Saturday, January 5, 2008

Billa Movie Review

BILLA – Probably the most hyped movie after Sivaji in recent times. So why all this hype about Billa – the reason’s pretty simple : It’s a remake of the 1980 Rajinikanth starrer. And as the box-office verdict goes, Billa has been declared a superhit.

It’s the stylish packaging – something new to Tamil Cinema – which is probably an important reason why this film goes down well with many. Starting from the credits added with some neat costumes with a stylish backdrop impresses you definitely. Billa surely is going to be a huge treat for all Thala fans. Ajith definitely means a lot in the movie when he says “ I am back .“

Kudos to director Vishnu Vardhan for his daring attempt to remake a Rajinikanth superhit and this move of his could well go on to become a trend-setter of sorts in Tamil Cinema. But Vishnu could have gone one step further by altering the storyline a bit. Instead Vishnu decides to play it safe with the same story, which probably is disappointing as it leads to a predictable sequence of events. The suspence part is missing in Billa, as it was in Don, one of the huge minuses of the movie. Comparisons are obvious in Indian Cinema and there defintely are going to be comparisons between Ajith’s Billa, Rajini’s Billa and even Shahrukh’s Don. To put it in a more simpler manner, Ajith’s Billa is the same old Rajini’s Billa but delivered in the same manner as Shahrukh’s Don.

Billa ( Ajith ), an international criminal is wanted by the police. DSP Jai Praksh played by Prabhu is in charge of the case and is determined to nab him. Ajith as Billa looks absolutely handsome, the wonderful costumes ( credit goes to Anu Vardhan ) add to the cause. But you get the feeling that he could have been made to look even more menacing considering the fact he’s playing a baddie. There’s hardly any dialogues for him, but Ajith delivers it through his style and looks. Rahman plays an important role in the movie as well. Namitha and Nayanthara have been casted to provide the ooomph and glamour. Nayanthara appears in Angelina Jolie style ( Tomb Raider ) and does look sensuous at times. Thankfully, there is not a single meaningless duet which would have drastically reduced the pace of the story.
There is one dialogue in the movie where Ajith says to Namitha ~ “I trust everyone. It's the devil inside them I don't trust ”, which has been blatantly lifted from the movie “ The Italian Job .“ The dialogues between Velu ( played by Ajith again ) and Jai are quite humorous. One particular dialogue where Velu says “Ayya adhu aru thala, naan orey thala” has all his fans jump with ecstacy. Not to forget the sequences where Santhanam appears. It ‘s a pity that he has just a couple of scenes in this movie. But Santhanam does makes an impact in the movie.

Yuvan Shankar Raja impresses with his music and background score. Yuvan has come out 6 tracks including the theme music , which is the pick of the lot. The 2 remixes – My Name is Billa & Vethalaiya Pottendi are impressive but Yuvan could have made it less noisy by emphasizing more on the voices than on the instruments. Yuvan definitely gets a thumb up for this work after all.

Dance is probably the missing item in Ajith’s repertoire and it is clearly evident in his introduction number – Seval Kodi Parakuthda . The slightly pot-bellied Ajith disappoints in his dance movements considering the fantastic beats in that number. One more aspect which the director could have avoided is the fact that almost all of the characters sport sunglasses in the movie. I assume that the director has done so for retaining the style factor. Nirav Shah is the cinematographer of this movie and I must say that he has done some splendid work behind the camera. Nirav captures the exotic locations of Malaysia in a scintillating manner.

Billa is defintely going to be a milestone in Ajith’s career and could probably elevate him to the next level, if he does choose his scripts carefully from now on. A courageous attempt by the director and a complete entertainer for all the viewers is the final verdict.

5 comments:

Srividya Jayaraman said...

Super review..you know, your reviews are so professional that you sound like Sudhish Kamath and the likes who write reviews for The Hindu..good job!!

Peter said...

Very Good review man....
Keep it up...

Unknown said...

Din't like Ajith's intro. Infact it was pathetic.Brilliantly shot but loses the plot in many places. Ajith could have worked out a little more to sport a lean fit look. A must watch for those who havn't seen the previous BILLA. But it definitely takes tamil cinema one step further in the global market. I'll give it a 7/10.I couldn agree better with Bharat.

Rajiv said...

Hey awesome review..i dont agree with all ur points but definitely agree with u that this is a milestone in Ajith's career..He looks dashing&his performance is of top notch...

Unknown said...

good review but seems a bit biased to ajith but overall good one..keep it going