jmathur_swayamprabha There is nothing new in the story of Sivaji The Boss(2007). It's the ages old tussle between good and evil being given the shape of the honest and sincere hero's being pitted against the corrupt system in Mera Bhaarat Mahaan. But this hackneyed story contains a lot of entertainment for the audience and in the end, this is what matters the most.Our software professional hero Sivaji(Rajnikant) who happens to come from a modest background, earns around Rs. 150 crores by working in the USA and then returns to India to serve his country by providing free education and treatment to the underprivileged through his charitable institution called Sivaji Foundation. However there's a villain(Suman) in the way who considers his activities a threat to his money-making machinery. Alongwith him, the corrupt political and bureaucratic system prevailing in our country becomes a major problem for our hero who meanwhile has to set right his love life also.Finally, our hero loses the legal battle also which is completely in favour of might and not what's right. He is on the road now having lost all his wealth. Then his heart(and his fate) shows him the way to leave the garb of a simple, sincere and law-abiding Sivaji and move into the persona of Boss, the boss of all those who are on the wrong side. How he turns the tables on them and puts his dream of serving his country into reality is the stuff of the post-interval session of the movie.Quite some time back, Vidya Baalan had asserted for one movie of hers that it contained only three things - Entertainment, Entertainment and Entertainment. Well, she only must be knowing better what's the significance of uttering the same word thrice when one would have sufficed. Following the same line, Rajnikant can assert this word hundreds of times for this movie(or any similar movie done by him). Forget logic. Just allow yourself to be entertained by the time-tested masaalas poured in the movie. And then here's Rajnikant, the boss of the box office who won't disappoint you in terms of entertainment at least.I am not going to ask the script-writer and the director(Shankar) as to how our hero is able to convert whooping sums of black money into white money through his money-laundering act controlled from the USA, something which went above my head. If only getting better of the baddies and snatching their moneys were so easy! But then please note that here's not a commoner assigned with this job. It's Rajni, the Boss capable of doing all those things which lesser mortals can't do. And it's needless to discuss the fight and action sequences specially designed for him.The highly illogical script in which doses of romance and comedy do nothing but block the flow of the narrative, quite unfortunately, supports the superstitious mentality of the Indians through the activities of the heroine who's first the betrothed of the hero and then the wife. She believes the talks of a soothsayer regarding her matrimonial alliance with the hero and acts upon them which ultimately lands our hero into jail. Well, our hero has no complaints because he knows that whatever his lady-love is doing is for the sake of saving his life only(from an imaginary danger). And when he has no complaints, why should we? Whatever Rajni Sir does, is capable of keeping the audience enchanted in the hall. Always maintaining his image of a common man's hero while balancing it with his larger-than-life persona, Rajni Sir has conquered countless hearts for a lifetime. He appears to be the director's actor. Hence if he is over the top, the director(and his image in public psyche as well) is only to blame.Shreya Saran has done nothing but filled the quota of a heroine which is a must because the hero has to romance also according to the prevailing norms of Indian cinema. Among others, Suman as the villain and Vivek as the comedian maternal uncle of the hero have done satisfactorily.The movie is way too long and the songs and dances(plus the rom-com sequences) forced into the narrative are responsible for it. Technically, the movie is just okay. Ditto for the music of A.R. Rehman.Sivaji The Boss is the successful fight of a commoner against the corrupt system but the fighter is not exactly a commoner like me or you or any other similar spectator of this movie. This fighter is Rajnikant, the extra-ordinary. He is larger than life which we, unfortunately, aren't and can't. Hence the hero of the story wins his individual fight in the reel life but the cruel Indian system continues to throttle the real ones in the real life.

Sharan S Man oh man! Ain't I darned about how Sivaji looked upon me. This very very lame commercial cocktail has nothing other than Rahman's music, Rajni's punch dialogs and Shriya's hotness. The film is just a rehash of Shankar's previous works. I've noticed that Sivaji becomes some kind of a paying- homage film to his previous flicks such as Gentleman, Mudhalvan and Indian. There's 190 minutes of pure escape and in the end, you walk out of the cinema hall with your minds washed out. All you remember would be the music, dialogs and the glamor. Vivek's comic relief comes in handy in the first half. But, in the second half, he disappears as Rajni takes center-stage. Sivaji: The Boss is inadvertently one of the worsts of 2007.

