BOTTOM LINE
Lengthy pain.
CENSOR
“U” Certified,174 mins.
OUR RATING
What is the film about?
Lingaa is story of Lingeswaran (Rajinikanth), one who saves the village of Singanoor and becomes a demi-god for them.
Performance by Rajinikanth?
Rajinikanth is a delight as usual. Despite his age showing he manages to hold the show single headedly from the beginning till the end. All his styles and mannerism are at full display which need not be mentioned specially again. There is a minor complaint though about punch dialogues which are missing in the film.
Direction By K.S.Ravi Kumar?
Director KS Ravikumar is a veteran at making this kind of hero centric films with stories specifically designed to the strengths of the respective hero. That is his gift usually but the problem with Lingaa is that the story takes a backseat or rather the story is used to simply peddle the greatness of the star, which is Rajinikanth here. The whole story crumbles due this as the story fails to engage the audience due to the other offhand and sometimes direct messages.
Sonakshi Sinha,Anushka, Santhanam and others performance?
Sonakshi Sinha and Anushka have decent roles in the film that revolve around hero, that is typically seen in a big hero film. It is no different here but one must at least feel happy that they are given roles that drives the plot in whatever little way possible. Among the two Sonakshi has better written role but the impact is still missing. the fact that one doesn’t even remember Jagapathi Babu at the end is enough to say the role the actor has been given and what he has done in the film. K Vishwanath has better role than Jagapathi Babu but there is only so much he can do. There are few other characters but they don’t make that much of an impact.
A.R.Rahman and other departments?
Music by AR Rahman has been a disappointment even before the release of the film. One expected the background score to save things for him but for the first time the music director has majorly under-delivered for a Rajini starrer. It could be time constraints or any other issue but it is poor. Even the punch dialogues that one generally expects in a Rajini film are missing here. There are a number of message oriented dialogues which generally tend to be subtle but there effect is over pronounced here as the other punch dialogues fail. Cinematography is superb. Editing is a decent.
Highlights?
Rajinikanth.
Story.
Train fight.
Drawbacks?
Too lengthy.
Music and BGM.
Gets preachy many times.
Climax.
Alternative take:
Lingaa has a decent story that could have made for an engaging movie. The first thing one could do is trim the length of the film. And then get some fun Rajini moments. Given the story and presence of Rajinikanth these small changes could have had a big impact on the overall proceedings.
Did I enjoy it?
Yes, in parts.
Will you recommend it?
Only if you are a hardcore Rajini fan.
OUR RATING
Reviewed by Siddhartha
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