Bigil Review: Vijay and Atlee’s strengths surpass the movie’s weaknesses

One of the much hyped movies of this year is the Thalapathy Vijay starer Bigil.

Since the first look poster was released, the movie went into a lot of controversies just like any other Vijay movie.

Despite all the hurdles, the movie has hit the screens today as announced.

Is Bigil a clean winner? Does the movie live up to the hype? Read on!

Bigil is all about Vijay. It is Atlee who takes up Vijay in his own hands and has delivered the best out of actor and the star for his fans.

And for non-Thalapathy fans, he has got other stuff like the commercial aspects and the emotions which have worked out well.

Having said that, Bigil is not a “clean” winner either. The movie has its downsides definitely.

But it seems that Atlee and Vijay manage to tie up the loose ends and manage to cover the flaws for the most part.

As with any movie, the romance part and a few other cinematic liberties look forced and hence add up to the run time of the movie.

However, for Vijay, fans would tolerate some of the forced mass moments that add to the length of the movie.

Rayappan (Vijay) is a do gooder in North Madras. He has a son Michael (Vijay) who is a great player. He is doing great and is about to achieve greater fame and that’s when he gives up.

He gives up his passion of playing because of a tragedy that occurred in his life.

The former sportsman Michael now settles as kind of a rowdy. Life gives him another chance when his friend Kathir (Kathir) who is a football coach is seriously injured.

Michael now takes up his place and has to coach a spirit-less women’s team, where the team members are not in a position to accept a rowdy like person for a coach.

How Michael proves himself to the girls, changes their attitude towards playing for the team and guides them to success is what Bigil is about.

The first half sounds a bit lethargic where Atlee takes his own time and pace to introduce the characters.

It is the second half where the story really kicks in and the movie builds up strongly on the emotions and commercial aspects.

Emotions are definitely a major strength of Bigil and Atlee has managed to get the combination of emotions, commercial aspects and the mass moments perfectly right.

Vijay shines in his performance in the dual character.

In the football matches, and in the stunt scenes, Vijay proves that he stays physically fit and is ageing gracefully.

Michael is definitely the character into which Vijay easily slips into and performs without much challenge.

Rayappan though, takes a bit more of effort to strongly portray its arc on screen. It is a character that’s given depth and shades and Vijay manages to pull it off.

At some places though, it seems as the actor Vijay struggles to emote Rayappan.

Nayanthara doesn’t have much to add to the movie apart from her star value and her screen presence. Nevertheless, the scenes involving her are a fun to watch.

And there are a handful of actors like Yogi Babu (whose comedy works out well), Vivek, Manobala, Daniel Balaji and the like who could have been used better.

Jackie Shroff’s character is quite one dimensional and not very interesting.

The girls playing the football players have done their job pretty well and their emotional stories add strength to the movie.

Singapenney is shot extremely well and works with its emotions and excellent choreography.

A. R. Rahman’s music is convincing for the songs. However in the BGM, he could have done better to elevate the mass moments, the football match scenes and also the fight sequences.

Editor Ruben has done his best, yet the movie stretches to a little less than 3 hours. His editing plays a crucial role in the stunt scenes and football match scenes.

Cinematography G. K. Vishnu’s is a big plus to the movie! The color palette used in the movie is brilliant.

Overall, Bigil is a decently made package that works great for die hard Vijay fans, and works pretty well for the generic audience too.

The movie has its drawbacks like the lethargic first half, shallow characters, forced up character arc and a few mass moments for Vijay, and of course the run time.

However, both Vijay and Atlee have teamed up to deliver a sure-shot entertainer that has the right mix of emotions (inclined towards women), commercial aspects, a “verithana” second half and of course the best of Vijay’s performances.

Bigil will make your Diwali enjoyable, if you manage to get your tickets, that is.