Endhiran

1. This is not intended to be a review.
2. Spoilers may be here.

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I had a vow not to see this movie for two reasons:
1. Writer Sujatha was completely ignored in the inaugural festival at Malaysia (Black-hit?? or rather, iruttadippu). He was the brain behind the movie - amazing plot plus above par dialogues - he deserves much more credit. The Dravidian party morons have hitherto ignored recognising him because of one obvious reason - he was happy being a Brahmin.
2. With so much hype and a few radio stations and TV channels hijacked to air only Endhiran - I thought this movie will be a flop like geeba, sorry Baba.

Happened to watch a rather simple version of Endhiran today (Suriyan A/C 1145 show, Rs.60, D Row - popcorn, coffee, corn puffs each costing Rs. 20, Auto charge 50+40 = 90, 290 Rs in all for two). In short, it was a typical Shankar movie - Rajini and Aishwarya are just actors in the whole plot... I was totally taken aback with the quality of the movie, it is simply terrific!

Points that caught my attention:
1. Santhanam teaching Chitti Madras tamil and chitti replaying it for Dr. Vaseegaran was nice
2. Simple things like TV podu were weaved very nicely in the film
3. Amazing song - Kadhal anukkal - I still hum it after a few hours. As Shankar mentioned in one of the interviews (in a hijacked radio station), this song is meant to be sung with a guitar in a lonely planet. The way this song was filmed defintely shows the commitment the crew had - travelling for some 4 hrs daily through thick forests and crossing a river.
4. Chitti providing IP ID to TC Haneefa - typical Sujatha touch!! Eventhough this poor fellow (hope he has an IP address in Sri Vaikuntam to read this post) was not given the share due, his dialogues speak for themselves throughout the movie - rarely do we see audience applaud for dialogues continuously. Quoting Tholkappiar is interesting; version 2.0 to signify the change,
5. Happy to see this scene - Chitti says Kadavul irukar in typical Rajini style - superb nosecut for the kuladhrogi's dialogue in das.
6. Prime number and Huseni in interview session - typical Sujatha stuff!
7. Not many may note this - Villain's robot trying to shoot during trials...
8. Aadi masam in perfect sync with L.R.Eswari's songs - nice one, but cannot digest that Chitti can fly - this is beyond logic even for a robot. TV Reporters deserve this - I wonder how Shankar was able to depict this in such a style - TV reporters capturing everything, I say, literally everything without considering side effects, live.
9. Not an exception for a few tamil cinema cliches! This includes - chitti recharging at the last minute,
10. 3 Idiots' influence has a delivery scene in the picture. I guessed something gory is going to happen as soon as Devadarshini was introduced with a hype and chitti mugging up labour room techniques for Sana, sorry, Aish!
11. Robot dance movements were simply superb, 100+ endhirans simply hijack the second half, the method that Chitti employs to identify Vasee is intersting.
12. Love the Benz Cabriolet
13. The location for Kilimanjaro song was amazing - guess it is in Peru (the one that is connected with tha Mayan? civilization....)
14. Aishwarya Rai has done a neat job - nice expressions.
15. As an exception to the rule that the song that comes right after interval will be an item number is broken - all three songs that come after interval - oops - intermission, are item numbers.
16. Bloopers listing - will try to recollect more - Benz car is ok even after the massive accident, none of Chitti's nuts and bolts get loosened even after fierce acrobatic stunts given the fact that they sound simiilar to Saravana Stores prodcuts, Armory instead of Armoury, a few 'robotics-illogics' here and there.

Over to things that enthuse me!
17. Railway sequences feature Pune's Harris bridge (handbag scene), Central Railway's blue colour AC/DC EMU with 'Southern' replacing 'Central' (frankly speaking, I was expecting a blooper here).
18. A Kurla WDS-4B (orange/brown colour small diesel) at a distance in the Kurla yard, a WDP-4 with probably Udyan Exp or Konkan Kanya Exp (made me drool...), another WDP-4 that was going away in the wrong line (both were uninterestingly Cab End Leading), a WDM-2 short hood leading 18*** over which Rajini will climb (it would have been interesting if he had touched the OHE, they have DC power whereas Chitti had AC batteries - he would have become a basmam :) ) are the loco actors in the movie.

Overall, it is a typical Shankar movie (with extravaganza) featuring mind-blowing computer graphics (more than what we get to see in good hollywood movies), beautiful Aish, moondru mugam Rajini (thanks for the return), useless last-minute entry Police officers and dialogues par-excellence.

Thanks to the Endhiran team for giving us a nice entertainer.

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Update (v 2.0) - A few things that I happened to note during my second visit! (at Serene)

19. Sruthi changes in Kadhal Anukkal song - typical of ARR (remember his first attempts in Thamizha thamizha and Arabi kadaloram)

20. Villain speaks in Hindi - dubbed in Tamil, easily noticeable.

21. Serene vs. Suriyan - Sound clarity is very much noticed in Serene. A lot of smaller level sounds are muffed in Suriyan. The version 2.0 theme song is amazing - simply terrific.

22. Chitty in Bora's car 'touching' from behind with a 'dizhoom' sound is a popular cliche

23. Typical red seal and evidence number noted in sketch pen while it was produced to the Court. Evidence includes 'Material' is amazing find.

24. Ennnnnnnthira song is a repeat of Tu Hi Re

25. Guess kadhal anukkal song is in Arabi - very similar to kumari (Anniyan) and sandhippoma (U 18 Me 20)

26. Locos that went unreported in v 1.0 - a KYN wdm2, a wds6, the 18*** was 18544 ET (and not ED), a blue pune wdm2.

27. Rajini and Aish in the bus ahead of everyone all along is hard to believe (at least when watched again)

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