Leave your Baasha, Naayagan type gangster-savior movie expectations at home - Kaala is a totally fresh and rebellious take on contemporary India and the director's political milieu. As much as I looked forward to devour the thalaivar swag in its unlimited glory, Kaala comes in as a surprise - it's more of a director's movie than a superstar show. Continuing the Kabali momentum onwards to his next movie, Pa Ranjith has brought out the aging but fearless and realistic superstar in Rajini yet again, much to the gladness of his fans who still adore his 80's hits where he acted too! Superstar has showed excellent composure this time as the immigrant dharavi don who plays cricket with his grandkids and romances his wife old school style. Kudos to Rajini for sharing the screen space this time with a whole lot of supporting characters - much to the chagrin of his fans expecting a one man show it looks like. His onscreen chemistry with the relatively unknown Easwari Rao as his wife is excellent par realism, not to mention couple of fights and stand-offs in his signature style. All said and done, it's evident from the first frame that Kaala is an out and out director's movie. Even the signature BGM from Annamalai when they show Superstar Rajini on screen is done away with and the stage is set for the murky politics and social issues probing the slum dwellers. The movie is full of dalit and Ambedkar ideologies and the director has generously sprinkled an ample dose in the screenplay, even putting in subtle references all along the story line to communism, black panthers, Buddhism et al. As it is expected in the current political scenario, milking of the Dravidian ideology and the stand-off between Rajini's Black brigade and Antagonists white army is projected as the main motif for this flick. As the movie concentrates on the slum dwellers fight for land right from scene one, there is plenty of scope for hitting all out at the ruling party and the PM of course, Swachh Bharath, Digital India and the hindutva imagery finding enough space in the antagonistic universe. Nana Patekar is excellent as the silent and cunning Hari Dada - a stereotype Marathi nationalist who locks horns with Kaala over land and people. With all the political correctness that it strives to projects itself, Kaala too falls into the typical Tamil movie cliché of everyone speaking in Tamil in a Mumbai slum and the Marathi minister himself speaking fluent Tamil to everyone!
There was a video floating around a couple of days earlier related to the superstar and the Sterlite Plant fiasco - ironical to say the least - shows how different reel life can be from real life. Shoving the political interests of Rajinikanth aside, Kaala is definitely a milestone in the superstars acting career - maybe not in the best interests of the box office! Those who love Rajini the actor can definitely enjoy the flick!
