Billa-2007 - Review

Remaking the historical films of legends like MGR and Rajini looks like a suicidal attempt! Vishnuvarthan and Ajith have falls in the same ditch as many of their forerunners fallen earlier. Though they sincerely attempted or not, the whole episode of new Billa is become a mess at last. There is no charm or interesting twists or novel ideas involved in this remake of superstar Rajini's yesteryear Blockbuster.

The Billa-2007 crew thought that they are glorifying the superstar by remaking his Billa. But it is an insult indeed to this legendary actor, who still rules the Box Office as an uncrowned Emperor! On a critic's point of view, there is no need for quoting the much publicized story of Billa once again. At the same time, it is quite impossible to avoid comparisons between the original of superstar (actually this Don remake made everyone feel as an original just because of Rajini-Balaji-Sripriya, Sundarrajan and Thengai Srinivasan's awesome performances) and the poor remake version starred by Ajith.

Performance wise, Ajith's looks are good, but once again he fails to attract the viewers by his poor body language. Actually, he has enough scope to perform in the role of Velu, a mischievous character that was performed well by his forerunners Amitabh, Rajini and Shahrukh. But Ajith has clearly failed in this role and he just walked here and there with black costumes side by half naked but poor looking Nayanthara. The director must be learned the difference between stylish acting and a male cat walk. In Billa, Vishnuvarthan is just using Ajith as a male model with imported costumes.

Nayanthara is another minus of the film. Showing off the shirts or reducing the size of the skirts will never attract the viewers. At least a porn star could do something different to sustain the attention of the viewers. Look at the actress's part in this film... she is just introduced as a revenge seeking girl for her brother's murder but just walking with artless face along with the gang around Billa. No romance or nice looks reveals from her at any stage! Namitha is nice to look but the span of her character is too short just like a junior artist!

And Prabhu... He is totally not fit for the role, earlier done by the versatile actor Balaji, the producer of original Billa. Rahman and Anil have done well their part and Santhanam, the young comedian has once again failed to click.

The real heroes of the movie are music director Yuvan Shankar raja and cameraman Neerav Shah. But the bad remix of My name is Billa... is forgettable but not forgivable in Yuvan's career. At least from now onwards the composer should stop this remix culture, which has damaged enough the charm of original songs!

Of the whole, Vishnuvarthan, a fast growing young director has met his Waterloo in his very third film like Ram Gopal Varma for his worst remake of Sholay!

Verdict: Disappointment!

Credits:
Cast: Ajith, Nayanthara, Namitha, Prabhu
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raaja
Camera: Neerav Shah
Direction: Vishnuvarthan
Producer: L Suresh