from the epic tones to the mysterious ones he gives us another example of his limitless genius.

The story line of the film is interesting and has a touch of KS Ravikumar flavor all over. Nonetheless, you can't consider story as the best aspect of the film. Its the screenplay that ll keep you glued to seat till the end . The right combination of having the most stylish protagonist, a clever script , and a sincere effort to bring in new technology to Indian films , make this flick a blast from start to finish. The 3D technology is not used to its full potential here. This has been in the reckoning for quite a long time and this happens to be the first ingenuously made graphic movie using motion capture technology in India. Though it cannot be compared with the Hollywood flicks budgets it must be said that the hard work is seen and one can see the brilliance in visual effects. After seeing the trailer and few promos , I was a little skeptical of going to see this one. It surprised me though..it threw things at me that I wasn't expecting. To Sum up, it would be a inappropriate to say Kochadaiiyaan was awful, which its not, but despite having the one and only Superstar , its good, not great !!

When first announced, it came under several film titles/projects - from "Sultan: The Warrior" to "Rana" (to which is now a prequel/sequel) to finally "Kochaiidaiyaan". It was a brave attempt into a completely unknown territory.

With this, comes the risk one the project being a complete success or a complete failure. I am now thinking of it heading towards the latter, unfortunately.

With a beastly budget of $21 million which for a Tamil/Kollywood film is unprecedented, it would mean that the film would have to perform admirably at the box office the world over to even break even. At this moment in time, it is looking somewhat dim ; $7 million gross since release.

Let's get to the story - the story is, by movie standards, quite standard. Nothing the movie world has not heard before. I found the story quite interesting and with the usual 'love story' we always have in Tamil movies, this is quite refreshing. However, as the movie progressed, the story can be quite coagulated/rigid with little room for one's own interpretation, but thankfully at the end of it all, it does hold up just fine. The story is about kings/kingdoms and quite honestly, is not that often we see it in Tamil movies, so kudos to that. Unfortunately, the 'pitfalls' of a typical Indian movie is here - don't want to sound too harsh but the 'ridiculous' moments does occur. Riding a dolphin and being propelled into the air onto a ship ; really? Haha, quite hilarious but it is moments like this then make you go "What did just see?!" Potential meme in the making. There are other cringe- worthy moments as well, but I'll spare them.

The music - quite possibly the best part of the movie. A.R. Rahman did a brilliant job here (he narrate the Tamil version too). The songs are really good and worth listening over and over again. Highly recommended to purchase the audio CD.

The movie paces itself just fine. However, I felt that instead of a near 2 hours runtime, it should have been trimmed to just over 90 minutes, as with most animated feature movies. I didn't feel the movie 'stretchy' or 'overly long' for an animated movie.

Now comes the hard part - and the most talked about aspect of the movie - the CGI. Has anyone seen 2007's "Beowulf"? If yes, then anything less than this is going to draw criticism. Movie goers are not easy to please these days, and I consider myself highly critical of '...it could have been better' movies. "Kochaiidaiyaan" fails quite squarely in this regard. The CGI is easily 5-7 years behind the tech of the most advanced animated movies - I'm not talking "How to Train Your Dragon" or "Toy Story", but rather the more human-involved/realistic 3D animated movies - the easiest example would be Robert Zemeckis' motion-captured films ("A Christmas Carol", "The Polar Express", etc.). The opening sequence of the movie on the boat - it should have been either removed or simply redone. Not a good way to start the movie. Even video games have better visuals than that. There are certain areas that the CGI shines, Rajini looks the best with little dead eyes compared to other CGI rendered characters. The motion capture technology is there but there are some clunkiness to it. Compared to the ultra high budget "Avatar", the motion capture in "Kochaiidaiyaan" is about half way there. Facial expression and such only effective works in some scenes while others seem more generic/standard. Nothing special about the motion capture here. It's here, it's okay, and nothing to shout about. More work needs to be done to improve the CGI and the director, Soundarya needs to rethink how to do so - either an even bigger budget (which means a higher box office risk) or hire more skilled visual effects work force.

