Coolie Movie Review
Coolie Movie Review
Telugu360 Rating: 2.25/5
Story:
Coolie is the story of Devaraj (Rajinikanth) who is a Coolie by profession. He starts a hunt for the real reason behind the death of his close friend Rajasekhar (Satyaraj). The story is quite predictable and has nothing new to offer. Lokesh Kanagaraj manages to bring in top actors for some of the key roles and the film happens in a port. Simon (Nagarjuna) is a Kingpin who is behind the smuggling mafia. He exports organs in the name of smuggling. Rajasekhar works hard and prepares a mobile cremation chair. The rest of Coolie is all about how Simon comes to know about the cremation chair and what happens next forms the story of the film.
Analysis:
Lokesh Kanagaraj came up with a simple and predictable plot. He believed that the star cast could do wonders for this script. Though the episodes are quite predictable, the charisma of Rajinikanth and Nagarjuna’s screen presence made them passable. But Coolie is a wasted opportunity for sure. All these stars had a firm belief in Lokesh Kanagaraj and they have signed the film. Some of the episodes in the first half are decent but the film fails to live up to the expectations.
Right from Rajinikanth’s intro to the establishment of the characters, everything sounds pretty normal. Soubin Shahir shines well throughout and his characterization was well written. He adds life to the role of Dayal. Monika song disappoints on screen. This is because of the wrong placement and the bad picturization. Simon’s role played by Nagarjuna has turned out to be the talk of the industry. For the first time, Nag is playing the role of the lead antagonist. But his role is also a disappointment. He has less screen presence in the first half of Coolie. Soubin has the best role with more screen space in the film.
The pre-interval episodes are racy and the first half ends on an impressive note. The first half opens doors for several roles and paves a grand path for the second half. But the second half of the film is a disappointment except for some highs. There is a character in the second half like Tina’s role in Vikram. The phone conversation between Rajinikanth and Soubin is well presented. Upendra’s role is completely wasted and it makes no impact. Aamir Khan will be seen during the climax like Suriya used as Rolex in Vikram. Aamir’s look is well designed but it is not impactful.
Performances:
Rajinikanth is presented in a normal manner without any highs. Lokesh Kanagaraj did not try to present him in a new avatar. Lokesh has followed Jailer and he has written the characterization of Rajinikanth as Devaraj in this film. The backstory of ‘Power House’ did not work well. Rajinikanth has done his part well throughout the film. Shruti Haasan has a lengthy and emotional role but her dubbing part is a huge setback. Satyaraj is decent in the role. Nagarjuna’s screen presence as Simon is good but his role fails to make a major impact. Soubin Shahir is one of the highlights of the film and he has done his role with perfection.
The biggest disappointment of Coolie is the background score of Anirudh. The young composer is an asset for Lokesh Kanagaraj’s films but the magic did not work out in Coolie. The episodes are weak and Anirudh’s score did not elevate the film. The production values are not upto the mark. The editing work should have been better. There are no viral dialogues in Coolie.
Coolie is a grand opportunity for everyone with a grand cast and strong technical team. Lokesh Kanagaraj fails to execute Coolie and there are a lot of flaws in his writing. The presence of star cast too could not make the difference because of the poor script and bad execution. Coolie is a wasted opportunity and is the weakest work of Lokesh Kanagaraj.
Telugu360 Rating: 2.25/5
