#Darbar Review: Entertaining and engaging enough for #Rajini fans

Darbar has been in the limelight since the release of its very first news. The release of motion poster gave all the hype – just as it did for Petta – and since then the fever hasn’t subsided for Rajini fans.

With every update about the film, fans expressed their eagerness by trending hashtags on Twitter and whatnot!

The big day is here for Darbar and the movie has finally hit the screens in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi.

CastDirectionGalleryMusicOur Rating

Rajinikanth, Nayanthara

AR Murugadoss

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Anirudh Ravichander

3/5

Did Darbar stand up to the hype? Did it satisfy both Rajini fans and generic audience?

Read on…

The story line of Darbar is not anything new. It is about a cop (a mad cop) who is on a mission to destroy the drug trafficking activities of a mafia.

But what makes Darbar special is Superstar Rajini‘s swag, his charisma, and the screenplay that’s written just for him.

Rajini plays Aditya Arunachalam, a badass cop in Mumbai, who doesn’t follow “rules” to get his job done.

In the initial few minutes we are shown how mad he is towards eradicating the wrong doers and he does so by his own rules.

He also threatens the person from human rights commission who questions him on his unruly actions.

He is assigned the mission of eradicating underground activities including women and drug trafficking. In that mission he nabs Ajay Malhotra (Prateik Babbar) and puts him behind the bars.

When everyone is believing he is behind the bars, one fine day Aditya finds out that Ajay is not actually in jail and someone else has replaced him.

And so Aditya makes a plot to kill Ajay and succeeds in doing so.

The screenplay now takes a seemingly interesting twist that Ajay is actually the son of Hari Chopra (Suniel Shetty) who is not only an international criminal but also has killed a bunch of cops in a staged accident.

Now, Aditya locks horns with Hari and in the move, things get personal too – as Aditya loses her daughter Valli (Nivetha Thomas).

We also have a subtle romance track where Nayanthara appears as the love interest of Superstar.

Murugadoss has been careful in his writing and we are not denied the fact about Rajinikanth’s age. There are also references for the same in the movie.

The first half is filled with Rajini swag and is indeed a treat for Rajini fans and also for audience who are not specifically fans of Rajinikanth.

There are engaging scenes, action sequences and comedy in the right proportion.

The interval bang is brilliant. And we are left with so much expectation for the same kind of pace, action and emotions for the second half.

Unfortunately, the second half wanders off and fails to fulfil our satisfaction.

Suniel Shetty is given a lot of build up in the screenplay prior to his arrival. But when appears, he doesn’t get into much action!

He deliberately showcases himself as a not-so-equal rival for Rajinikanth. Murugadoss should have paid serious attention in writing the villain role as equally heavy and fit.

Rajinikanth carries the movie in his shoulders – in fact, as I already said, it is his swag, charisma and the “Thalaivar” factor that makes Darbar special.

He is fit and energetic for his age and has done a lot of homework.

Make up and costume artists deserve special applause for making the 70 year old legend actor so young and bubbly.

Nayanthara has very little to contribute to the movie as a whole, but in that limited space, she gracefully and beautifully delivers her performance.

Yogi Babu does justice to his role and gracefully delivers shamming jokes that work well.

Nivetha Thomas is perfect for the role and performs neatly.

Murugadoss has derived the inspiration for “mass” moments from Petta – though those in Petta were lit!

Darbar definitely falls back in that area when compared to Petta. And much of the action is over the top and unrealistic.

Not just the action, but we also get to see a lot of cinematic liberty and logical loopholes that are simply not acceptable.

Anirudh’s music nicely complements the action and mass moments on screen. Except Chumma Kizhi and Thani Vazhi, other songs don’t sit that well. Again compared to Petta, there is a lag here too.

Technically the movie is good. The camera angles are very good. Editing though, could have been better!

Had the writing been taken a bit more seriously and if the sequences have been paced well in the second half, Darbar would have stood up to the mark.

Nevertheless, it is still a highly engaging and entertaining movie for all the Rajini fans out there.

A Rajini fan or not, you can watch Darbar once as it is not so bad.