Darbar (2020) - Review

While this is a spoiler-free review, I’ll discuss aspects of the plot and characters in this review. So, I recommend that you watch the movie before reading my review.

I’m a baaaad cop!

3/5

Gist: A police officer on a chase to hunt down a dreaded gangster for fulfilling his own secret agenda.

Darbar is your typical story about a good cop fighting bad people using questionable methods and saving the day. The plot is banal with the usual fanservice dance numbers, ridiculously unrealistic fight scenes, an unnecessary romantic subplot, long flashback and humor thrown in for some laughs. There isn’t anything about the plot or direction worth talking about.

Rajinikanth’s love interest is played by Nayanthara who would have been a better fit as Rajini’s daughter. There is even a scene that acknowledges this age gap which was quite honestly the biggest surprise for me in this movie. But we have Nivetha Thomas to play Rajinikanth’s daughter and she performs admirably. Sunil Shetty plays the villain whose character development was quite lacking and one dimensional. Yogi Babu brings good comic relief to the movie. Anirudh Ravichander’s music and Santosh Sivan’s cinematography don’t disappoint. The rest of the cast and crew do a serviceable job.

Rajinikanth is this movie’s biggest strength. At the age of 69, he manages to sell himself as an energetic police commissioner effortlessly. He still hasn’t lost his swag and enthralls the audience when he says, “Original’ave na villain ma… Ithu epdi irukku?”. Watching that same Rajinikanth lose his nerves and stammer in front of his love interest is such fun. He performs extremely well in the emotional scenes too. Rajinikanth carries this movie on his shoulders and is a living testament to the saying, “Age is just a number”.

It is very apparent that A. R. Murugadoss decided to play it safe with this movie. Directing a ‘Superstar’ movie can be intimidating as the stakes are high. It is understandable why A. R. M decided not to take any risks. The movie is honest and unpretentious about what it. Despite all its shortcomings, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t entertained. People don’t go to a Rajinikanth movie expecting a movie that redefines cinema. They go in to watch Rajinikanth dance, romance and beat a bunch of bad guys and Darbar delivers that. Darbar proves that only Rajinikanth can pull off a Rajinikanth movie. Watch this one for him and only him.