Enthiran – Enna Ithu?

Saw Enthiran (it’s Hindi equivalent Robot) yesterday. “Enna ithu”, means “what’s this?” to those who don’t understand Tamil. Ronnie was seeing it, so, I sat with him up to the interval. Must say it’s the mother of all masala movies. But one thing that goes for it is that it involves you in the plot, it surely has a way of grabbing you and making you feel sympathetic to the Dr. Whatever-his-name. Tension is built up in several ways, the boyfriend-girlfriend tussle, the boss-subordinate tussle, the robot-man tussle, the good inventor-bad inventor tussle, all of which contributes to the storyline. It’s a well made film which is so clichéd, it gives a cliché a bad – no, a horrible – name.  

I am not much of a movie critic and not much of a fan of Rajnikant (the Tamil superstar who failed in Hindi films) either, but I can gauge the kind of effect he has on people. He is as white as snow and as virtuous as, well, for want of a better stereotype, how about the other dark-complexioned minister of defence who is known to be honest as honey. (But if honesty was such an issue why did Rajni wear a wig and paint himself so white?) Be that as it may, why this paranoid-al craze to bring laughs. There’s a laugh every minute as there are in Munnabhai. I think we see our arts as just frivolousness, so as not to be serious about it. Are we a bunch of laughing numbskulls?

There’s not a moment of serious contemplation in the film, no, not from the hero, the heroine, or, from the villains. They all strut their charm and their looks as if the story didn’t matter. As also in the Munnabhai films. It’s outright catering to the basic need for laughs. If at all sympathy is to be evoked it evokes it in such convoluted ways that you feel nauseous.

Not to say it’s a bad movie or anything, but I didn’t quite enjoy it. So I voted with my feet and left at the interval. Yeah, sort of staid fare for my rather overtly sensitive tastes. Sorry, I had to say this, Rajni fans.