Review – Darbar

Film: Darbar
Director: A R Murugadoss
Cast: Rajinikanth, Nayanthara, Nivetha Thomas, Suniel Shetty, Nawab Shah, Prateik Babbar, Yogi Babu and others
Music: Anirudh Ravichander
Camera:Santosh Sivan
Rating : 3 stars

A R Murugadoss seems to have delivered in Darbar, exactly what a Rajinikanth fan would want from a Rajinikanth film.

Darbar is a typical Rajini film that has action, style, emotional drama, revenge and a little bit of romance, if you can call it that.

It is what Rajini fans have been missing dearly for quite some time now, ever since Rajini started working on Kuselan.

Darbar is a commercial entertainer that is designed to make his fans believe that their hero can emerge victorious, no matter how insurmountable the odds against him are.

What the fans want to see is Rajini accomplish his objectives with confidence that borders on arrogance. And this is exactly what Murugadoss delivers to them in Darbar.

Adithya Arunasalam ( Rajinikanth), the Commissioner of Mumbai Police, is on a hunting spree, killing criminals at will. In fact, the number of (fake) encounters that he has carried out in a year has struck terror in the hearts of anti-social elements while bolstering the image of the police in the eyes of the public.

This prompts the National Human Rights Commission to send a team to investigate the killings that he has undertaken in the guise of encounters. The team finds an arrogant Adithya Arunasalam almost blackmailing them into giving him a clean chit.

Just when one of the commission members looks to report Adithya Arunasalam for misbehaviour, the head of the commission tells him to hold back and vouches for his credentials. She begins to narrate how the man was a disciplined, law-abiding efficient police officer when she met him a year ago in Delhi.

What has happened to Adithya Arunasalam to turn him into a deadly force that makes criminals tremble? How is a man who is known to adhere to law break it to achieve his goals? How is it that there has been a sea of change in a man who is now on a mission to bring to book some of the most powerful criminals on the planet? Darbar tells you the story…

Rajini looks young and fresh and full credit must be given to his make up and costume team for this. Niharika Khan seems to have done a wonderful job as costume designer and the outfits that Rajini wears make him look a lot younger than he actually is.

Rajini scores in those scenes where he shows his power to the villains. In fact, every time he smartly breaks a law to put criminals in a tight spot and manages to beat them at their own game, he turns around with a wicked smile on his face and says, ‘Basica, Naan Villain’ or ‘Ivan Ketta Paiyyan’.

The places which don’t work are the scenes where he is seen dressed as a police officer. His beard and the uniform don’t go well together. Don’t ask how and why the government agrees to accept his demand of sporting a beard. He looks weak and feeble in the police commissioner’s uniform. Likewise, don’t worry too much about logic because, occasionally, that goes out of the window.

The whole story revolves around Nivetha Thomas who plays Valli, the daughter of Adithya Arunasalam. A gifted actress, Nivetha easily delivers what is expected of her and makes her character Valli very relatable. In fact, she is so convincing as Valli that she makes you feel for the character in the second half during some of the dramatic portions in the film.

There isn’t much for Nayanthara to do in the film but she delivers what is expected of her.

Nawab Shah, who plays Vinod Malhotra, does an outstanding job while Prateik Babbar who plays his son Ajay Malhotra and Suniel Shetty who plays Hari Chopra come up with decent performances.

Yogi Babu as Rajini’s sidekick makes you laugh on most occasions.

The film is about the love of a father for his daughter on the one hand and on the other, it is about how a police officer is trying to rescue girls being trafficked by dangerous gangs that are into smuggling drugs as well.

To his credit, Murugadoss has delivered a film that is an entertainer from start to finish. The film might not be an out of the world classic, but at the same time, it does not leave you feeling bored at any point in time.

Anirudh’s music is pretty ordinary in this film. Santosh Sivan’s work too is decent.

Darbar is what many would call a one-time watch. For Rajini fans, this might be a delightful treat. For others, it will be a regular entertainer that won’t leave them disappointed.