nickraman Kadhalan, Jeans, now add Sivaji to this list.I will never forgive P.Vasu for trashing Manichitranazhu (Malayalam)'s tamil version as Chandramukhi. First and foremost, you either stick to the story, or you don't. At least Priyadarshan stuck to it nicely when doing Bhool Bhulaiyaa and it was superior to the tamil remake. But more on that later. Shankar is a brand value. His value is only known for casting north Indian heroines, some face-value star as male lead, a comedian, Rahman for music and of course another-clichéd-story-on-Corrupt-India. See, that's why Boys didn't work but Kadhalan did exceptionally. Have a look at the list.Gentleman - Arjun, Madhoo (Roja fame) - Super Hit Kadhalan - Prabhu Deva, Nagma - Super Hit Indian - Kamal Hassan, Manisha Koirala, Urmilla - Blockbuster Mudhalvan - Arjun, Manisha Koirala - Blockbuster Anniyan - Vikram, Sadha - Super HitNow don't get me started with why in god's name Rajnikant acting like he's Vikram or Ajith's age? Simple, his incompetent fanbase. They act like everything's awesome if Rajni does something young even if it takes him to do really BAD choreohraphy in Rahman's trashy music (honestly, he's not giving good music anymore, he's made his money. Course, idiots over at the Mayyam Hub forums would counterback with their Madras Bashai.) Don't bother asking for the story, because if you really want to, go watch Gentlemen, because it's the same damn thing. Heroine Shriya sucks so bad that she badly needs an acting course. Vivek's comedy is average and he's slipping pretty bad right now. Villain Suman is okay and Nayantara looks fat ugly as usual. Raghuvaran is wasted. Don't give me lame excuses that the film's is thalaivar's style and it's featured in UK's top 10, or it's a blockbuster excuse because apparently, the Tamil audience is lost and confused. It's not the same as it was back when Kamal released his movies (Hey Ram, Anbe Sivam, Virumandi) and they were really GOOD AND SUPERB stories. But except for Virumandi, the other two bombed and it was surely a sign that Tamil audiences are loosing their logic. Botttom line: Bad films will run successfully in most cases. Sivaji fits that bill perfectly. I have zero expectations for Robot because Sujatha, the writer for Sivaji, made a fool of himself in vulgar / borderline dialogues. I have respect for him in his literary works but he's sunk a new low with this film. Don't give that "Shankar's dream project" excuse because that will never work. Ever hear of changes in script. Yep. Had it been Kamal or even a 100x better actor than Rajni kant act, I would have a slight more respect for Shankar. And why the hell is everyone praising Rahman's music. For one thing, Balelakka is a rip off Chandramukhi Vidyasagar's Devuda. Secondly, his songs tunes are taken from his earlier works and three, Rap does NOT work under his direction. Every time my folks see the Sivaji CD or songs, they either skip it or put a different music. That shows quality of Rahman's music. Don't expect a lot for Sultan - the Warrior or Robot cause that will have annoying Blaaze doing bad rapping and redundant tunes. Rajni should just retire and leave us alone. Chumma oru build-up. He's the worst actor next to Vijay and Vijaykanth. B.O hits doesn't make you deserving of a dumb title like Superstar, Captain or Ilayathalapathy. Enna kodumathu ithu?Tamil Cinema as we know it is gone. Now only Kamal Hassan's genius scripting in Dasavathaaram can save us all. Looking forward to it with excitement.

screen-name-1 Sivaji, a computer engineer from the U.S. returns to his native country with a considerable fortune. Being the typical kind-hearted hero, he wants nothing more than to put his money to use by building a college. And, in the typical fashion of Shankar, those absolutely heartless and corrupted government officials pull the plug on construction. The rest of the movie revolves around Sivaji fighting corruption in the government while at the same time romancing a girl called Tamizhselvi (or Uma, if you watched the Telugu version). The major problems I have had with this movie are as follows:1. This movie is much too formulaic. The hero is the typical perfect, strong, smart, noble, beat-20-guys-up-at-a-time type. And of course, this hero who wants to do nothing but serve his people is up against the typical brainchild corrupt politician of Shankar. Hero defeats villain+hero wins heroine= really weak plot. 2. Tamizhselvi is a supporting character that would probably have standard-audience feminists raiding theaters. She serves no purpose than to stand by her hero looking worried when he gets hurt, and then frolicking around him half-naked during a song. You'll notice that many reviewers who loved the movie left no comment about her other than "Shriya looked beautiful." Also note that she was responsible for landing Sivaji in jail. Because, you know, in masala movies it is IMPOSSIBLE for a hero to do anything wrong. The only thing I can say in favor of the character was that at least she saved Sivaji from being hit by a train (and even then, it required her to take part of her sari off).3. This is a disgrace to physics and physiology alike. Those that have seen the movie will remember the scene in which a young boy on the construction site of the college was electrocuted. Luckily there was a veteran doctor nearby. You'd think that someone who has been professionally involved in the medical sciences would know basic first aid, but then again, you'd be wrong. After this child was electrocuted, the good doc placed him on a convenient platform and gave him CPR, and miraculously, the child woke. There was no mention of an ambulance being called, and the boy didn't have any burns at all that had to be treated. However, the parents were given a lecture by Sivaji about how young boys should be in school. I would have let this one pass, if the movie hadn't done a second scene in which the hero was electrocuted. You see, Sivaji was in jail, and was being tortured at the hands of corrupt officials. To escape, he concocted a brilliant plan in which he would die and then come back to life. He electrocuted himself on a nearby power line. The bad guys find him, and to avoid getting in trouble they shipped him out in a van. After some clever usage of trucks, his friends got the body back, and the same doctor brought him back to life with a Defibrillator. Again, no burns were treated, and this movie forgets that according to common rules of CPR, a Defibrillator is only effective within the first moments of cardiac arrest. Yes, these imperfections and inconsistencies and more await those who choose to see this over-hyped and over rated film.That, and mediocre acting and song-writing.