Coolie has no dearth of big stars. It has Aamir Khan in a special appearance as a swaggering, heavily tattooed crime lord who pops out of a chopper in the middle of a desert at the fag-end of the film. Upendra has an extended cameo that kicks of late in the second half when the chips are down for once for the titular protagonist.
Nor is that all. Nagarjuna Akkineni dons the garb of the principal villain and Soubin Shahir slips into the skin of a slimy double-dealer. It's top-heavy, to say the least.
Each one of them carries his weight in Coolie-The Powerhouse (the title of the Hindi dub of the Tamil action extravaganza that's been released without the suffix). But it is hardly surprising that the onus of doing most of the heavy lifting in squarely upon the redoubtable Rajinikanth.
The 74-year-old superstar, whose entry sequence, in a powerful visual sleight, is ushered in by parts of his visage reflected on the shiny blades of two meat cleavers, does not miss a beat.
While that may not be true of the movie as a whole, Rajini's all-encompassing persona powers the film along when it tends to flag a touch or is in danger of losing its way a bit in a maze of sporadic subplots and backstories.
This is hitmaker Lokesh Kanagaraj's first collaboration with Rajinikanth. He makes the most of a story (that he himself has thought up) by weaving his screenplay in a way that vigorously taps into the veteran actor's star power and charisma.
It is a director-star duet that could be regarded as being in the same league as Kanagaraj's partnership with Vijay (Master and Leo) and Kamal Haasan (Vikram).
The character Rajinikanth plays, erstwhile seaport coolie Deva, is many things all at once. He a fearless and wily crime-buster, a righteous and intrepid trade union leader, a benign do-gooder who runs a sprawling boarding house where students are granted huge concessions but are barred from drinking, a father figure who protects the young daughters of a slain friend and an irrepressible action hero who stops at nothing - all rolled into one.
Large swathes of Coolie pass muster (despite the lack of sustained plot cohesion) because the lead actor breathes life into the most important sequences, nowhere more so than in the protracted pre-interval block that sets up the second half pretty nicely.
At least at two crucial ‘action' points, the screen goes black in the blink of an eye and offers a diversion before the trajectory of an act of shocking violence comes to an end. The device is employed with the purpose of springing twists that are meant to catch the audience unaware. It works the first time. The next one, with the element of surprise out of the equation, isn't as successful.
But the second sequence that is left incomplete throws open the plot in a manner that enlarges the scope and intensity of the confrontation between the hero and the evil forces that he is up against.
Deva's friend Rajasekhar (Sathyaraj), an inventor of a portable incinerator, loses his life in mysterious circumstances. His elder daughter Preethi (Shruti Haasan) puts the death down to natural causes and prepares for the last rites.
But Deva, who is humiliated and thrown out of the house by a livid Preethi when he arrives to pay last respects to his departed pal, is convinced the man was murdered. He vows vengeance although Preethi pleads with him to let her and her two sisters, who are studying to be doctors, go on with their lives in peace.
An attack on a medical students' hostel by a gang of hoodlums brings out the ‘destroyer' in Deva. He roughs up the ruffians and even has a chuckle or two their expense in the bargain. Preethi watches wide-eyed. A change of heart is instantaneous. She agrees to go along with whatever Deva – I will call you Sir, not Uncle, she says to the man – deigns to do from here on.
Although it is unclear until the film is well into the second half what it was exactly that led to Rajsekhar's death, the needle of suspicion points towards two men – Simon Xavier (Nagarjuna Akkineni), who runs a luxury watch smuggling syndicate from Vizag port – it is a front for a criminal enterprise that is far worse – and his vicious operations supervisor Dayal (Soubin Shahir).
When we first see Dayal, he ruthlessly hangs a police mole in the gang with an iron chain and announces a substantial reward for anybody who detects another informer who he insists is still in their midst.
As Dayal and his men go on a rampage, action is plentiful in Coolie, so are blood and gore, but the film does not lose sight of its moral dimensions. The bad guys are very, very bad and the revenge-seeking crusader is a man without a single flaw.
Deva – as his name suggests, he is God – does not refrain from making deals with the devil when the need arises, but his intentions are always above reproach.
The girl Deva shadows – he is determined not to let any harm befall Preethi – lurches from one crisis to another as the villains constantly hound her.
The film would have us believe that Preethi is a tough woman who has taken it upon herself to look after her sisters in her father's absence but she never seems to be in control. Worse, she is perpetually in need of rescuing.
Coolie plays out in a man's world. The likes of Preethi, notwithstanding the amount of screen time she has, is only of secondary importance. So is everybody else in the film and that includes the writer-director himself. It is Rajinikanth the star and Deva the character who call the shots all the way through. Should anybody be complaining?
Also Read: Why Coolie Is A Terrific Tribute To 50 Years Of Rajinikanth In Indian Cinema
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Rajinikanth, Nagarjuna Akkineni, Sathyaraj, Aamir Khan
