Lingaa Movie Review

Cast: Rajinikanth, Anushka, Sonakshi Sinha, Santhanam, Jagapati Babu, Dev Gil, Karunakaran, Brahmanandam, Radha Ravi, Vijaya Kumar, Sundar Rajan, Manobala and Others

Cinematography: Rathnavelu

Music: AR Rahman

Editing: Samjith

Art Direction: Amaran

Production Designer: Sabu Cyril

Stunts: Lee Whittaker

PRO: Riaz Ahmed

Story: Pon Kumaran

Screenplay & Direction: KS Ravikumar

Produced by: Rock Line Venkatesh

Banner: Rock Line Entertainments

Distribution: Eros International & Vendhar Movies

Release Date: 12-12-2014

Run Time: 02:56:00

With massive expectations from fans, Lingaa exploded onto huge number of screens across the globe thanks to the duo, KS Ravikumar – Rajinikanth’s previous blockbusters – Muthu and Padaiyappa. Both are milestone films in Rajinikanth’s career and propelled his stardom and performance to a different level. Will the duo live up to the expectations? Let’s find out in our Lingaa Movie Review below.

Lingaa – In a nutshell

A quintessential KS Ravikumar brand of cinema in all respects, smartly shouldered by the Rajinikanth phenomenon. The story-line is overflowing with all the gamut of emotions you would usually associate with a KS Ravikumar film – a loaded, fun-filled first half, an emotionally stirring flashback sequence, customary placement of songs, and of course, the inevitable, ceremonious cameo from the filmmaker towards the fag end. And the film has everything to satisfy the extremely loyal Rajinikanth fans – finger pointing skyward, inimitable dance steps, gravity-defying stunts, dashing handiwork of sunglasses, alluring smile, hair-raising slow motion shots of Thalaivar’s elegant gait and the philosophically rhyming punch-lines. So, if you go to watch the film to witness the Rajinikanth mania, you’ll be pleased. Otherwise, the cineaste in you will not be assuaged.

Story-line: 

Year 1939: After witnessing a family suicide caused by famine in a village called Solaiyur, Raja Lingeswaran (Rajinikanth) turns a messiah and builds a dam for the people to provide them and their generations a fruitful future. But due to the most scheming officials of the British East India Company, Raja Lingeswaran, after the completion of dam, is accused of plotting against villagers and forced to leave the village to not come back forever.

Present: An unfortunate situation makes the village head (played by ace filmmaker K Vishwanath) search Raja Lingeswaran’s grandson (Lingaa) and bring him back to Solaiyur to resolve a mysterious murder. Will Lingaa rescue the village like his grandfather? Read the Lingaa Movie Review further.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The first half is fuelled majorly by Santhanam’s moderately funny wisecracks and his camaraderie with Rajinikanth. Karunakaran and Santhanam play perfect sidekicks to Rajinikanth, who earns a living by doing petty thefts. Anushka as a press reporter delivers a measured performance. The pretentious romance sequences between Rajinikanth and Anushka are indeed dreary. Oh Nanba, the opening song and Mona Gasolina, Anushka’s duet song with Rajinikanth, have eye-candy setpieces and look toppingly impressive. The flashback sequence begins exactly at the film’s one-hour juncture with the dazzling introduction of Raja Lingeswaran followed by an expertly choreographed train stunt sequence by Lee Whittaker.

The second half hauls to the emotional part of the story with applaud-producing dialogues delivered by Raja Lingeswaran in an arrogant style. Sonakshi Sinha, surprisingly, fits well into her role set in the pre-independent portion and makes an interesting debut as a demure village belle. The huge supporting cast comprising seasoned performers like Radharavi, Vijayakumar, Ilavarasu, Manobala, R Sundararajan and others have chipped in with good, matured performances and Jagapathi Babu looks like one of the weakest protagonists for Rajinikanth. The most frowning part of the film is the 15-minute long climax sequence, which looks outrageously cringe-worthy and is an ultimate let-down.

Unlike KS Ravikumar – Rajinikanth’s previous outings, Lingaa has an unexciting storyline with less elements of thriller, but it does offer an entertaining movie-watching experience in a small-scale. Randy (Rathnavelu) has captured the lush greenery landscapes of the village and the pristine waterfalls outstandingly with mighty support from ace art director Sabu Cyril. Randy’s gorgeously deft top-angle and wide-angle shots set the atmosphere in the pre-independent era superbly. AR Rahman’s background score is adequate but the composer blatantly misses to leave a mark, which he had done in previous Rajinikanth films. Editor Samjith could have definitely trimmed the length by a comfortable ten minutes or so to steer clear of the unhurried second half.

Kudos to KS Ravikumar for pulling off a film with an all-star cast and crew with huge production values in a short span of time. There is more to learn from the tough taskmaster for young filmmakers.

Lingering Lines from Raja Lingeswaran

• Oru vela sapdalana onnum illa, ‘oru vela kooda’ sapdalana thaan thappu
• I have not failed. I just postponed my success
• Naama evlo uyaraththula irunthaalum, naama padukra edam namma uyiram thaan

Also check our video review :

Lingaa Movie Review Rating : 3/5.0