ROBO -- MOVIE REVIEW

Dream big so that you can achieve big is an age old and cliched saying.
How big can one dream and conceptualise it on the silver screen??

Hollywood had always the legacies of Visionaries who dreamed big and conceptualised it on the big screen in a fascinating way.

Whether its George Lucas for the Star Wars Series, Spielberg for his whole range of movies from Duel to the recent Indiana Jones or James Cameron -- the man who sets new bench marks in any film he attempts.

The list goes on and on.

When it comes to Indian movies, due to the market limitations, the budget constraints, the pressure from the producers and their entire career in question if such attempts go wrong, directors don't tend to conceptualize their dreams on a very grand scale.

Even when they do, they stick to their entertainment basics right and try only a couple of sequences that are path breaking or extraordinary due to the fact that their movie would be safe and risk free even if the outcome of such scenes go terribly wrong as the movie's entertainment would save it from sinking.

Some attempts by sub standard directors to plan something on large canvas were colossal disappointments like the abhishek bachan starrer DRONA, the much hyped under water adventure movie BLUE and even this list has no end to it.

But for ROBO, the director in picture is Shankar, the one who has tags like extremely talented director, most expensive film maker in India and the one director who is always addicted to plan and execute things on a grand scale.

Did such director succeed in his attempt to execute his long standing dream when the biggest superstar in the country, world class technical teams were a part of the project...Well Read on..

The Movie Story is very simple and formulaic.

A scientist creates an andro-humanoid that is his exact replica, the consequences that arise from giving him the power to conceive human emotions at a later point of time form the basic crux.

Performance wise Rajinikant gave a controlled performance as a scientist, commendable(sometimes his trade mark performances) in the other roles.

Rest all performances from actors like Danny etc are OK, nothing great or worth mentioning.

Its the technical team that deserves every praise for the movie.

Animatronics (Animation + electronics) done by Stan Winston Studio are terrific.

Visual effects by Industry Light & Magic are first rate.

Camerawork is exemplary..Ratnavelu has done a fantastic job in each and every scene.
(Camerawork in the first duet is breath taking for the way its shot)

Art direction is another asset.Every set is Lavish, grand and an eye feast.

Action choreography by Internationally acclaimed, renowned Hong-kong martial arts expert Yuen Woo ping is breathtaking in most of the scenes and just average in the chase scene in the second half.

Music and back ground score are good too.

Songs are picturised so lavishly that in most of the cases you forgive the lyricists for giving such double entendre lyrics.

Editing is the only department where the work could have been better.

Coming to the Screenplay and direction by Shankar..

Screenplay in the first half is entertaining and racy where as it slows down in the second half due to few lagging moments.

Direction for most of the sequences is good, while some could have been better and the others coould have been avoided.

The title sequences have typical Shankar's mark on them.

The Positive points in the movie are Rajinikanth (It's his one man show as always) , the techincal team, entertainment in the first half, the last 30 minutes and the grand production values making each and every scene so lavish and picturisque.

Coming to the negative points,
Aishwarya Rai is the biggest minus.
She looked old, her action is so plastic and she did not add any value to the movie except to the financial burden on the producer.
Probably, the only reason to cast her is to market the hindi version of the film.

Dialogues written by Sri ramakrishna are so silly, like usage of "Prema Raddhu" for "Break-Up" and many more..
Dude, WTF, if you only need to true translate dialogues from tamil what is the necessity for a dialogue writer.

Romantic scenes look forced and lack the chemistry, probably shankar failed in this department or he felt uncomfortable to dictate such scenes to Rajni and aish the way he wanted.

Songs appear as speed breakers especially in the second half.

Dubbing to Rajnikanth by Mano is another minus since most of the times it does not gel with Rajnikanth's flow of expressions except for the pre-climax scenes.

15-20 minutes of the movie can be trimmed to make it compact and precise.

Robo is one such movie where Shankar did not compromise in most of the sequences that need technical brilliance but there are a few sequences script wise where he could have done a lot of work on..

It is difficult to execute such a movie given the complexity of the technical aspects but Shankar could have thought that this would be his golden chance with Kalanidhi Maran backing it.

Watch Robo at your leisure.

But dont miss it.

It is not a bad film at all.

It has its share of entertainment and moments not to miss out for.

At the same time, it is not an edge of the seat thriller or a once in a life time roller coaster ride.


P.S :- I expect the tamil version of the movie to be much better given the factors
like Lyrics, Dialogues and Actors dubbing their own voices.
It would surely add more value to the movie.