Chandramukhi - A different Thalaivar movie

April 14th - The day dawned. A welcoming Tamil New Year day. For Rajni fans, one more reason to celebrate the day. After a gap of nearly 3 years, Thalaivar movie is releasing. Critics have written off Rajni and his last movie, Baba. Frankly speaking, being a fan of him from my childhood, I didn't like Baba the same way as I liked Padaiyappa or Annamalai or Veera. But my hopes on Chandramukhi was very high. I had a wish to watch the movie in Bangalore before my brother watches it in Chennai.

I browsed through PVR's portal and to my disappointment, found that all tickets were booked for the next 4 days. So I planned along with my friends to watch the movie in Urvasi on Saturday, April 16th. Our good friend, Skely took the pain of booking the tickets amidst myriad hands of passionate fans. I never expected Monu and Debu would also join the party as they cannot understand Tamil. But that was the effect a Rajni movie can have. The show was about to start at 2.30 pm. But we were still waiting for DD,Aki,Monu and Debu. We couldn't control the excitement. So we just grabbed our tickets from Skely and rushed towards the balcony stall. By then, the movie had started and the lights were switched off. With great difficulty, we found our seats. An over-excited friend of Skely grabbed the tickets from my hand and tore them to pieces when Thalaivar's footsteps were shown. We got so much engrossed in the initial fight scene that we didn't realize the seat numbers. Then entered Skely and others to create the confusion (Or was it the over-excited guy who got rid of the tickets!!!).

So much of chaos related to ticket numbers happened that poor Skely and Aki had to sit on the steps and watch the movie. The best part is Aki had already seen the Mallu version of Chandramukhi that he knew exactly what's going to happen in the gripping screen play.

The movie started off with style-packed action and intro of the super star. Typical Thalaivar song in "Devuda Devuda" followed the action. The song reminds me of "Adhanda Idhanda" from Arunachalam. Nevertheless, a thathuvam song in Rajni movie sets the tone. The characterization of the remaining characters was a bit of a drag. Fear gripped the audience when the word Vettayapuram Aranmanai was uttered by Prabhu. Jyotika looks older , unlike her bubbly looks , maybe that was done so that she can match up with Prabhu.

When I was so absorbed in the movie, I was getting back-to-back sms on my Nokia. Thank God, I didn't bother to read them. Jobless Aki who knew the story in and out sent those messages revealing the hidden character in Chandramukhi. Around the intermission time, Aki was so adamant in revealing the secret that Karthi managed to pacify him with a Sizzler treat at Jukebox.

The comedy of Vadivelu is his usual. Definitely not my kinda comedy. His humour part sounds the same in almost all his movies. Vivek is the reigning king of humour. The heroine Nayantara has no expressions on her face. An absolutely useless actress. I really doubt how she got the offer for such a big movie.

I'll be doing injustice to the movie if I don't talk about the scary background score. Due credits to Vidyasagar. Songs are pretty good, especially "Konja Neram" rendered beautifully by Asha Bhosle.

One who goes with the expectations of a second padaiyappa will return with disappointment. This movie doesn't fill the appetite of a typical Rajni fan expecting stylish action and punch dialogues.

You can definitely call it a horror movie. I got scared at many places, especially when Jyotika's fiery eyes were shown. The screenplay is gripping and makes you think what happens next.

My verdict - A must watch for all Tamil movie fans as well as Rajni fans IF AND ONLY IF you hadn't seen the Telgu,Mallu or Kannad versions of it.