Petta Review: A movie that you can fully enjoy and get Rajinified

We have been missing the vintage Rajinikanth for quite a while now.

Though he has been doing films of varieties in the recent years none of them stroke the chord. 

2.0 did entertain us but that’s a different thing. Die hard Rajini fans have been missing him – his charm,  charisma and style on screen for quite some time. 

Karthik Subbaraj, being a die hard Rajini fan himself,  quenches the thirst of Ranjini fans.

He brings back the Rajini of older times but with a fresh breath of air. We could acknowledge connections to the major old time movies of the super star like Baasha, Annamalai, Chandramukhi and the like.

The names of the characters too are smartly done the same way. Rajini plays Kaali who joins as a college hostel warden.

The film takes a bit of sweet time to establish itself. 

Kaali spends time setting things right in the hostel campus. We get some dose of Super Star’s punches,  advices,  action sequences and so on in this phase of the movie. 

It is good that he mouthes dialogues to create awareness among the youth by addressing health issues (like cigarette smoking is not good for health), and certain social issues.

There are a few subtle political references too cleverly relating to his political entry.

While Kaali is busy setting things right and romancing in the college premises, we also get to know that he has some unsettled revenge to take care of. And so we the villain and his son in the picture.

There is a flashback with the backstory that lead to the revenge, and how Kaali locks horns with the villain and settles the revenge forms the rest of the story.

We have a handful of stars in the movie and that’s indeed a big plus to draw audiences attention. However, except a couple of stars other than Rajini, their characters are underwritten and they don’t have much of screen space either.

We expected a bit more screen time for the ladies Simran and Trisha.

Vijay Sethupathi‘s characterisation is somewhat better done compared to that of the others and he doesn’t fail to capture our attention as the villain’s son.

The villain’s (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) character is so underwritten that it doesn’t stand as a perfect opponent to the mass hero.

Sasikumar appears as Rajini’s friend in a Baasha-like flashback.

We do have twists in the screenplay and Karthik’s trademark surprise towards the climax. These make the movie engaging throughout without boring us.

Nevertheless, we do have some lag in the tempo at the beginning of the second half. There are some stretched out scenes too.

However, we shall comfortably ignore them as Rajini himself fills the screen time with his charm and charisma.

Anirudh’s songs definitely add to the pep of the movie and so does the background music. It is really a challenge to backup and complement a hero who has been the Super Star for decades and Anirudh has done that exceptionally well.

Tirru’s cinematography has added the necessary colors and charm to the movie and the shots are cleverly placed during the stunt scenes. 

Overall, Petta is all about the Rajini on whom his fans ran after crazily – the Rajini of good old times with all charm and energy.

Go watch Petta in theatres and get Rajinified.