A few weeks before release, after a marathon discussion with some movie buffs till the wee hours of the morning, I sent a short note to an established director (withholding name), who laughed upon reading it. “Endhiran in a nutshell (prediction before release) - Story lifted from Hollywood, no originality, just extravagance by Shankar, bad acting by Aishwarya Rai, even worse dubbing, nothing but a visual effects super hero”.
The Indian media is quick to declare – Shankar takes Indian cinema to the next level. Hold on, Sir! Not so fast. To take Indian cinema to the next level, you first need to have a phenomenal story and screenplay. You then need to translate this to the screen without any glitches (both script and execution). In the process of doing so, the director needs to be careful not to allow his presence to overshadow the rest of the technicians. Each department needs to shine, and complement the other, without stepping on the others’ toes, and allowing the audience to be absorbed only in the story.
Besides this, to prove that you have taken Indian cinema to the next level, you need to pull it off with technicians only from home ground. Endhiran sees a collaboration with experts from Hollywood / world cinema in the departments of Visual Effects, Sound Effects, Make Up, Music Conduction, Art Direction and Costume Design. Only in terms of investment and production, the film has taken Indian cinema to the next level.
On second viewing, as you let the film sink in, you realize Shankar lets you down completely in terms of originality in story as well as phenomenal screenwriting. The single director who is exciting in terms of vision, grandeur and scale in India fails you with his story / screenplay. A few scenes / concepts are neatly copied from some old and legendary sci-fi Hollywood films. This has absolutely nothing to do with the original story by Sujatha, “En Iniya Endhira” (which has a phenomenal and original layout). There is simply not enough drama in the first half either to lead to the sequences of the second half and the characterization falls flat for every character other than the Robot’s.
You will notice that the director dominates the departments of cinematography and art direction. Both departments seem to lack some freedom with creative expression, and it’s the director’s fault, not theirs. A cinematographer like Ravi K Chandran who paints vivid hues on the screen, and translates the script to the screen with his own vision, would have taken the visuals several notches higher. And although cinematographer Rathnavel delivers as expected and is convincing, it is neither exotic nor mesmerizing, and there is visual inconsistency with regard to narration.
He is just the director’s eye, does what Shankar tells him to do, and gets away with usual frames and angles, with flat lighting which does not excite the viewer. Even considering the genre, and with massive CGI inputs, the cinematography has scope to deliver, yet it doesn’t. And this is simply because the “commercial” element is brought in, because of which there is no richness in the images. The atmosphere for visuals has also been destroyed, because the screenplay (situations and progress of story) and characterization are not gripping. Considering a good track record with celebrated cinematographers (Jeeva – Gentleman, Kadhalan and Indian, KV Anand – Mudhalvan and Sivaji, Ravi K Chandran – Boys, and V.Manikandan – Anniyan) with his films, Shankar has no excuse to miss out on this one.
The director’s presence is felt in the cinematography, and while the job is to make everything look beautiful, it stops with that. If a cinematographer is not given his creative freedom, you will see the results on screen, and this is what happens in the case of Endhiran. A lot is gotten away with midday shots, with barely any scope to prove skills with lighting, and you are disappointed because you expect the images to stay with you long after you have seen the film, yet it doesn’t.
It is Sabu Cyril’s most exquisite piece of work till date, and considering the genre of the film, the sets are not overbearing, but glossy and pleasing to the eye. Sound designer Resul Pookutty maintains his reputation as a genius, and because of him, your mind will dance to the rhythm as you watch it on the big screen (although it gets a tad overbearing in the climax). Both departments use inputs from wizards in the West.
Full marks to the production team for flawlessly executing this mind numbing scale of investment, and a big thank you to media mogul turned producer Mr.Kalanidhi Maran for investing Rs.162 crores, because of which audiences have a real feast watching this magical extravaganza on the silver screen. It is hard to execute a film with such an investment, and more so to keep track of the money besides making sure it reaches the screen without a hindrance. Songs wise, only “Arima Arima” and the robot musical “Chitti Dance” sweeps you off your feet. The former with all its grandeur, great visuals, sets and the power of the Superstar, and the latter for its cute portrayal of the Robot dancing (which rocks), with its lady love.
