'Billa II' (Tamil)
Director: Chakri Toleti'
Cast: Ajith, Parvathy Omanakuttan, Bruna Abdullah, Yog Japee, Sudanshu Pandey
Ajith and Vishnuvardhan’s 'Billa' was a contemporary, stylised take on the Rajinikanth film of the same name. Its stupendous success generated a part two for the blockbuster, a prequel to the earlier story of the dreaded,wily don.
While the earlier version had a base to be worked on, this one is an original script co-written and helmed by Toleti. But unfortunately, the making and emergence of the don which this film tracks, is not as exciting as the don of the earlier version.
The plot travels to the past of David Billa. Of how he — a Sri Lankan refugee in a camp in India — in need of money and a job, resorts to various illegal activities. The opening scenes are promising. Billa carries smuggled goods for a sum, graduates to drug-peddling and finally enters the world of illegal weapon trading. Eliminating rivals of his mentors, he has his personal vendetta to attend to, making many enemies on the way.
The first part has a semblance of a plot and moves at a fast pace. But the second half deteriorates to almost nothing. Probably satiated with his hop-skip-jump narration, the director decides to tell some of the next few scenes in montages — of how David Billa finally rises to be regarded as the dreaded don.
Billa’s sojourn with politicians and the political-underworld nexus is not just an oft-repeated scenario, it’s rushed through and a distraction here. Further, an international criminal with powerful enemies like Billa would be better guarded, one would think. But he roams around unprotected, with a solo friend in tow. He manages to walk into any place, be it the villain’s den or a politician’s home in Borivia or India, and eliminates all of them single-handedly, always managing to escape unscathed.
Clearly, the two women in the film do not have any significant roles to play. While Bruna Abdullah manages to sail through as the gorgeous girlfriend of Abbasi, the don (Pandey), debutant Parvathy is projected in the most unflattering way. The language seems to cause a problem too. People from other states speak Tamil with strange accents, at times dropping to Hindi.
Some of the locations are exotic. The film has an ensemble cast from various languages. But thanks to the poorly fleshed out characters, hardly anyone makes an impact.
Some of the action sequences have been impressively choreographed. But after a spate of mindless violence, it all turns a tad monotonous. The director tries to offer some relief through forced backdrops. A carnival is used for a killing, and there are a couple of item numbers in bars.
As for Ajith, his earlier 'Billa' and 'Mankatha' earned him accolades. But here, he is just about adequate.
Neither is the film an image booster for him, nor is he as fascinating to watch as he was in the earlier version. 'Billa 2' has less of style than the earlier one, and not even half its story content.