Robot Review

Robot is produced by Kalanidhi Maran, directed by S. Shankar and also co- written by him along with Sujhata and Balkumaran. And the music is done by the Oscar winner- A.R. Rahman. The star cast includes Rajnikanth in a double role as a scientist 'Vaseegaran' and the robot 'Chitti'. His beau 'Sana' played by Aishwarya Rai. The villain 'Bohra' enacted by Danny Denzongpa. It also has Karunas, Santhanam, Kalabhavan Mani, Cochin Haneefa, Devdarshini amongst others.

This film was supposed to be made by Kamal Hassan but due to big budget things didn't work out. Then the director took this script to Shah Rukh Khan who agreed to do the film but then due to some misunderstanding they got separated and finally Shankar thought of making the film with Rajnikanth.

The movie begins with the Dr. Vaseegaran, who is a top scientist at an artificial intelligence lab in Chennai. His latest invention is 'Chitti', a Robot which took him 10 years of hard work and perseverance for its creation. Chitti is an andro-humanoid robot. It is supposed to have an IQ of approximately 100 humans with a memory of 1 'zeta byte' and the speed of '1 terra hertz'. It is an extremely flawless machine in which Dr. Vaseegaran instills human emotions. Sana is Dr. Vaseegaran's girlfriend for whom he has no time. Now, the problem starts when Chitti falls in love with Sana. And to Sana he is nothing more than a machine.

On gaining knowledge about Chitti's feelings, Vaseegaran orders him to leave her alone. Chitti feels hurt as he had only one intention in mind i.e. to marry Sana. It is then that Chitti joins Bohra as Bohra promises to unite him with his love. Chitti continues with his attempts of impressing Sana. When Vaseegaran gets to know that Chitti has become Bad chitti he begins planning ways to get him back and Sana supports him, assuring that things will be ok. Vaseegaran has to fight to save Chitti from falling into the bad.

The performance of Rajnikanth is simply outstanding. He did prove that he was the best for the role. The movie does contain those trademark unbelievable actions of Rajnikanth. And if you are not satisfied with one Rajnikanth, in one particular scene you have approximately hundreds of him. He brings some great amount of energy when he is on screen. Aishwarya Rai on the other hand was phenomenal. She looks good and has also performed well. Aishwarya looks gorgeous and has done very well though her role is short.  Danny Denzongpa was perfect in his negative role. 

The visual and special effect of the movie is done by Industrial Light & Magic, who are known for their work in films like Avatar, Star Wars and Titanic. And as such the special effects of the movie if not better is at least equal to the Hollywood movies.

The music consists of an excess of techno-buzz sounds along with some alluring rhythms and upbeat electronic beats which results in a concoction of melody. But somewhere the music provided by A.R Rahman is a tad bit disappointing. The album contains 7 songs. One of the songs being a real surprise 'o naye insaan' which is sung by Khatija Rahman (A.R Rahmans's daughter) and Srinivas D. It is slow paced and does bring a feeling that it is indeed sung by a robot. A fast number is 'Naina mile' sung by Suzzane and Kash 'N' Krissy. However, it doesn't make much impact. A romantic song 'Pyaara tera gussa' has quite weird lyrics.

Next is the song 'Arima arima' sung by Hariharan and Sadhana Sargam is a song that describes the central character of the movie. 'Kilimanjaro' is a track sung by Javed Ali and Chinmayi. It basically is a song that talks about the girls from the hills. It is for one, better than the other songs in the album but still doesn't live up to what you would expect from Rahman. There are 2 versions of 'Boom Boom robo da' but none will really make an impact on you.

The Script of the movie is excellent. However, you may find that some scenes are way too stretched particularly post interval. One such scene is where Chitti speaks to the mosquitoes. The huge number of songs too slower the pace of the movie.

The director Shankar has done an applaudable job. He has made great efforts to see that the basic plot of the movie is not overshadowed by the presence of a superstar like Rajnikanth. He has, with great intelligence put forth the thought that an odd individual thinks about in some odd moments like if robots were actually able to feel, sense or able to have emotions what exactly will happen? He is able to encompass his point with regards to the behavior of human beings with the right balance.

The movie is full of action, drama, romance but importantly it does have a story to put forth. The Dialogues by Swanand Kirkire in Hindi is commendable. The scenes where Chitti is put to interact with humans can be quite funny. The train sequence involving Chitti is something you should really look forward to. Besides that there is another scene in the climax of the movie where he becomes a snake of many robots. You, for certain, won't be able to stop yourself from clapping or whistling.

Robot is a movie you should never miss. It is a heartfelt story and the awesome performance and dramatics of the thespian, Rajnikanth. It is a movie that you can with you family and thoroughly enjoy at the same time.