As is the director’s intention, you will fall insanely in love with the cute robot and the ultra cool and stylish villain “Chitti”, aided with some brilliant body language, voice modulation and dialogue delivery by the Superstar, with his oh so powerful screen presence. But you will silently suffer with the rest of the casting and their performances, especially Rai’s (who is more interested in how she looks, rather than performing, and contributes to the film only with good dancing skills for the songs – A complete waste of Rs.7 crores towards her remuneration).
The crass humour and several lame scenes should have never reached the screen. Editor Anthony has a good track record, but in Endhiran, his creative inputs are missing a great deal. He is just not sleek or sharp enough with his tools, because of which the film falls flat in several parts, and gets quickly tiring to watch. A single editor for a film on this scale is not a wise choice, and Shankar needed to have hired a couple of specialist editors, to make the action sequences exciting and fast paced.
As far as visual effects are concerned, only a concept artist is used from Hollywood (Maury Ruiz – The day the earth stood still, Star Trek), and the rest of the team is from Hong Kong and India. The team still does an excellent job, because it is painfully difficult to execute work of this kind. Yet the complete conceptualization from Maury Ruiz is not exploited to the fullest, and you will notice several glitches in some areas (not to the common man).
The film is only about Rajnikanth, Rajnikanth and Rajnikanth. The initial creation Robot Chitti jokes, and you laugh. He delivers a baby, and you cry. He saves the girl from a group of baddies, and you cheer. The villain Robot Chitti laughs an evil laugh, and you still cheer. He romances the girl, and you are happy for him. The villain beats the cops hollow, and you continue to cheer. The Superstar gives life to the Robot, and you root for both the initial creation and the villain. How many actors can really pull that off?
But in looking at the scale of the film in technical terms and execution, Shankar forgot to spend a couple of the ten years in writing a ground breaking script. You only wish it was the original and gripping story by writer Sujatha, “En Iniya Endhira” that was translated to the screen. In terms of investment, planning, execution, grandeur, scale, vision and technically, Endhiran may be India’s best (hats off for the effort, and for pulling it off), but in terms of writing and directing, Shankar has seen better days with “Indian” and “Mudhalvan”.
Had it been the strong script of “Mudhalvan” made on the same scale today, with the Superstar in the lead, instead of Endhiran, it would have been the combination of compelling storytelling aided with technical brilliance. In turn, it would have been a bigger blockbuster, created an even bigger frenzy, and Tamil Nadu would have seen a complete shut down for a week, to worship their demi God.
Shankar not only lets you down, but he lets himself down, because he had the money and the time, and he didn’t work on the story and screenplay. A masterpiece/ground breaking/ great film is one that you can watch countless times and marvel at. Endhiran is tedious to watch even on second viewing, and is such a phenomenon only because of the Superstar. With any other actor in the lead, the film would have fallen flat. Endhiran is a production super hero with a poor screenplay.
Scoreboard (On a scale of 10 each)
Story/Screenplay – Nil (Considering time and money)
Direction - 4
Production Team – 10
Casting Department – 10 (Only for the Superstar, rest are Nil)
Acting – 10 (Only for the Superstar, rest get Nil)
Cinematography – 5
Production Design / Art Direction - 10
Editing - 5
Visual Effects - 6
Sound Effects - 8
Lyrics - 7
Songs Composition - 6
Background Score - 7
Playback Singing – 10
Creative head / Presentation/ Marketing – 10
Costume Design – 10
Make Up – 9
Dance Choreography – 10
Stunt choreography – 7
Dubbing (For non Tamil speaking actors) - 3
Swarupa Pillaai
(With inputs from Antony Pillai, Amuthan Vethanayagam, Vikarnan Ashok and Shivakumar Raghavan)
