When Lingeshwaran, a petty thief and the long-lost grandson of a pre-independence era ruler is brought back to his hometown, he discovers not just his roots but also strives to uphold the name of his grandfather. How he does that and his grandfather’s glorious past is what unfurls as ‘Lingaa’.
Language:
Tamil
Running Time:
176 min
Rating:
U
Release date:
12 December 2014
Directed by:
K. S. Ravikumar
Produced by:
Rockline Venkatesh
Written by:
K. S. Ravikumar
Pon Kumaran
Starring:
Rajinikanth
Anushka Shetty
Sonakshi Sinha
Santhanam
Karunakaran
Jagapati Babu
Dev Gill
Music by:
A. R. Rahman
Shot by:
R. Rathnavelu
Editing by:
Samjith Mhd
Distributed by:
Eros International

What’s Hot

  • ‘Rajinikanth’, the charmer and the people’s entertainer, still commands the same screen presence that elevated him to the throne of Tamil cinema. With him around, there doesn’t seem to be a dull moment. Be it the ‘Royal descendant’ turned Engineer cum Collector of the British era or the thief-turned-good-Samaritan of the current age, he exudes supreme confidence and carries the whole movie on his shoulders.
  • Rathinavelu’s camera is a big asset & doesn’t let down. The opulence and grandeur of the pre–independence period shown through top-angle and wide-angled shots and the depiction of the contemporary age does not go unnoticed. The action sequences choreographed on the train by Lee Whitaker deserve a special mention
  • Anushka Shetty and Sonakshi Sinha fulfill the roles of the female leads. While Anushka does have very limited scope with her run-of-the-mill role, Sonakshi’s tamil debut will indeed be a memorable one. She emotes better than many other female leads we have presently in the Tamil industry. Santhanam, K. Viswanath, Ilavarasu, Radha Ravi, Vijayakumar, R.Sundarrajan round up the supporting cast and these seasoned actors add value with their regular yet natural expressions
  • The dialogues which have a philosophical touch deserve a special mention. They are on their own great to hear and when spoken by the Superstar, the words never fail to mesmerize us.

What’s Not

  • K.S.Ravikumar has been lauded as a commercial-movie seller and even by his standards Lingaa falls well short of expectations. One does wonder whether the whole movie was scripted in a rush and the scenes were shot in a hurry. The climax sequence is a huge let-down for a movie that boasts of some of the biggest names in the industry. It is a brutal assault on our senses.
  • The songs don’t really seem to fit into the movie and one feels that they have been squeezed in to make up for the running time and A.R.Rahman’s background score doesn’t really stand-out either unlike his previous outings for the Ravikumar-Rajinikanth combo.
  • Scenes where the lip movements don’t sync with the words are a real turn-off. There is one scene towards the climax where Santhanam mouths a dialogue with his lips sealed! Jagapathy Babu’s role as the antagonist seems to fall apart as the movie progresses and ends up as more of an irritation towards the closing stages. As a result, the quintessentially evil Englishman scores over him.

Badges

Verdict

Verdict Stamp

Albeit the presence of Rajni’s charisma and a strong storyline, a director of K.S.Ravikumar’s standards is let down by some poor quality scenes and an atrocious climax sequence. This sure isn’t one of Rajni’s best but by all means one can safely bet on the 'Rajinikanth’ factor to carry it to Box-office success!