BIGIL is by AGS Entertainment that is written and directed by Atlee and Ramana. Atlee directs this film and this is his third film with Vijay after the duo’s successful previous two outings THERI and MERSAL.
BIGIL has been hyped as a sports drama but then it has overdoses of everything else, which invariably finds itself as content in a Vijay starrer. Hence the first half is the typical ridiculous ensemble towards hero glorification with a few sparse sports moments. The lengthy emotional scenes are a drag and the intermission title comes as a huge relief. The second half had enough material to succeed but the script turns itself into a skewed sports film with an illogical commentary that is stereotyped to suit local club rivalry. With a few definite instances to champion the cause of women, the film instead makes a charade of the same and in some cases does quite the opposite.
Vijay is the don, father, son, player, coach, lover, brother, friend and what not but he is still Vijay and does what he knows to do the best, dance. As the father he fails even more with that fake voice modulation. Nayantara despite some good amount of footage does not charm. Jackie Shroff is useless in his silly contrived role,while Daniel Balaji makes an appearance before and towards the end. Yogi Babu delivers his one liner, and the women players are OK.
Cinematography by Vishnu is commendable. ARR’s background music works in parts. Songs too are decent on screen. Ruben’s frugal editing means we get a lot to digest. Dialogues are unimpressive. Direction by Atlee is a few notches down.
BIGIL at 180 long agonizing minutes is yet another example of Vijay fawning without substance, but for an intended purpose, to please the star and his purported ambitions.
A film on sports has those inimitable goose bump moments that transports the audience into the stadium on the screen. It is incredulous that BIGIL does not boast of one single scene that comes even close to it. BIGIL is not just an affront in pure commercial terms, but also an insult to what the world calls “ THE BEAUTIFUL GAME”
BIGIL – BLADE !!
2/5
B.U.Shreesha
