Coulie Review: Rajinikanth’s film has a lot of views, but has very little impact
Coulie Movie Review: Director Lokesh Canagaraj’s ‘Coolie’, starring Rajinikanth, Shruti Haasan and Satyaraj, is a template revision thriller, which takes more deities than this. Keeping Rajinikanth’s attraction aside, the film rarely provides anything new or sufficient.
In short
- The bud was highly anticipated but failed to meet expectations
- Rajinikanth’s performance is strong despite the weak story
- Film is prone to overstated ideas and dissatisfied conspiracy, our review says
2025 Tamasha has been an unusual year for films (except for some, of course), not only in Kollywood, but in the entire industry. One of the most hyped films of 2025, Kuli ‘, was marketed as the next big outing this year, with a wonderful artist contingent. It was every component to make the next Pan-India Biggi. Director – check with an errorless record. Rajinikanth – Czech. A diverse star cast. check.
But, ‘Coolie’ lives for publicity?
The film extends to many times and places. The death of Rajasekhar’s (Satyaraj) leaves his elder daughter Preeti (Shruti Haasan), and his two sisters struggled. His long -time friend Deva (Rajinikanth), who runs a mansion house, comes to pay his final honor, but Prithi took out and asked him to get out. After days, the deity finds out that Rajasekhar’s death is more than meeting the eye.
Enter Simon (Nagarjuna), which is the head of a smuggling syndicate and indulges in a lot of illegal activities. Dayalan (Saubin Shahir) is a person in the command at the port where a lot of workers are exploited and killed. As the deity’s investigation begins, the secret around Rajasekhar’s death pulled him into the world of Simon and Dayalan. What was Rajasekhar’s job? Why was he associated with Dayalan and gang? All these questions and more are answered on its 2-hour-49-minute runTime.
Director Lokesh Kanagarj, who launched a new wave of filmmaking in Tamil cinema, set an impeccable record. So when he was announced about his cooperation with Rajinikanth, expectations touched the sky. But ‘Coolie’ is one of its weakest efforts so far.
The film is closed in style with a suitable build-up for Rajinikanth’s entry that sends the audience to a frenzy. But as the story moves forward, we are introduced to many half-cakes subplots, which determine references in the first half, but less-saved in a large context.
Rajinikanth’s charisma, intelligence and screen appearance remain strong at 74. A single close-up of his eye is enough to activate the audience, and the ‘coolie’ is very high at such moments. While these Elicit applause, they are contrast with the general specific visual style of Lokesh Kanagaraja. The film includes his trademarks-old songs, sequences of music filled with music and non-lectured story-but this time, these elements do not resonate according to the intention.
The main issue with ‘Cool’ is the overstfing of ideas. The film begins as a revision thriller – a man who asks for an answer for his friend’s death – soon turns into a story about a common man who exposes the crime syndicate. The infection is not smooth, which recalls you a few moments again, but not overall.
Rajinikanth has given all of himself for ‘Coolie’, but the story rarely does any justice to him. It jumps from sobin to Simon, without making a real impact. Saubin is given an interesting arc, yet it looks like a missing opportunity to fully use its talent. Nagarjuna is stylish as Simon, but about it. Their character is a lot of notes, so you can only rely so much on their charisma. Shruti Haasan’s pretha is one of her most influential performances in recent times. Among the dress, Kanna Ravi and Rachith Ram also leave a mark with their small yet effective performance.
There are many loose ends and dissatisfied stories that make ‘coolie’ unacceptable. Rajinikanth has a lot of fun, but the film rarely does. Seeing the ‘Kuli’ and its endless (and unnecessary) samos reminds me of ‘jailer’. Since all the characters including Aamir Khan came to know a lot before the release, his on-screen appearance hardly had any impact. It leaves us with emotion – Oh, what’s next?
Whereas Aamir Khan and Upendra’s cameo, on paper, on exciting sound, they do not add value or do no justice in their legacy.
Technically, ‘Cool’ is fantastic. This is Girish Gangadharan’s cinematography or pulsed music of Anirudh Ravichander, on all fronts by technicians, including sound design, production design and VFX.
Director Lokesh Kanagaraj’s ‘Cooli’ is a very great entertainer who is suffering from oversted ideas. Rajinikanth’s screen appearance and Anirudh Ravichender’s music prevents the film from drowning.
