Non-Indians may think it’s a bit peculiar that a chubby, bald, out-of-shape, 61 year old Joe Pesci-look-a-like is not only South India’s biggest star but has been cast in huge action films from South India. Why would movie producers not cast a young hot stud in the lead role for India’s most expensive action movie which cost around 30 million dollars? It’s because the star of The Robot (“Enthiran” in its original Tamil language), Ranjikanth, is a real-life transformer. Once he’s on screen, he doesn’t just put on his costume, wig, and make-up, he actually becomes an impressive charismatic leading man - transforming into a cinematic superstar. During his transformation, he becomes a highly entertaining, likable actor and a very believable action hero. I just watch him with a smile on my face being aware of his real-life schlubiness.

I knew I wasn’t going to be disappointed by director Shankar’s The Robot since I perceive him as the James Cameron of India, and his films have always blown me away. Although a native Indian may disagree, Indian action movie cinema is quite a few steps (or years) behind the standards of what we would expect from a Hollywood or Hong Kong action film. So whenever director Shankar makes a film, he raises the bar for special effects and action choreography in Indian films. The Robot has some truly “Holy Crap” Matrix moments, especially during the climax. The creativity (and most of the money) in the climax of this film is totally original – I don’t want to give away any of the movie’s creative scenes, but I thought I was watching a wacky Japanese action movie directed by Takashi Miike during many of the truly visually amazing action scenes. The action choreography not only involved India’s most respectable action choreographer, Peter Hein, but The Robot also involved the master – Woo Ping Yeun – the action choreographer for The Matrix trilogy, Kill Bill, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Fist of Legend, Once Upon A Time In China, and Iron Monkey. I don’t know how much of the movie he was involved in, but it showed. Even though the movie cost around 30 million dollars, Shankar didn’t totally balance out the spending. Many action scenes look like money well-spent and at the same level of the effects in a Hollywood action movie (mainly in the climax), while other scenes look like CGI from the early 2000s. For example, there are some baby scenes in this film - one scene has a real baby, another scene has a CGI baby, and in another scene, the baby is totally cartoon (well, it’s not a big deal since this one is from the 3D image of a baby in the womb of a pregnant woman, but it’s still unintentionally funny). Also, there are exoskeleton robot scenes of impressively built robots, great CGI robots, to early 2000s CGI robots, to a dude wearing a tin man suit. Some people may not like that. I personally love that combination – I see these faults as a charming characteristic of the film and a reminder of the way action movies used to be made, instead of being so perfectly clean and sterile, as well as being CGI overkill as in most action movies today.

I’ve seen my share of the few sci-fi/fantasy films that India has released, such as Mr. India, Anniyan, Krrish, Drona, Love Story 2050, Rudraksh, Kanthaswamy, Aladin, and Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic. Although some of them were good for India standards, the majority of them are not so good for the rest of the world standards when it comes to a well-written sci-fi/fantasy film. But I was totally surprised by the screenplay for this film. Even though the Robot is a mainstream bright colorful Masala film (an Indian film that mixes genres in one film, such as action, comedy, drama, romance, melodrama, and music), this movie is crammed with everything that you would want to see in a movie about a robot that gets artificial intelligence. The best characteristics of Wall-E, Terminator 1 & 2, Westworld, Blade Runner, A.I., Isaac Assimov & I Robot, Osamu Tezuka & Astro Boy, and RoboCop are in this film. The screenplay sticks to the basics of how to write an intense, interesting mainstream action movie. Keep the action moving and have no filler whatsoever. The first hour of this film feels like 10 minutes gone by. I do understand why the whole movie feels like that, because the screenplay has established conflict in every scene - conflict that leads from conflict to conflict to conflict – straight from the opening scene of the movie and all the way to the end credits. That’s how you write a movie. That’s basic quality screenwriting. If no conflict is established, you don’t care for the characters, the movie gets boring and feels long, and you just want the movie to end. The Robot is a beautifully written mainstream action sci-fi film. Remember that I just said beautifully written “mainstream” action sci-fi film. Those expecting something deep, dark, and analytical may be disappointed. What’s surprising about this film is that this film ain’t some PG-rated Bicentennial Man film – The Robot is as R-rated as it gets. There is violence in this film - bloody violence in this film - murdering of innocents galore, heads shots, heads chopped off, heads mashed, weapons galore, people trampled on, people hit by cars, massive collateral damage, hints of gang rape, hints of regular rape, and so on.

