Director: Nelson Dilipkumar
Cast: Rajinikanth, Ramya Krishnan, Mohanlal, Jackie Shroff
The moments that work best in Nelson's Jailer are not those with huge set-pieces, firing guns or riveting action sequences. Instead, scenes that leave an impact come in the form of close-up shots — be it Rajinikanth’s Muthuvel Pandian delivering an intense dialogue or the villain going about his psychotic antics. A moving example is when a problem hits close to home and Muthuvel’s world comes down crashing. His facial muscles harden and frown lines appear on his forehead. But the camera continues to zoom in until you see his eyes struggle to take in the news and a single tear drops.
Following the footsteps of Muthuvel, an honest jailer who has left a strong impact in the department, his son ACP Arjun (Vasanth Ravi) strives to seek justice. But when he goes missing, our now retired, cool grandfather jumps into action. In Nelson’s previous films, the characters pursued something that gave them a motive. However, Muthuvel is on a killing spree. After a few murders, dark comedy jokes and some mass moments, you’re not sure what else is left to drive the plot forward. To make up for a one-line story, Nelson begins to introduce several subplots including a theft, memorable cameos, a flashback and more. While some click, several others like the ‘Kaavaalaa’ song and the follow-up sequences felt out of place. This is one of the reasons why the second half, besides having a lot of twists, felt long drawn.
With the comedy team of the director — Yogi Babu, VTV Ganesh, Redin Kingsley and others — there is no dearth of jokes. But the film isn’t limited to the dark comedy zone of Nelson. To be precise, Jailer is Nelson's most serious outing as a writer and a violent one as a filmmaker, loaded with a powerful villain. Smashed heads and splattered blood frequent the screen. The camera captures murders with utmost patience and lingers around for some more time, registering the effect. So if you had laughed out loud when an old woman gets shot in the head in Beast, you're going to gasp and cheer for a scene in which Rajinikanth slashes a man’s head, right in front of the camera.
It's pure joy to see how sleekly Nelson introduces the songs at the most perfect timing. Take the 'Rathamaarey' song placement, for instance. When Arjun digs into a very serious issue, Rajinikanth gets concerned and asks him to stop investigating. Dismissing this concern sarcastically, Arjun says, "Neenga Amma sonna appo keteengala. Unga blood thaana ingayum odudhu." And ‘Rathamaarey’ begins, beautifully converting the sarcasm into an emotional moment. But my favourite has to be how 'Hukum - Thalaivar Alappara' elevates the two most powerful moments, serving as a wonderful service to both his character and the star Rajinikanth.
Both Beast and Doctor track a personal journey of the protagonists but end with a larger-than-life climax that is hard to believe and sticks out like a sore thumb. In Jailer, stars Jackie Shroff, Mohanlal and Shiva Rajkumar contribute to the larger plot and there is a huge payoff in the climax. The film does justice to the pan-Indian tag in many ways and it is also this energy-filled climactic sequence and inexplicably heavyhearted moments post the climax that somehow makes this action-focussed journey feel personal. With an equal amount of swag, style and substance, Jailer is a complete Rajinikanth film.
But as Nelson focuses on blending his ideas and the actor’s charisma, too many characters remain mere decorations that fill up the room. For someone who made his debut with a female-centric film with three women leading the dark-comedy game and followed it up with the combo of Archana, Deepa and Priyanka Mohan in Doctor (2021), it is super disappointing to see him push the women characters to the sidelines. So much for the talks about the Padaiyappa reunion, Nelson doesn't even try to give one memorable moment to Ramya Krishnan.
It has now become a trend to pay hat tips to the star’s previous films. Vijay’s Varisu, for instance, was flooded with such moments in the boardroom scene. Nelson does fall prey to the trend, but he keeps it to fewer numbers that the star service receives more applause than frowns like Rajinikanth asking “Who is the black sheep” when he searches for a particular culprit among a sea of criminals. However, several scenes including his slow walk among a group of gangsters, his past and a transformation sequence, and an encounter with the villain as he sits in a rotating chair reminds you of his macho moments from Baashha (1995).
Nelson’s films are always loaded with unique characters. And it is no different in Jailer. Yogi Babu getting accidentally caught in yet another crime plan is something you’ve started to expect from his films. On the other hand, Kingsley does only a cameo but his mere cheeky smile throughout his short screen time is enough to bring the house down. The best of Nelson's casting choices and the better-written character in this film has to be the antagonist, Vinakayan’s Varman. After his memorably evil role in Thimiru (2006), he plays a crueller and sadistic one in Jailer. Remember, he is a criminal but a professional one at that and he has his ethics. “I am not police to investigate and find the criminal among the suspects. Instead, when in doubt, I kill every suspect,” he proudly declares. And he sticks to that till the very last minute, ready to even kill his best friend. As Rajinikanth begins to gain more power in the second half, when he encounters Vinayakan and kicks him, you’re suddenly reminded of the uncountable Tamil film antagonists whose characters started off on a high note and were reduced to mere losers for the hero to win. But in a second, Nelson proves us wrong.
Besides the close-up shots, the filmmaker chooses to make use of silhouettes to convey the sadness in Muthuvel’s house and brings it back to depict a satisfying and stylistic transformation of the character. The writer in Nelson does let us down many a time, especially when the film deviates to irrelevant subplots in the later parts. But there is nothing to complain about Nelson, the director.