Check out the trailer of Darbar, starring Superstar Rajinikanth, and directed by A R Murugadoss, for yet another blast of nostalgia, and the urge to book tickets, or whistle-podu! The film is expected to release on Pongal 2020.
Rajinikanth returns to the Supercop genre (yup, there is such a genre in Telugu and Tamil) after more than two decades. His way over the top 'Alex Pandiyan' character in Pandiyan (1992) is cult, and the dialogues still resonate. But in Darbar, he's bringing back dialogues from Robot and 2.0, but with a slight twist. The recall is instant, and it works.
Rajinikanth's last film as Rajinikanth was unarguably Padayappa (1999). All of his films post that were neither formula nor entirely 'mass.' Sivaji, the two Robot films by Shankar, Kabali, Kaala, and even Chandramukhi, saw him break character from the superstar persona and story arc that his fans had come to love. Yes, I have purposely forgotten to mention Baba (2002).
Which is why when Petta (2019) hit the screen in January this year, it felt like a breath of fresh 90s air, after a decade -long wait.
With Darbar, Rajinikanth digs his heels deeper into his 90s self, and emerges younger than even his look in Petta (Remember, the man turned 69 last week!)
Feel like you need a little more of Rajini? Here's a song from Darbar that's crossed 23 million views, and counting.
The makers of Darbar had recently released the first motion poster of the film and it showed the Thalaiva oozing swag as a police officer. The 41-seconds motion poster was released in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam by different celebrities.
Salman Khan released the Hindi motion poster on twitter and wrote, “Best wishes to not just a superstar.. The only superstar! Rajni garu in full motion #DarbarMotionPoster #DARBAR @rajinikanth #Nayanthara @SunielVShetty @santoshsivan #DarbarThiruvizha”
Darbar will be Suniel Shetty’s Tamil film debut and also stars Nayanthara, Nivetha Thomas, Prateik Babbar and Dalip Tahil. It has been bankrolled by Lyca Productions, which also backed Rajinikanth’s 2018 film 2.0.
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