najib-02749

Great Tribute to Rajini, but could have been better

Like Petta, Darbar is yet another tribute to Rajini-isms, made by a Rajini fan, for Rajini fans.

Pros: 1. Rajini - This man still has his charms, style, persona and energy intact. Even in his 70s, this guys can still pull audiences to theatres to watch a typical mass action movie. Watch out for the gym workout scene which stands as a testament to his fitness, a great ode to the shirtless scene in Padayappa 2. Nivedha Thomas - Hands down the best performing actor in this whole movie. She successfully brings the emotional arc to the story. 3. Yogi Babu - After Vivek in Sivaji The Boss, finally Rajini has a good comedy sidekick after a long who can deliver counters and punches. 90% of Yogi Babu's jokes work in this movie and the director has used him adequately without overdoing his antics. 4. Make-up & Costumes - All characters in this movie look at their absolute best, especially Rajini and Nayanthara. Rajini's looks in this movie r even better than Petta. Kudos to whoever designed his costumes. 5. BGM - Anirudh has proven his mettle yet again with background score that elevates the scenes, especially the bit song & Bgm for the train station fight scene was marvellous. 6. Stunt Choreography - Though other reviewers are criticizing this aspect, I particularly enjoyed the fight scenes, especially the train station one

Cons: 1. Editing/Story flow - Darbar's story is quite generic - a ruthless cop takes law on his own hands to eradicate drug mafia and crime syndicate in Mumbai, invoking the wrath of several villains. But this story is adequate to churn out an entertaining mass movie. But what's puzzling is the jarring sequences. a. In the first 15 minutes, the scenes change quite abruptly without enough build-up for the hero's entry and the chumma kizhi song. b. I also don't understand ARM's intentions to reveal the 2 major plot twists to the audiences quite early and later on showing the backstory of how it happened. Because of this, the surprise factor went missing. c. The villain's backstory - that he burnt an entire police station and its police officers alive 27 years ago and fled Mumbai to become a drug lord - seems to be a crux for the entire story. But why is it only mentioned in passing and shown through split second flash sequences? This scene could have been set up as the opening act for the movie and story could somehow connect the hero to this particular scene (maybe his father is one of the police officers burnt alive and that's why he took on police officer role to seek revenge and to bring fear among drug lords etc.). This could also have been a good opportunity to show the younger versions of both Rajini and Suniel Shetty and establish a personal connect between the Hero and Villain. 2. Art Design - Darbar's production budget is said to be 180 crores (on par with Enthiran and Bigil) but in no way it looks that expensive. If Shankar or Rajamouli has spent this much money, they'll make sure they show it in every frame of their movie in terms of grand sets. For a story that is set in a dense state like Mumbai, not a single frame in the movie has shown the massive scale or population of the city. It's quite apparent they didn't shoot the movie in real locations and this affects the authenticity of the movie. The repetitious locations also cause a monotonous feel to the movie. At least the song sequences should have been shot in a different backdrop like the "Aathi" song in Kaththi which is pure VFX but adds a bit of color to the overall dull tone of the movie. 3. Dialogues - Unlike previous AR Murugadoss movies, this movie lacks Fiery, thought-provoking dialogues. Not even one clap-worthy punch dialogues from either the hero or the villain. 4. Lip Sync - For such a generic cop story, why does Murugadoss have set up the movie in Mumbai and hire a lot of non-tamil speakers as supporting artists? In the entire movie, only 5 actors (Rajini, Nayanthara, Yogi Babu, Nivedha and Sreeman) can speak Tamil. The rest are caricatures. Because of the lip sync issues, some crucial scenes lost its effectiveness. In many scenes, you will feel like you're watching a dubbed movie. The director should have just hired tamil-speaking actors for the important roles. Look at Baasha for example which was also set up in Mumbai. All the important actors in that speak fluent Tamil and especially the conversation between Hero and Villain is very effective. Imagine if some random Mumbai actor played the Mark Anthony role instead of Raghuvaran, the entire flashback episode of Baasha would have flopped. 5. Villains - The trend of having weak villains for Rajini continues yet again. Sivaji The Boss was the last Rajini movie to have a proper villain. Suniel Shetty, despite his expensive suits and trendy hairstyles, still look like a nice guy and hence, do not possess enough threats for Rajini. Nawab Shah, who played Vinod Malhotra (Villain #2) looks more effective and terrorizing than Suniel Shetty with his Hulk physique and deep voice, he could have played the main villain's role.

Overall though, a good follow up to Petta and treat for Rajini fans. I just wished the movie to be more wholesome satisfying like Sivaji The Boss

This movie is a remake of Telugu movie 'Temper' enacted by Jr NTR, about a corrupt police office reforming after a personal loss. Despite its flaws, it was a great commercial movie with good social message and enough scope for Heroism.

BUT

This character does not suit Vishal at all!! In many instances, you can notice he is trying too hard to imitate Jr NTR to be a corrupt police but.....he FAILS!

VIshal is more suitable for a positive, honest roles like in Satyam and Irumbu Thirai. Even the song 'Vera level', which is a remix of megahit Telugu song 'Blockbuster', requires a powerful fast dance choreography which VISHAL will definitely cannot match!

I personally think someone like SIMBHU or AARYA would have been a better choice to play this role. It's a missed opportunity!