Nelson Dilipkumar once again does a successful repackaging of ‘Baasha’. The director’s trademark dark humor leads to several entertaining moments. Nelson’s presentation of superstar Rajinikanth is the movie’s biggest strength. The star appearances of Mohanal etc don’t pack the same punch as the first installment, but Hrithik Roshan’s sizzling screen presence is a treat to watch. Kannada actor Shiv Rajkumar delivers a stylish act too in his brief screen time.
Starcast: Rajinikanth, Namo Narayana, Suraj Venjaramoodu, S J Suryah, Vidya Balan, Mithun Chakraborthy, Yogi Babu, Ramya Krishnan and others
Director and writer: Nelson Dilipkumar
Music: Anirudh Ravichander
Cinematography: Vijay Kartik Kannan
Producer: Kalanithi Maran
Production Company: Sun Pictures
Running time: 2 hours and 45 minutes
There is a brilliant meta moment towards the closing of Jailer 2. The dialogue goes like this “50 varusham aa enai yaar yaaro azhilika try paani, anna yaaralaum mudiliya” (“For fifty years, so many different people have tried to destroy me but absolutely no one could do it). This sequence more or less sums up Jailer 2. Much like the first installment Nelson repackages Rajnikanth’s aura for the younger audiences. It’s a fan celebration more than anything else and the movie isn’t certainly for those wanting layered characters.
For those not familiar with Jailer 1 the story revolves around Rajnikanth’s Tiger Muthuvel Pandian IPS ” a retired jailer. The backdrop of stolen idols continues to be a binding thread with fresh enemies. The new batch of villains are Suraj Venjaramoodu, S J Suryah, Vidya Balan and Mithun Chakraborty. Adding to this mix is Namo Narayana as a scapegoat taken for a ride. There isn’t much of a story here, in plain terms it’s about Tiger Muthuvel saving his family with a bit of outside help.
A strong aspect of Jailer 2 is Nelson’s trademark humor; this is particularly visible in the first half. There are numerous laugh out loud moments thanks to Namo Narayana as Moorti. As a man who is easily fooled by Tiger he raises ample chuckles. In one way his role is an extension of what Yogi Babu did in Jailer 1.
Talking about Yogi Babu the talented comedian is once again brilliant. His interactions with Rajnikanth gives the movie some of its most entertaining moments. A particular mention must be of a scene where his character Vimal joins hands with Bagavathi Perumal’s Bhaskar assuming that the latter is a foe of Tiger. But this backfires leading to a hilarious moment.
A mention must also be made of Namo Narayana’s scenes with Suraj’s Dileep. The overconfidence of Moorti and the dead pan humor amidst a game of chess is superbly written and enacted.
Nelson also does a fine job in presenting Rajnikanth. The mass moments are in solid supply; at the same time Nelson retains Tiger’s mysterious area unleashing the beast at the right juncture.
The family drama part much like the first one suffers somewhat from weak writing. Ramya Krishnan is mostly confined to playing an anxious homemaker and the same applies to Mirnaa as Tiger’s daughter in law.
But there is one solid emotional moment involving Muthuvel’s dead son. A crucial secret is revealed through SJ Suryah’s Bodhi Kalpak. The mother and daughter-in law are hugely shocked as it’s revealed that Muthuvel killed his own offspring.
Muthuvel at that moment is reduced to a helpless man with Bodhi beating him black and blue. SJ Suryah absolutely owns this scene with his trademark villainy.
Muthuvel is arrested by the police post this and for once it does look like Muthuvel won’t scrape through. At this juncture there is the perfectly timed Hrithik Roshan’s entry. Hrithik’s charisma and Anriudh’s background score makes for a solid mass moment.
One of Jailer 2’s major issues is the overpopulation of villains. Vinayakan who played the primary antagonist in part 1 made for a super eccentric villain. But here the antogonists don’t strike the same dread in spite of competent acts from both Suraj Venjaramoodu and S J Suryah.
Vidya Balan in particular does a lot of posturing in the name of acting. She definitely looks stylish but suffers from a character with more gloss than depth. The scenes of Rajinikanth flirting with her in particular leaves a bad taste. Mithun fares slightly better with his understated menace.
Anriudh’s songs don’t add much value barring the initial track establishing the family dynamics. But his background score in the mass moments as well as an emotional bit is on point. Hukum reloaded version from part 1 deserves a special mention as it captures the mass aura of Rajinikanth perfectly.
