Plot:-
Raja Lingeswaran (Rajini) gives away all his properties for the sake of building a dam for the village called Singanooru under British rule. He also builds a temple by the side of that dam, but the villagers misunderstand Lingeswara's intentions and send him away from Singanooru. His grandson Lingaa (Rajini again) comes to that village after seventy years and opens that temple. Now Lingaa has to save that village and dam from a corrupt politician (Jagapathi Babu).
Performances:
Rajinikanth: His name itself is the biggest asset of this film . His style and sentiments are enough to make the audience roar. But his character sketch & under utilization of his talent tend to effect the film terribly.
Sonakshi Sinha: She gets sidelined in the role, We all know why she was loved by the fans in an Industry which only takes notice to slim girls, Salman Khan her co-star in her debut film admitted several times that she has a special charm, Lingaa fails to make use of them.
Anushka: She is good,Her role is little longer & stronger but still,she gets affected by the same problem as Sonakshi,Poor voice dubbing & lip sync.
Santhanam: Santhanam's comedy works in parts, the other parts are not irritating though.
KarunaKaran: He is regarded for maintaining consistency in his recent films as a humorous comedian,but his role in Lingaa however is forgettable.
Jagapathi Babu: His role is dis-appointing since the last film he starred in as a Villain (Legend 2014 Telugu film) was a super hit,and some said that the film ran solely because of Jaggu's terrific performance,but in Lingaa he is treated as a weak villain with stereotype character sketch,its hard to say this but the worst thing a director could do to the villain was projecting him in a weak manner just for the sake of the lead actor to look like a superstar, it is just disgusting.
Technicalities:
Cinematography by Rathnavelu a.k.a. Randy - While many technical aspects of the film are weak,Randy's camera work is not among them,despite the flashblack's routine treatment,Randy makes them look colorful and fresh to make it suitable for the updated audiences,the glittering color tone in scenes involving the palace and steam engine reminds us of classic Sherlock Holmes films.Truly one of the highlights of the film.
Editing by Samjith MHD - The film could have been trimmed by at least 30+minutes,not just trimming,there are a handful of scenes that could have been chopped off easily as they were in no way significant in the film.
Production Design by Sabu Syril - The Palace sets and others pre-independence era locations were a absolute treat to watch.
Computer Generated Imagery - The water flowing from the Dam and other scenes involving Graphics were rendered adequately.
Music by AR Rahman - He is fresh off from the success of I's classy Audio , But for Lingaa he gave one of the most forgettable albums since Varalaru. The BGM too lacks consistency,Probably this would remain as a black mark in Rahman's Discography.
Screenplay & Direction - KS Ravikumar:-
After churning out Blockbusters for Rajinikanth like Muthu & Padayappa ,Lingaa is just a mere rehash of his previous films and also has shades of Actor Vijay's recent hit film Kaththi,but this film lacks the pace & Logic the latter film had. Ravikumar relies too much on Rajini's stardom,but how can a film with a routine story line,lack of pace, and messed up screenplay be saved by Rajini, Frankly speaking he too has Kuselan, Kochadaiiyaan, Baba and several other films that failed miserably at the Box office. Making films with the lead actor alone looking like God and making other look like stereotypes is an old ridiculous formula. In other words Lingaa represents almost everything one hates about these stereotype potboilers.
Plus:-
Rajini's Stardom
Santhanam's comedy that works in parts
Screenplay
Cinematography
Production Design
Minus:-
Editing
Songs
BGM
Screenplay
Direction
Underdeveloped characters
Narration
Voice Dubbing of the actresses
The Final Word : Watch it for Rajinikanth, If that brand is not enough to get your attention, its simple just stay away from Lingaa.
Rating: 4.5/10 .....
