Urban Guru

First, some relevant gyaan - never watch a Rajnikant movie any later than 2 days after its release!! Failure to comply will result in the movie being totally spoiled for you by everyone from your office colleage to the neighbourhood "kaigari-kaaran". Luckily, the suspense part of Chandramukhi is not the "point".


So, I finally watched my first Rajni movie in a theater, yesterday. And while I already knew how it would end, I totally enjoyed the experience. Although the theater crowd itself was surprisingly well-behaved for a thalaivar movie, the entertainment-factor was at an all-time high!

We havent had a tamil "haunted-house" movie in a long time!! And although I knew this wasnt a horror movie, I still hoped that the movie would shell out a couple of chills - it delivered...AND HOW!!!

• FREAKY FINAL ACT. The last 15 mins of the movie are pretty damn creepy! The beginning of the song where she sings "Ra Ra" is going to give me sleepless nights for some time now!


• PLEASANTLY FUNNY. There were a lot of funny moments throughout the movie - most notably the homage to Nagesh's "ghost" bit in "Kadhallika Naeramillai". And while they didn't make me ROFL, like the 2 scenes in Mumbai Express... they WERE chuckle-worthy.


• BEST RAJNI INTRO EVER? IMHO... no. I'm partial to the rain fight at the start of Dalapathi.


• CROWDED HOUSE. There were WAY too many people on screen for many of the scenes! Minor point, but I found it pointless and distracting. Many unwanted characters, and it felt a little like a Tamil "mega-thodar" with 10,000 people vying for the camera's attention.


• THE SONGS. They're really not as bad as some of the reviews I've read and heard. I don't understand why people hate it so much.


• MALAYALAM VERSION CREEPIER?? Man, if that is true I'm definitely checking it out!! I think we've established that I am something of a horror movie buff, and I'm glad that they got someone like Rajni to act in a "genre" pic. Yes, this is NOT your conventional Thalaivar movie! And it works!


• SOMEONE MAKE ME THAT PINK KITE, PLEASE! If I manage to get my hands on one of those kites with the yellow heart and the dagger through it, I'm hanging it up on my wall!!


• SIMRAN WAS SUPPOSED TO BE IN THIS????? Oh man!!!! Why oh why did she pull out?? That would have rocked !!

The bottom-line is this: Chandramukhi is not a "novel" concept by any stretch of the imagination - the whole "ghost" story funda is a part of our very culture! But, its a refreshing change from the 1001 romantic movies that flood our theaters these days. I only wish they had stuck with the "possession" concept, instead of playing the "schizo"-card, which, in the words of Charlie Kauffman is "The only idea more overused than serial killers...". My guess is that they felt MPD is a more "realistic" idea than "GhostS"...but hey, if they think Rajni can pass off as a 30-something young doctor, then we can safely state that they have sailed FAR away from the shores of realism. Oh, and if you feel I have ruined the plot for you, you will soon realise (like I did) that that is NOT the point. All said and done, Chandramukhi is a highly entertaining movie and you will definitely get your money's worth. Rajni has proved yet again that he is here to stay for many years to come, and for his future ventures I wish him the very best of Luck-a-luck-a-luck-a-luck-a-luck-a. (3.5 out of 5)