Cast: Rajinikanth, Nana Patekar, Samuthirkani, Aruldoss, Eswari Rao, Huma Qureshi, Anjali Patil, Sukanya, Aravind Akash, Sayaji Shinde, Ravi Kale, Pankaj Tripathi, Yatin Karyekar & Sakshi Agarwal
Banner: Wunderbar Films
Music: Santosh Narayanan
Cinematography: Murali G
Editor: Sreekar Prasad
Producer: Dhanush
Writer-Director: Pa. Ranjith

Rating: 2.25/5

Superstar Rajinikanth is back with Kaala movie and this time he is donning a don role which has the inspiration of Haji Mastan (However makers has denied this news). Well, he has given second chance to writer-director Pa. Ranjith even after a failure in the form of Kabali.

Now we will see Rajinikanth’s decision of giving the second film opportunity to director Pa. Ranjith after a flop has turned out well or not.

Story:

Kaala (Rajinikanth) is the messiah for the people living in Dharavi slums and he always stands for them in their difficult times. On the other side, Haridev Abhyankar (Nana Patekar) is a shrewd person whose dream is to rule the people of Mumbai by removing all the slums. In his journey, he happens to face Kaala as he eyes the Dharavi slums.

The rest of the story is all about how these two fight against each other for Dharavi. Finally, who emerged victoriously is unfolds on the silver screen.

Actors & Performances:

Rajinikanth: He played the role of an uncrowned king of Dharavi and he absolutely fitted to the role of a mass leader. Heis very much active in his role and his energy is commendable.

Nana Patekar: He is the smart antagonist in the movie as a tough counterpart to Kaala. He showcased the class & elegance in his acting and his performance in some scenes are superb.

Samuthirkani: He is the entertainment quotient in the film as he played the right-hand role for Kaala.

Easwari Rao: She is so good in her role of Swarna who happens to be the wife of Kaala and the chemistry & dialogues between Kaala & Swarna is hilarious.

Huma Qureshi: She got a meaty and pivotal role in the movie and she did absolute justice to her role.

Analysis:

Pa. Ranjith is a director who is known for glorifying the downtrodden people’s issues on silver screen. This film Kaala is also exactly the same of Kabali in terms of the basic plot and the sole difference is the change in the backdrop.

He tried his best to elevate the point called “Land is our primary right” and he also threw pot-shots on the policy of removing slums from metropolitan cities in the name of clean cities. However, his screenplay lacks the much needed Rajinikanth’s impact and even the core of the film gets diluted with some unwanted scenes.

In the majority of the scenes, Kaala’s role gets overshadowed by the loosely knitted screenplay and it turns out as the major flaw in the film. However, this film’s screenplay got pace as compared to their previous collaboration- Kabali.

Technical Aspects:

Santosh Narayanan songs missed his mark and even lyrics also failed to attract the audience. Production Design department did an incredible job and the sets of Dharavi slums are so realistic.

Plus Points-

+ Two Scenes of Rajinikanth & Nana Patekar
+ Rajinikanth & Sayaji Shinde Scene

Minus Points-

- Songs
- Screenplay
- Duration

Final Verdict: Kaala is better than Kabali, but it still disappoints.

Review by Sandeep.