Where else but Bollywood can you find beloved actors singing and dancing in a romantic action movie about advanced robots? Robot (or Endhiran) is the latest film from writer/director S. Shankar and features one of the biggest stars in Bollywood, Rajnikanth (or just simply Rajni), in dual roles. The film is pure high energy spectacle from start to finish, and a complete joy to watch.
Rajni plays Dr. Vaseegaran, a scientist who has been tirelessly perfecting his humanoid robot to present at the India Robotics Conference and impress his mentor, Dr. Bora. Vasee and his bumbling assistants name the robot Chitti (also played by Rajni). Unfortunately, all the time that Vasee has spent on his robotic creation means that he has been neglecting his girlfriend Sana (Aishwarya Rai), and she is fully prepared to dump him. When she sees the impressive demonstration of Chitti’s skills at the Conference however, she immediately forgives Vasee and begs him to let her borrow Chitti for a few days.
From there, the story takes us on outlandish loops, twists, and turns that can only be found in a Bollywood movie. Dr. Bora has a sinister plan for Chitti involving a German arms dealer and an evil “red chip”. Blinded by his need to exceed the expectations of Dr. Bora, Vasee tries to improve Chitti by giving him human emotions. This leads to the robot being unable to determine which emotion is correctly used in various situations. As he learns to control his emotions, Chitti makes several big emotional mistakes, such as falling desperately in love with Sana, and his jealous desire to keep her to himself and everyone else away from her.
With a record breaking budget, Robot is the equivalent of a cinematic roller coaster. The action scenes are impressive, especially towards the end after Chitti creates an army of carbon copied robots. Chitti and his army wreak havoc all across the city, and in order to fend off the police, they band together to create the most amazing formations; a helicopter eating cobra, for example. Another scene has Chitti running sideways on the outside of a train in order to save Sana from attackers. And another scene has Chitti flying into a burning building over and over again to rescue the people trapped inside.
Robot is the perfect film for those who want an introduction to Bollywood. It pays homage to many films that Americans are already so familiar with including I, Robot, Terminator 2, and Spider-Man. The action in the film moves quickly – the 155 minute run time literally flies by – with an energetic score by Oscar winning composer A.R. Rahman (Slumgdog Millionaire) serving as the film’s pulse. Robot is Bollywood at its entertaining, enchanting best.
Director: S. Shankar
Notable Cast: Rajnikanth, Aishwarya Rai, Danny Dezongpa
Writer(s): S. Shankar
