Kabali (கபாலி, Tamil; 2016)
The strategy of doing business in the new world is such. Just like in the computer software market, you create a hype. You promise the moon and the stars. You advertise. You create catch phrases. You create a concept, a theme. Then you set a launch date. Everybody waits with bated breath. Could it be the panacea of their computer glitches? Then the release is delayed. People get hot under the collar. Their pulses race. They cannot wait any longer. Everyone thinks that it the one - the greatest invention since sliced bread. Then the floodlights open after what seems like for eternity! And it turns out to be... just another whimper. It is the same old same old with the same perennial issues.
They used the same strategy with Kabali - creating a worldwide hype with giant billboards and even posters on Boeing planes. With so much of hoopla, everybody was just dying to find what it was all about. Even people who never understood the language or never gave a second look at a single Tamil movie before, started taking notice.
So far, the film reviews have been at extreme ends of the pole. Some praise it to high heavens whilst others suggested Rajnikanth should take a career change. Yours truly decided to make the pilgrimage to have a first-hand experience.
The movie has to be seen at two levels. At the first level, it is the physical, visual form that looks cluttered all over. The story is confusing with too many characters, all out to hack each other in unnecessary bloodbaths. The first half of the story throttles on aimlessly without direction in sight. An interesting mode of storytelling is employed here. Like a scene from CSI, the background story of a particular of a major event is told in short flashbacks. There seems to be some confusion in the timeline - 25 years before his release, the British were no longer estate owners and salary discrepancy by races were a pre-Merdeka issue.
Straying away from his trademark genre of releasing a wholesome family movie which infuses comedy and tree circling duets with young actresses, diehard fans will quickly realise that this one is sombre one.
Herein comes the real untold story of Kabali, the second level. It is the story of the orphan Indians who were left behind, forgotten, as the country headed for an accelerated pace of development in the 1980s. The people who were neglected by their leaders who were supposed to chart out vocational options when their livelihoods were affected when their services in the agricultural industry were not needed. Ignored by the current of modernisation with no economic prowess and living skills to stay afloat, they resorted to physical brute to demand their rights. They saw the country prosper at their expense and felt like second class citizens in a giant chess game of the politicians with personal agendas.
Kabaleeswaran (Kabali) is a small-time unionist who fights for the estate workers' rights. He is noticed by the national trade unionist who keeps power through gangsterism. Kabali gets entwined in dirty gang politics. The scramble for power finally lands him in prison and him losing his pregnant wife. In spite of the life in crime, Kabali is a 'Robin Hood' of sorts who is remembered for his philanthropic deeds.
So, 25 years later, Kabali returns to right the wrongs after realising much had changed in the country. He goes after his nemesis, Tony Lee and his henchmen. In the spirit of a Tamil film, his assumed to be dead wife is found to be alive and a daughter to top the icing. After senseless killings, brutal deaths and thugs running with machetes and guns, Kabali self-crowns himself as the head honcho of the KL and Malaysia's gangland.
You would be surprised that many in the country are ignorant and clueless about the disappearance of the workers of rubber and oil palm estates after these plantations, which were cash cows to the colonial masters and the newly independent Malaya, were converted to housing estates. The clueless fret that this latest Rajni offering brought himself down to a cheap matinee star level to paint Malaysia as a wild, lawless land with every citizen a thug In the clueless minds, the delinquents are plain lazy and want life easy. Everybody can fend for themselves, why can't they? Interestingly, these same people are quite passionate about police brutality against the African Americans!
The strategy of doing business in the new world is such. Just like in the computer software market, you create a hype. You promise the moon and the stars. You advertise. You create catch phrases. You create a concept, a theme. Then you set a launch date. Everybody waits with bated breath. Could it be the panacea of their computer glitches? Then the release is delayed. People get hot under the collar. Their pulses race. They cannot wait any longer. Everyone thinks that it the one - the greatest invention since sliced bread. Then the floodlights open after what seems like for eternity! And it turns out to be... just another whimper. It is the same old same old with the same perennial issues.
They used the same strategy with Kabali - creating a worldwide hype with giant billboards and even posters on Boeing planes. With so much of hoopla, everybody was just dying to find what it was all about. Even people who never understood the language or never gave a second look at a single Tamil movie before, started taking notice.
