Petta director Karthik Subbaraj, who by his own admission is a huge Ranjini fan, delivers a Pongal treat for hardcore Rajinikanth fans. True to its tagline Get Rajinifiedthe film gives the audience a fine blend of superstar Rajinikanth and Rajinikanth, the soon-to-be-politician. Rajinikanth is on a roll as he rekindles nostalgia with his characteristic on-screen tactics from his classics flips his glasses in style and walks fast like the wind.
Story:
Kaali (Rajinikanth) surprises all by joining St Woods Engineering College as a hostel warden with huge influence. He tries to set tight the things in order by bringing discipline among the students and controlling ragging much to the anger of seniors and higher authorities.When he tries to help young students in love, it results in clashes and leads to deadly attack on the hostel. Kaali quickly realizes that the deadly attack has wider and even bigger dangerous and ulterior motives.To find out more about the secret behind the deadly attack and what connection Kaali has with powerful politician Singar Singh (Nawazuddin Siddique) in Uttar Pradesh .Petta is littered with characters – like Michael (Bobby Simha, who portrays the college toughie), Jithu (a brilliant Vijay Sethupathi, who is Singh's son), Simran (who plays Rajnikanth's love) and Trisha (Kaali's wife who dies in the bomb blast that Singh orchestrates). But most of them, including Bobby Simha, have little to do, and they appear more like embellishments.
Mangalam is soon eclipsed by a host of other characters who hold clues to Kaali’s not-so-mysterious past. Nawazuddin Siddiqui is wasted as opportunistic Right-wing politician Singara, but Vijay Sethupathi waddles his way to prominence as Jithu, Singara’s son and chief trouble-maker. Jithu finds something better to do than disrupting Valentine’s Day celebrations and punishing “anti-Indians” (this movie’s feeble attempts to smuggle a politic message into an entertainer), setting up a blood-splattered climax that promises a sequel.
Performance:
Rajinikanth is undoubtedly one of the finest actors in the industry and he never fails to prove the same with his performance in each movie. His wonderful performance in the film is one of the reasons which make the audience sit throughout the film. His dialogue delivery, body language are too good. Vijay Sethupathi delivers a charming performance which will definitely strike the chord with the audience. Especially during the action sequences, his performances will be an eye feast for the fans. Simran and Trisha looked absolutely gorgeous in the film. One can never believe that Simran is a 42-year-old actress and Trisha justified her role well. M Sasikumar and Nawazuddin Siddiqui delivered powerful performances. Bobby Simha also did his best. The rest of the cast also made their presence felt.
Technical:
Anirudh Ravichander's came with foot tapping tunes for all the songs. All the songs drove masses and fans crazy with Rajini's dances and are shot well. He elevated the scenes with his powerful background score making a lasting impression.Tirru captured the natural and exotic locations in a realistic and beautiful manner using his cinematography experience. He took the film to another level beautifying the film's final output.Editing of Vivek Harshan is OK but could have been better as there are many drags in the film which slowed the pace of the film.Karthik Subbaraj could have added few more twists and turns to create even powerful impact on screen. Production values are good.
