Jailer: Mass moments and dark humor
The last Rajinikanth film that I watched in theaters was Darbar in January 2020. I went with my friends, and we were disappointed except for a few parts.
I was looking forward to a filmmaker who could unleash Rajinikanth as Karthik Subbaraj did in Petta. Then, his Annatthe was released, and I haven’t watched it until now.
By the time Jailer was announced, I just saw Nelson’s Doctor, and after the announcement, I watched Beast. I have an idea of Nelson’s writing and his way of filmmaking. Although I couldn’t find Doctor to be a great film, it had many brilliant scenes — the Metro fight, Yogi Babu’s game, and the climax.
I was happy when this movie announcement was made, and since I had watched Vikram — a legendary actor collaborating with a promising young filmmaker, my excitement was even more for Jailer — to see Rajini from another young filmmaker’s perspective after Karthik Subbaraj.
My friends shared the songs with me, and Hukum was literally a vibe number. Then I watched the showcase, and wow, it was something else. The next morning I went to the theater and booked a ticket for the first-day evening show not to miss the experience with a house-full crowd and not to read/watch spoilers on social media before that.
I had a prediction of the story after watching the showcase — Rajini leads a simple life with his family, takes care of his grandson, and keeps everything to himself. He has a powerful past where he’s a Jailer (obviously). After the goons kill his son, he unleashes himself and seeks revenge by killing the goons ruthlessly. And the dark humor of Nelson was expected.
This was my story prediction, and it was obvious from the trailer. I sincerely wished there was more to the film than being a revenge story.
Remember Kamal from Vikram mentioning his reason for the fight in that lengthy monologue with his team?
Okay, I went into the theater yesterday with just one wish — there’s more to the film than I expected.
Disclaimer: This blog post contains spoilers. Readers’ discretion is advised.
I’ll start by discussing what I liked in the movie:
Rajini’s character and comedy in the first half
Honestly, I had a good time watching the man of the masses becoming a simple family man, taking care of household chores, having fun with his grandchild, and praying every morning. There’s a soothing montage song of their daily life.
Although there are subtle elevations, it doesn’t have the cliched introduction mass-fight.
And the comedy track with Yogi Babu. I was glad the audience in my hometown recognized him when he appeared on screen and gave him a cheer. I was laughing at all the scenes involving him in the first half. Rajini and Yogi Babu’s chemistry is good.
The house interiors have bright cool colors like blue, green, and mostly they used Sunlight in the initial portion of the film to enhance the mood of how simple their lives are. We see silhouettes of Rajinikanth; that is enough to cheer for him with Anirudh’s high strike rate!
In contrast, we have the villain — Varma, played by Vinayakan. His crime world and lighting follow the pattern of Doctor. Those interiors and the warm lights inside them.
Transformation
Once we get to a point where Rajini discovers his son is murdered, it bothers him as he raised his son, to be honest and dutiful, leading to this unfortunate death. He blames himself for his son’s upbringing.
The transformation scene is good. To feel that, he does some things — wears the shoes and glasses in style and uses deodorant as we wait to see the Tiger back in action.
Even then, we see him calm outwardly. This is a good call from Nelson to not make the anger apparent on the face until a point.
The entire sequence from Rajini boarding Yogi Babu’s car to the interval worked well for me, except for the scene with the Psychiatrist, played by VTV Ganesh. It felt forced.
And Shivaraj Kumar’s screen presence is powerful. His scenes in the film worked well for me.
With mixed feelings, I was eager to see what the film’s second half had in store and was looking forward to a better first-half story. I instantly remembered we still haven’t seen Mohanlal, Tamannaah, and Sunil yet!
Coming to the second half, I felt it was more underwhelming than the first half and enjoyed a few scenes.
Coming to Nelson’s writing, he followed a similar approach he used for Doctor. Keep the protagonist silent, and build comedy with the characters surrounding him. Involve him in a crime world to protect a person — that girl in Doctor and his son in Jailer. In Doctor, it is human trafficking, and here it is Antique smuggling.
And, although we are okay to see the protagonist find a straightforward way to come face-to-face with the villain, he followed the Doctor template here too. In Doctor, it worked — Sivakarthikeyan going around to ensure all girls were safely rescued. I don’t understand why he took that approach here in Jailer, provided he had that strong flashback.
Is it because we, the audience, along with Jailer, had to see the pre-climax twist (by the way, I saw that Bharateeyudu climax coming here), or is it because the ruthless tiger turns back into a humble father once he learns that his son is alive and is held captive? Anyway, the roundabout way of rescuing his son and seeing multiple characters that didn’t add any value to the movie didn’t work for me. Also, why did he turn silent after retirement?
The villain character, although very well portrayed by Vinayakan, was out of place at times. It was intense in some scenes, and felt silly in some scenes. I believe it was a writing choice, so I only wished for better writing here too.
Nelson tries to bring a comedy scene even after an intense scene, either via dialogue, visuals (remember the gang of Shivanna in a different get up every day), or dance sequence — Vinayakan’s gang dancing to Taal Se Taal and Kannulato Chusedi; and the prisoners in the jail singing along Rajinikanth amidst tension.
Except for a few laughs, the entire portion involving Tamannaah, Sunil, and Redin Kingsely didn’t work for me at all. Even the heist scene wasn’t compelling.
Mohanlal and Shivaraj Kumar — both had good screen presence, and I liked the elevation scenes they got in the movie. Perhaps they didn’t get scenes like these in their respective industries 😅 I only wished Jackie uncle also got this kind of elevation but not by sitting on JCB 🥲 He makes bombs in the movies, why not use them, bro?
Now coming to the music, Anirudh gave high throughout the movie. He ensured that whenever Rajini returned to being Tiger, his screen presence should be matched with electrifying music, and it worked throughout.
There’s a scene in the second half where Rajini is in a hotel suite. Sunil Reddy is taken to him, and when he enters the room, Rajini just turns around. A simple scene with a powerful screen presence, and Anirudh took it to the next level. Rajini also advises Sunil Reddy on making family-friendly films. Is it advice from his side to filmmakers, or am I reading too much?
There are many such shots where the music elevates the screen presence. I only wished the writing was as good as the music and cinematography.
To be honest, Petta gave me higher than Jailer, and the Doctor worked for me more than Jailer. Darbar had good writing, but it faltered in executing those scenes. Jailer had everything brilliant except a great script. I enjoyed a few scenes and wondered why some scenes are written that way.
Every actor performed well, and Rajinikanth is in terrific form. Aside from his emotional and swag moments, it’s delightful to see his unexplored side as an actor in the movie. I appreciate the cinematographers who use natural light to show Rajinikanth, from PC Sreeram to Santosh Sivan to Thiru to Vijay Karthik Kannan.
After watching the movie yesterday, I checked on social media about the response from both states, and thankfully, it is a blockbuster. I’m genuinely happy for Nelson and Rajinikanth! And the lineup for Rajinikanth looks more promising 🤞
Until next time…
By the way, I watched the audio launch speech of Rajinikanth, and oh boy! At the age of 72, this man is standing for more than an hour, addressing the crowd and engaging them with his anecdotes and learnings from his experience. Massive respect 🙌
And another video of Anirudh’s live performance of Hukum is crazy.
Not to miss this version of Hukum.
