The rich imagination of director Shankar and the suaveness of superstar Rajinikanth worked wonders to make 2010’s ‘Robot’ an enjoyable sci-fi flick, even with a preposterous story that gave us a modern-day Frankenstein in Chitti, an android made to serve, but nonetheless turning rogue and becoming the problem itself. Its sequel, ‘2.0’, after being stuck in a post-production hell for some time, is finally here. The previous film’s thematic footing was on the possi­bility of machines taking over the human race. The follow-up adds the angle of technology destroying the natural order. There’s much to admire in ‘2.0’. Shankar crafts a visionary cine­matic design propped up with ludi­crous amount of VFX trickery. His mastery over visuals and action set pieces cast a spell and make your eyes pop. The writing is a major problem though, reeking of older Shankar films like ‘I’, ‘Nayak’ and ‘Indian’. Shankar looks at complex issues of technology and environ­ment through a myopic and sim­plistic social lens. He’s stuck in a grand narrative that instead of posing questions wants to provide all the answers.

We meet genius Indian scientist Vaseegaran (Rajinikanth) and his new android assistant Nila (Amy Jackson) as they try to figure out why all cell phones are flying away from their owners’ hands. There are speculations: This may be some alien force, or a ‘black hole’ has opened up in the space, sucking in all phones. Soon there is a nation-wide frenzy, and the government is forced to declare a state of emer­gency and mobilize the army.

Vaseegaran calls for Home Min­ister (Adil Hussain) to sanction an order to bring back Chitti (also played by Rajinikanth), who has been dismantled and kept at a high-security museum. After much reluctance, Chitti is restored and with his superhero-like powers he’s able to track down a myste­rious supernatural villain Pakshi Rajan (Akshay Kumar), who is hell bent on revenge against telecom multinationals. We are made to wait till the second half, where the origin of the villain is revealed through a tedious back-story.

Shankar has so much unpacking to do in a single movie that the bur­den falls on the audience’s head. Chitti’s projection as a superhero, the villain’s flight for vigilante jus­tice and the social commentary sprinkled everywhere are played in a cacophonic disharmony of cine­matic excess. There isn’t a particu­lar likable quality in Rajinikanth’s portrayal of the bland Vaseegaran.

Of all the scientists you may have come across in films, Vaseegaran sounds the wackiest and veers close to being a hack theorist. His arguments and explanations are pure pseudoscience. The charm of Chitti is also lost somewhere this time. (I also admit that demanding more than a one-note performance from a ‘robot’ is somewhat unreal­istic from my side). Kumar makes a powerful presence as the film’s antagonist but his character isn’t fully realized and gets lost between playing a hopeless activist and a ruthless vigilante on a killing spree.

As a spectacle of grand design, it will be hard for any Indian film in the coming days to match ‘2.0’. But director Shankar lets this spec­tacle overtake storytelling. He’s so involved in painting his frames in VFX canvas that he is detached from his characters and plotting, which needed more polishing. The film’s mesmerizing look doesn’t spill over into its screenplay to give us an involving experience.

 Who should watch it?

All the hype surrounding ‘2.0’ has turned it into an event movie. It’s then most likely to work for admirers of Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar, but not for viewers wanting an edgier sci-fi narrative with complex characters.

 

 

Movie: 2.0

Genre: SCI-FI

CAST: Rajinikanth, Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson, Adil Hussain

DIRECTION: Shankar