By Subhash K Jha
Would you believe it if I told you Akshay Kumar is a cell-phone-hating monster (at least he is disguised to look disgusting) who vows to get rid of the cellphone from the face of the earth.
Wait. There is more. Cellphones start flapping and flying in the air like bats. Girls gasp, guys shout. And Chitti, the robotic hero from the first Robot film, is back. That Rajinikant plays Chitti makes it okay for him to grab Amy Jackson and exclaim,'Wow!'
Not quite our response to what we see in the trailer. At the end of the trailer Rajinikanth promises, "I'll set your screen on fire." I am not too sure of that. The emphasis is on amateurish special effects rather than on telling a story. The repetitive shots of scampering humanity and crushed cars would make the architects of the Avengers series giggle in amusement.
Didn't I already mention the story? A cellphone-hating villain and a robotic hero to stop him. What follows is orchestrated mayhem. The bulk shots of the villain's monstrous chaos in the city look like an encore of the first Robot film. More than Akshay Kumar versus Rajnikanth, "2: 0" looks like "Rajinkanth repeats robot and gets Akshay Kumar to join in." If that sounds like fun, then welcome to La La Land.
No novelty in the shots showing the villain on a rampage. Loud clamorous background music (A. R Rahman on a sleepy Sunday afternoon?). And two principal actors seen to desperately try and infuse new vivacity into an old done-to-death battle between Good and Evil...Is this all there is to this long awaited lavish mammoth budgeted monster film?
I sincerely hope there is more to the film than seen in the trailer. For, what we see in the trailer is a hysterical attempt to grab eyeballs. Dialogues like, "Every person carrying a cellphone is an enemy of the nation," only evokes unintended humour.
I don't think laughter is the prescribed reaction to the colossal ambitions of this team that wants us to scream in pleasure. And honestly, I wanted to have fun watching the trailer. All it got out of me is a giggle.
