Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Robot: Bollywood blockbuster takes on sci-fi

The hackneyed plot of this sci-fi Bollywood blockbuster borders on the ridiculous.
If you need a laugh try watching the Hindi version of Rajnikant’s Robot (2010). The film is like a plate of mixed chaat of Hollywood hits Terminator, I Robot and Universal Soldier.  The whole story is completely senseless. After watching it I want to give a suggestion to director of the movie. Please, take some time out to have your mental health checked.
A very unlikely love story
The leads of this film are Rajnikant and Aishwariya Rai. When I heard who the cast was I was shocked and knew I had to watch this movie. Rajnikant is plays two roles in the movie – one of scientist Dr Vasigaran who creates a sentient robot and the second of  Chitthi – the robot. The beautiful Ash portrays Sana in the movie.
Rai looks elegant and seems to grow more beautiful with age. On the other hand Rajnikant sports a beard in the movie which gives him a perfect look for a bear! Besides that his tummy is enhancing with age.
A tale of love, revenge and microchips
Dr Vasigaran invents a robot who can do it all – even love. In a not so Frankenstein like situation Chitti falls madly in love with Vasigaran’s girlfriend Sana. The look-alike robot proposes to Sana who not surprisingly rejects him saying:
“I love Vasigaran, you are my best friend.”
The poor broken hearted (broken motherboard?) robot is enraged and becomes intent on revenge as a result the good doctor destroys him.
But love never dies.
Dr Vasigaran’s arch-nemesis creates an ‘evil’ Chitthi. (Apparently, installing a red chip inside the robot makes him evil.) In this half of the movie the robot makes his own army to conquer the world and most importantly to marry his beloved Sana.
Evil Chitti’s master plan is to:
1) inject his ‘electronic genes’ into Sana
2)  Sana will become the first lady on earth to give birth to a hybrid baby.
But at the end of all Hindi movies achai ke jeet hoti hai. Chitthi’s army of robots die because of  - yes it’s true – low battery. Evil Chitthi remains until Dr Vasigaran successfully plugs out the evil chip and Evil Chitthi turn into Good Chitthi.
Robot 2010: Ridiculousness awards
The mosquito scene: Chitthi, who holds many talents, is also gifted with the ability to communicate with animals and understand what they say. So when Sana (Rai) is bitten by a mosquito in a scene Chitthi runs behind the mosquito and ask it to apologize. Instead, the mosquitoes try to attack the robot and of course fail to bite his metal frame. The offending insect then says sorry to Sana who responds by saying “It’s okay.”
Baby delivery scene: In the movie Chitthi helps deliver a baby of a pregnant lady and communicates the exact timings of  procedure to doctors simultaneously.
Doctors without morals scene: In another scene our brave robot helps Sana cheat in one of her MBBS exams with the help of microphone.
A handgun: The least ridiculous feature of the film (besides the plot) was  Chitthi’s gun. He uses his forefinger as gun and thumb as trigger!
Through out the movie I was wondering why Sana (Rai) was running away from her robot-lover. After all what could he do to her? He wasn’t really date rape material.
Creativity is a good thing but…
From start till end this movie makes no sense. I fail to understand why Aishwariya Rai agreed to do this movie?  True, Hollywood movies often show far flung plots and exaggeration but these ideas are backed up with logical sub-plots. Bollywood movies almost always exaggerate. There is nothing wrong with being creative and showcasing unrealistic scenes – the question is how are you doing it.

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