Kochadaiiyaan – is a historic film made in many Indian languages employing performance capture technology. Rana runs away from his city at a very small age. He is adopted by the citizens of Kalingapuri , grows into a very talented soldier and eventually becomes the Commander in Chief for the kingdom. However Rana’s past forces him to act against the interests of Kalingapuri. What was it about his past and how Rana handles it is the story of Kochadaiiyaan.
It has been a much awaited movie from Superstar Rajnikanth. It is also the first ever full length Indian movie made using performance capture technology. The real hero of the movie is KS Ravikumar. He has created a very compelling story line tailor made for Rajnikanth. The story keeps you engaged throughout the movie. Rajnikanth proves he is much beyond technology. His voice is a big plus for the movie. AR Rahman has created very soulful music that suits the story line. The major let down is the visuals. Of course all of us understand that it is hard to make a movie of this sort given the quick timeline with a shoe string budget. If you take that out the product finish is not something you would remember. They could have still done better in many places. First and foremost is the lack of data for pupil and eye lash movement of the characters is an issue. The color palette they have used to render the scenes is very inconsistent. You would see some bright visuals for songs but rest of the scenes are dull. The third important factor they haven’t given much thought is for the materials (like the terrain, walls, objects) used for the environment. These make it look like a 3D cartoon animation movie you had watched 15 years ago. However you would see moments of brilliance in certain scenes, in particular the stunt scenes have been done very well. They have really done a good job with the character that resurrects Nagesh on to the screen. Despite the short comings the screenplay of the movie, Rajni’s voice and AR Rahman’s music would entertain you and keep you glued to the seat. Kochadaiiyaan is a good attempt to start a trend towards performance capture technology. If it is used in a proper manner it could create wonders for Indian Cinema and enable us to make movies which are very difficult to make otherwise. Spending a good amount of time in the pre-production stage is very vital to make a good movie. If our Indian film makers concentrate on this department they would be able to make movies that could compete with many western movies in production quality.
Overall Kochadaiiyaan is worth a watch if you are not going with a mindset of experiencing a visual treat. If you are able to look beyond the shortcoming of the visuals – the story, actors and music would be a treat for you.
Watchable – for the first time effort, brilliant story line, music and of course for Superstar.