"Kochaiidaiyaan" is an entertaining yet flawed movie. It is a defining moment in Indian cinematic history. Any other full fledged animated movie will always be compared to this movie, for better or for worse. This is a great starting point, but the results isn't that good. Watch it if you are a fan of Rajini or someone who wants to see Indian cinema do something unique. You might be surprised if the movie induces tears in you - as in actually feeling for the characters. This is the part where no amount of tech can achieve, and it comes from the heart of the story. A good attempt. Keep up the good work. I still wholeheartedly prefer live-action to animated. While it is Super Star Rajini doing the acting, you still want to see him in live-action. On a side note, I really did appreciate the inclusion of a 'making of.../bloppers' at the end of the movie.

Me having at least minimum knowledge about how tough & challenging it is to make a film like this one, I can surely call it an 'EPIC', proudly! As I borrow the words of Amitabh Bachchan , "100 years of Indain cinema will now be called as 'After Kochadaiyaan' and 'Before Kochadaiyaan'" are so really true. Yes, this movie really deserves a great applause, ignore about how or what the story is but the attempt and hard work that went into the making of this film deserves an applause. People who do not have any knowledge about 'Motion Capture' should watch this film in the way it is shown and shouldn't call it a cartoon or something. The only flaw about the film is that there are some disconnected scenes in both the halves and maybe that is due to editing errors. Apart form that, the Cinematography , Sound , VFX and the other tech departments did their best.Super Star Rajnikanth was at his best and his hard core fans will enjoy the 'Shiva Thandav' part. The other actors did justice to their characters. The biggest asset is the Music and BGM by A.R. Rahman which doesn't bore you at any point in the film. The narrative was at good pace.There weren't many 3D shots, just few here and there in action sequences. Go and watch the film with your family, you'll surely enjoy it.

One may easily predict the graphic quality of Kochadaiiyaan, from the 2 min trailer as - "not up to the mark". They are not to be blamed, as Kochadaiiyaan stand below the fellow movies like Tin Tin, Avatar (as they claim). But what the people don't understand is that it is new to Indian Cinema as many of them have not heard of the technique before. Even the film is made in one of the Hollywood studios ( Centroid ) it failed to show the difference, may be they used their amateur techies for their small client (budget of the movie is just 125 crores Indian Rupee) . After all, as I said, it is a first attempt. But we have to admit that the production failed to understand- " First impression is the best impression".

Enough about the tech-quality !!!

Talking about the story, it is simple, crystal clear, don't-think-too- much-just-sit-and-enjoy type. For a movie hardly running to 120 minutes, what we need is a clear plot and bounding screenplay. I think the script writers knows it. It is an Indian movie, so expect some music numbers. Background score is done by Academy Award winning A.R.Rahman. RAJINIKANTH - the man made it once again. It is truly his own show right from the title card. We all know his voice can make wonders and yet it does. It is a treat to his large fan base in south India. So, altogether the movie is worth watching once in theaters. The movie is worth giving 7, but +1 for first attempt from freshers.

Kochadaiiyaan will mark a shift way we perceive Indian cinema. I came up with an open mind to accept the film on whatever the graphic quality but it stunned me to the core. Good content and full of my thalaivar all the way thru. Absolutely loved it being a die hard fan of Super star. I know that graphic was not up to Hollywood standard and I don't want compare it at all. What are the positive outcomes in India cinema -- Kochadaiiyaan is a welcome change to all run of the mill stories. I strongly believe that in years to come we can see many more producers willing to invest in Indian animations films and technologies. Coming back to film -- its been ~4 years to see my thalaivar on screen and I want this movie to be all-thalaivar stunts, dialogues, and dance moves. I came out of the movie with full satisfaction and time well spent. I will watch this movie again, again ... just for my thalaivar. Not to forget the performance other lead actors everyone did an amazing job and hats off to the director "Soundarya Rajinikanth" and writer "K.S. Ravikumar"