Chandramukhi - A decent Movie, but disappointing as a Rajini Movie

Chandramukhi has a good story, though a little cliched, with good scope for acting for all the characters. The hero role would perfectly fit someone like Mamootty or Mohanlal or even Prakash Raj, but not a larger than life hero like Vijay or Ajith, let alone Rajinikanth. Its a character that has to be played with subtlety, not with heroism. The less visible the character is, the more effective it would be. An excellent opportunity for a budding middle-aged hero/actor. But for Rajini! The last thing you want Rajini to be doing at this stage is trying to pacify a ghost, by making the ghost believe that he is the evil king and then burning down himself(or his effigy) and make the ghost leave Jyothika's body. At least had he taken the ghost head-on, the Rajini-fan in me wouldn't have been complaining. Agreed that Rajini's recent roles had a certain pattern(Basha, Muthu, Arunachalam and to certain extent in Padayappa & Baba too), where he is a humble commoner in the first half and then rises to/turns out to be a larger than life hero/demi-god in the second half. But no one was complaining, but lapping it up greedily, movie after movie. I will still prefer hundred more such 'Rajinikanth-genre' movies from Rajini rather than a 'Spooky-Detective-Thriller' genre movie with Rajini in it.

But go-ahead and watch it anyway, for its a crime not to watch a new movie from the next chief minister of the state !?#$@?! ;) and at the end of the day, its still a movie worth watching.

More random notes:
* The comedy track is humorous in parts, but predominantly gross (not uncharacteristic of Vadivelu)
* Can't help remembering Sivakami's painting(from Kalki's Sivakamiyin Sabatham), when one looks at the painting of Chandramukhi in the palace.
* There couldn't have been a worse choice but Jyothika for a role that requires a proper Bharathanatyam dancer, even if the next choice I can think of is Banupriya. The combo of Shobana as dancer-ghost-seized Ganga and Mohanlal as the subtle investigating psychiatrist would surely be a movie worth watching even if u don't understand Malayalam.
* Nayanthara has been totally wasted. She disappears in the second half of the movie. But has played her part and whatever opportunity it offers, with conviction.
* 'Ra Ra Sarasukku Ra Ra' was kind of gripping and soul-rendering in the movie. Something like the legendary 'Naane varuven...' naga kanni song.
* Thankfully Rajini has resorted back to his old style/make-up instead of experimenting with new looks like he tried in Baba. Doesn't look as old as he did in Baba either :)
* Agreed Prabhu is the producer. But that doesn't mean he can claim as much screen space as he has. I definitely don't wanna see Rajini and Prabhu dancing like equal heroes like they did in Guru Sishyan days. Even in Vasool Raja he was treated like dirt and here he tries to play as an equal to Rajinikanth. Oof!
* BTW can someone throw some light on the reason behind the special thanks to 'Padmashri Kamal Hassan' at the start of the movie? I half-expected him to crop up in some scene.

As God, I...

...find your faith in me, amusing!