After mixed review in Annathae, Rajinikanth is back with an adrenaline-rush action entertainer in Jailer. It has typical Rajinisms spread all over, and the story line seems to be borrowed straight from Sivaji Ganesan’s Thanga Pathakam, which of course formed the base for Kamal Haasan’s Indian.
Directed by Nelson and produced by Sun Pictures, besides Rajinikanth, Jailer boasts of a huge star cast that includes Mohanlal, Jackie Shroff, Shiva Rajkumar, Ramya Krishna, Tamannaah Bhatia, Sunil, Vinayakan, Mirnaa Menon, Vasanth Ravi, Naga Babu, and Yogi Babu among others. Music is by Anirudh Ravichander and cinematography by Vijay Kartik Kannan.
Muthuvel Pandian, a.k.a Muthu (Rajinikanth), is a retired jailer who leads a simple life with his family. Muthu’s son Arjun (Vasanth Ravi) is a sincere police officer. Arjun gets into a tussle with Varma (Vinakayan), who smuggles antique pieces and idols. One day Arjun goes missing, which causes tension in the police department. Muthu gets to know that his son is murdered, and hence he goes on a killing spree. During this, Muthu learns a surprising fact which changes his path. What is it? How did Muthu deal with it? This forms the crux of the story.
Rajinikanth holds the screen together with his signature style performance. His comical one-liners with Yogi Babu and action sequences hold audience in good spirits. Cameos by Mohanlal, Shiva Rajkumar and Jackie Shroff are blink and miss stuff, while Tammannah has very little to do except shaking her legs for Kaavalayya song. Vinayakan as menacing villian makes an impact.
On the whole, Jailer is an engaging action drama but for a bumpy second half. Well-begun is half done. But forget all, for ardent Rajinikanth fans, Jailer calls for celebrations.