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The movie has to be seen at two levels. At the first level, it is the physical, visual form that looks cluttered all over. The story is confusing with too many characters, all out to hack each other in unnecessary bloodbaths. The first half of the story throttles on aimlessly without direction in sight. An interesting mode of storytelling is employed here. Like a scene from CSI, the background story of a particular of a major event is told in short flashbacks. There seems to be some confusion in the timeline - 25 years before his release, the British were no longer estate owners and salary discrepancy by races were a pre-Merdeka issue.
Straying away from his trademark genre of releasing a wholesome family movie which infuses comedy and tree circling duets with young actresses, diehard fans will quickly realise that this one is sombre one.
Herein comes the real untold story of Kabali, the second level. It is the story of the orphan Indians who were left behind, forgotten, as the country headed for an accelerated pace of development in the 1980s. The people who were neglected by their leaders who were supposed to chart out vocational options when their livelihoods were affected when their services in the agricultural industry were not needed. Ignored by the current of modernisation with no economic prowess and living skills to stay afloat, they resorted to physical brute to demand their rights. They saw the country prosper at their expense and felt like second class citizens in a giant chess game of the politicians with personal agendas.
Kabaleeswaran (Kabali) is a small-time unionist who fights for the estate workers' rights. He is noticed by the national trade unionist who keeps power through gangsterism. Kabali gets entwined in dirty gang politics. The scramble for power finally lands him in prison and him losing his pregnant wife. In spite of the life in crime, Kabali is a 'Robin Hood' of sorts who is remembered for his philanthropic deeds.So, 25 years later, Kabali returns to right the wrongs after realising much had changed in the country. He goes after his nemesis, Tony Lee and his henchmen. In the spirit of a Tamil film, his assumed to be dead wife is found to be alive and a daughter to top the icing. After senseless killings, brutal deaths and thugs running with machetes and guns, Kabali self-crowns himself as the head honcho of the KL and Malaysia's gangland.
Many spectators view the movie only at the Rajni styles and bloodbaths. They fail to see the underlying undertone of the storyline. From the word go, it is quite apparent that is a tale of the underclass. When Rajnikanth makes the iconic first appearance, he is seen with the English translation of Professor YB Satyanarayana's 'My Father Baliah'. This is an autobiography of a struggle of a Dalit who professes that one can be whatever he wants if he strives hard at it. Hence, the Malayan immigrant labourers of lower castes, their struggle and their need to prove their mettle. Many soft cues appear ever so often to denote that it is a display of class struggle. In the passing, the audience can observe (if they do) portraits of freedom fighters like Nelson Mandela, Che Guevera, Malcolm X. Gandhi and Ambedkar are also mentioned in a jocular fashion - that their clothes do not maketh the man they were. The tone of the underdog is present all over the narration, metaphorically and point blank through its shabbily snipped dialogues.
You would be surprised that many in the country are ignorant and clueless about the disappearance of the workers of rubber and oil palm estates after these plantations, which were cash cows to the colonial masters and the newly independent Malaya, were converted to housing estates. The clueless fret that this latest Rajni offering brought himself down to a cheap matinee star level to paint Malaysia as a wild, lawless land with every citizen a thug In the clueless minds, the delinquents are plain lazy and want life easy. Everybody can fend for themselves, why can't they? Interestingly, these same people are quite passionate about police brutality against the African Americans!
There was a hint of leaders of the community selling off their kind for self-interest. In what one may look as a tongue-in-cheek gesture, a free premiere screening of Kabali was shown to a packed hall of MIC leaders. The feted leaders who viewed the show were happy that Malaysia was used as the backdrop of an international movie. Little did they realise that the joke was on them. They were blamed for the community's follies! It is a cruel joke, like feeding dog meat to the dogs and finding pleasure in watching the dog dig in the chow!
As usual, it takes someone from outside the country to show how picturesque our country looks. The lush plantation greens of Carey Island is a sight for sore eyes. The aerial view atop the helipad Chulan Towers of the Twin Tower is breathtaking. Even the PPR (People's Housing Project) seem captivating.
To add further to the Malaysian flavour, many Malaysian actors and musicians are seen strutting their stuff. Even, the Indian characters are heard speaking with Malaysian Tamil lingo.
To add further to the Malaysian flavour, many Malaysian actors and musicians are seen strutting their stuff. Even, the Indian characters are heard speaking with Malaysian Tamil lingo.
In summary, this is not one Rajni's best movies. At his age, the filmmakers managed to make a 65-year-old man appear gung-ho to beat up men less half his age. It is a Malaysian movie with Malaysian issues. Maghilzhchi! மகிழ்ச்சி!
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