Endhiran (Robot)

Isaac Asimov’s Laws of robotics:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

And Chitti doesn’t follow a single one of them.

Endhiran is the latest multilingual sci-fi blockbuster to smash the screens, and it leaves you breathless after an 18 reel extravaganza!

I’m not going to elaborate on the story ‘coz that’ s for you folks to watch and find out ;}.
But I’m going to handle the story’s theme in an indirect way.

Rajni Kanth plays the suave scientist, complete with a Carnegie Mellon doctorate in artificial intelligence. As obvious from the trailer, news, etc, etc…he creates an android type robot , christened ‘Chitti’. Built to serve the Indian army, Chitti obviously doesn’t observe Asimov’s laws of robotics. The story goes on to show humanity, what a robot with artificial intelligence to this extent, can achieve or not achieve, without the sensitivity of human emotion, and with the same.

Aishwarya Rai Bachhan plays the love interest of Rajni's many roles in this film. Her character is that of a medical student.

It’s a well conceived story, and the credit goes to the late writer-scientist ‘Sujatha’, famed for Tamil novels of mystery and science fiction.

Three cheers (and many more :) ) for Rajni, and Shankar for pulling off this celluloid marvel. Rajni has done a great job as the sophisticated scientist, innocent robot and demoniacal robot villain, so much so, that you totally forget Rajni ‘the actor’ when he plays the robot ! But for those hard core Rajni fans out there (who most likely would have seen the film several times before they ever happen to read this review) , not to worry, because his ’ style’ is very much prevalent in the film :).

The script has no slow points…its complete entertainment start to finish.
The labs for artificial intelligence look pretty cool. The action sequences are awesome, and special effects are commendable.

For techies this film will be a treat, because even if this kind of technology is currently non-existent, it gives scope to imagine the limits to which robotics can be stretched.
One begins to wonder if humanoid robots are actually safe, given that there will always be loopholes to every rule, including those that they’re programmed with.
Robots are but machines, and if ever a situation arrives where humanity faces loss and destruction because of them, it’s their creators who are to blame.
Asimov’s books tend to demonstrate these loopholes.

Overall many of the ideas that bring this film together are familiar. The Robin Williams starrer, “The Bicentennial Man” is a similar example for how a robot would live, given a chance to emote as a human would. Again, ‘The Bicentennial Man’ is a novel by Isaac Asimov.

There are logic-defying events in few parts of the movie, but then this is the world of cinema we’re talking about, and it would be foolishness to expect logic in entirety in a movie, that too a sci-fi one.

The climax is an out-of-control roller-coaster ride, replete with adrenaline pumping action!

A. R. Rahman’s music is awesome and just about all the numbers entice you to hum them. The background score helped keep the pace alive and racy, too.

So people, get your hands on Endhiran(or Robot) tickets ASAP, because your experience is going to be worth every last rupee of it :).