And by the way, one of the best looking actresses in the world, Aishwarya Rai, is in this film. Even if the main robot character in this film didn’t have artificial intelligence, I’m sure it would still fall in love with her. She has that power.


Since the blu-ray is delayed due to Indian companies fighting for the rights, the only English-subtitled, original audio (Tamil) home video is the Ayngaran DVD. This DVD comes with two discs – one disc is the movie with DTS audio and the other disc is the movie with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. So if you buy this DVD, you can sell one of the discs if you like. The DVD is perfectly fine and is at the same standard of a typical Indian DVD (meaning, not as good as a Hollywood DVD). The DTS audio is excellent and the anamorphic video is perfectly fine on my 37 inch HDTV. There are many people complaining that it doesn’t look as good as a usual DVD from Ayngaran, but the image is just fine until we get a blu-ray of this film. The only people complaining about the DVD video quality are blu-ray folk, so I think they are forgetting a couple things:

1. Once you go Blu, it is hard to watch a DVD again, even a new Hollywood DVD. Even I have become a blu-ray snob, but The Robot is so entertaining, I’m not watching “the DVD”, I’m watching “the movie.”
2. Indian DVDs are not known for their video quality.

If you want to see a bad video quality of a huge Indian movie, watch the Eros DVD of Devdas – now that is a bad DVD (pixilation and banding). The video has some scratches and hairs but it’s not that distracting. The only negative about the DVD is that the Ayngaran logo pops up every other second and it's not even in the bottom right corner - it pops up practically in the middle right corner! It’s not a big deal because that’s common with Indian DVDs and once again, this DVD is a perfectly acceptable DVD to watch on a home theater until the blu-ray gets released. Maybe it’s harder to watch on a 50+ screen but I can’t comment on that. The English subtitles are typically Indian-English as well, mostly grammatically correct but with some strange translations. I would also like to add that I have no understanding of that DVD cover design. There is no point in the movie where the main character where's a helmet.

Movie: 10
DVD Video: 7.5
DVD Audio: 9
English subtitles: 8
Extras: 0

The Robot may not be the best science fiction movie ever made, but it’s pretty safe to say that The Robot is the best science fiction musical movie ever made.

That was an image that was briefly used to promote the film when shooting started and was never used again for the main promotion. This was when Ayngaran and Eros were originally producing it.


"Shooting starts today"

The DVD is slightly dissapointing...colour correction is all wrong. Why do the whites look pink, and contrast boosted? My Kuro display was hating it.

I wish I'd supervised this project it could have been much better.

I'd wait for the blu-ray.

Any word on who's releasing the BD Sunny? And what is the situation with Tamil BDs in general - has the piracy issue you discussed in the Naan Mahaan Alla thread been overcome?

I don't have any idea on BD version. Contact Sun Pictures.

Can't comment on Naan Maahan Alla. Still working out BD piracy issue.

Did not mean to cause offence Sunny, was just asking as you said it would be best to wait for the BD, so I thought you may have heard something.

Hopefully the BD piracy issue gets sorted soon so the release of the other Tamil BDs you've mentioned (Kaavalan and Madrasapattinam) aren't delayed.

Sunny, you should wear a t-shirt that says "Stop asking me about the Enthiran Blu-Ray"

you didn't cause any offence

Kaavalan should be a quick release... we are trying to release the DVD/blu-ray at the same time.

Well once people will watch Telugu with subs there won't be many takers for orig bluray releases of Hindi , Tamil

This DVD looks decent on my standard def tube tv but it looks like a pirated movie on my 40 inch HD TV. The difference is night and day. Go Figure. I will have to wait for the blu ray!