Petta - Superstar is back with a bang

Hype is something that is always going to be around a Rajni movie because Superstar is truly awesome and has always been awesome but any 'thalaivar' fan would agree that the past decade has been nothing but a bunch of constant disappointments. The last time I saw a typical 'superstar' movie was back in 2007 when Sivaji came out. No matter how awesome Endhiran was, it was ultimately a very well made sci-fi film more than a 'superstar' masala flick and that's what fans have been waiting for. We don't want a layered storyline with brilliant writing, directing, cinematography or camera work we just want a movie with a decent plot and some justice done to Rajni's legacy and given the quality of Tamil movies that are being made these past few years, this is not too much to ask. But I'm glad to say that this streak of constant disappointments have finally come to an end. Petta is a movie that more than lives up to its hype and finally does justice to superstar's legacy unlike these past few lackluster films like Kabali, Kaala, and Linga.

The first half an hour of the movie just focused on highlighting his style, making him walk in all kinds of cool outfits, some really cool fight scenes, and songs. But there was a point when the movie started to feel like Kabali and Kaala where it became clueless and the plot felt confusing and all over the place. Just when I was starting to have the fear that this was just another movie where Rajni walks around with cool clothes and nothing more, the movie picks up the pace. The last few minutes of the first half was just incredible, almost worth the wait and in the interval we get to see flashback Rajni who was going to entertain us for the next half.

I'm going to be honest here, I really wanted to see something like Baasha when Kabali and Kaala trailers came out and this movie had many similarities. Many scenes felt like a tribute to his previous blockbuster movies which came out during the nineties and most of the time the fans were just losing their mind making the atmosphere so energetic. I guess the nostalgia trick worked better than expected and I was wholeheartedly satisfied experiencing. At some point, I thought maybe someone on YouTube should make a video about the Easter eggs contained in Petta because of the tributes done to his previous movies.

I can keep talking about 'superstar' alone but the next best part is Vijay Sethupathi. There's no stopping this guy from taking Tamil cinema by storm. I guess we're not done with the Vijay Sethupathi phase yet and I just want more of it. The best part of his performance in almost every single movie is the fact that he never truly becomes the character. Right from Vedha to Rasool to Ram to Jithu, Sethupathi never truly transformed into these characters. We've all heard of method acting but this guy has done the reverse of that and it is working like a charm. He gives us a bit of Vijay Sethupathi in all these characters and that's the secret of his humungous success which is never getting old. He only started appearing in the later half of the movie and when he did take over, he took complete control over the character. His scenes with superstar are probably the best parts of Petta and I can't wait to play them on repeat mode once it's available for purchase.

I think a lot of credit should go to the make-up department for giving us the 'superstar' we know and love back to us and the camera work is just outstanding, to say the least. So many beautiful long shots and there were so many instances where I just lost myself in the glorious camera work, maybe for this reason alone, I'll watch it again. The other thing that made this movie as cool as it is is the music. Anirudh has probably made his best scores and background music after Kaththi in Petta and the background score is a huge reason why this movie works so well. The songs were magical, and so were the scores, overall music department gets a 10/10 easily. The plot was decent but a huge step up compared to how bad it has been for Rajni in these past few years.

It's time to address the issues now. There were more than a few plot holes, pacing issues and other bad moments from the movie, this is definitely not the best movie ever but it's the movie we have been waiting for. Simran and Trisha, especially Trisha was barely on screen for a couple of minutes and there was absolutely no chemistry between Trisha and Rajni. Simran had a little more extra time but her presence didn't affect the movie in any way other than contributing to a couple of jokes. Both of their roles felt more like cameos than Rajni's love interest. The same can be said about Bobby Simha but he had more screen time however useless it was. Most of the bad parts get over in the first half because after that the movie really picks up its pace. The issues with the movie doesn't make it unwatchable in any way, it's just some stuff we could have been done without, maybe those are the scenes we'll be skipping or fast forwarding in the future. Nawazuddin Siddiqui was the antagonist but felt like they underused him. His motivations were just but his sudden rise into a don from a normal village guy goes unexplained and made him another one of those weak and generic villains. But the other cool aspects of the film will let us forgive these flaws.

So much work has gone into this and the end result is just spectacular. Finally some justice for
superstar's legacy and he totally deserves this. It's going to crash the box office, too bad vishvasam had to release on the same day, whether it's bad or good, Petta is going to kill it. The charismatic actors, the beautiful camera work, kickass background scores, energetic songs, Vijay Sethupathi's performance, and Rajni's acting has made this movie another superstar spectacle like Baasha, Padayappa, and Arunachalam and I couldn't have asked for more. Words cannot describe the happiness, joy, and satisfaction I got after watching Petta because all of us have been extremely patient and kind enough to not boycott previous movies like Kabali, Kaala and Linga. Superstar is finally back, lighting the screens on fire and I'm loving the attention it's getting, can't wait to see it again.

Verdict:
Fan in me: 9.5/10
Critic in me: 7.5/10

Karthik Subburaj has done an amazing job and it really feels like every second of this movie, be it the music, the make up, the action and the tributes, have been made by a group of passionate fans and that's what has made it so awesome.