Story

There is a 70 year old Lord Siva temple in a village called Singanoor. The temple was closed on the day it was built. It was built by Lingeswara Rao (Rajinikanth), an oxford educated engineer who is also the local Zamindar. He builds a dam for local people and spends all his money in the process. When the local leaders decide to reopen the temple, they are in search of the grandson Lingaa (Rajinikanth). The rest of the story is all about how Lingaa comes to know about the greatness of his grandfather and how he lives up to the reputation of his grandfather.

Artists Performance

Actors: It’s a cakewalk for Rajinikanth. His get-ups are nice and his charm is in tact. Anushka has a limited screen space. She is nice as an TV journalist. Sonakshi Sinha played village belle of pre-independence era. The dubbing done by Chinmayi didn’t suit her character. Jagapathi played a villain character. The white actor who did the role of British collector is impressive. Santhanam entertains as a sidekick.

Technical departments

Story - screenplay - direction: The story of the film has good commercial point. But it’s the screenplay that played the spoilsport. Direction though old-fashioned is good in parts. By the time flashback is over, we feel like the movie is completed though Jagapati Babu’s character is unfinished. The climax of the film is tedious and cumbersome. The conflicts created in one scene are resolved in the next scene.

Other departments: Songs scored by AR Rahman are not of his standard. Background music is good. Camerawork by Rathnavelu reflects the mood of the movie. Dialogues which are one of the strengths of Rajinikanth’s movies are written well. Editing by Samjith is alright. Production values by Rockline Venkatesh are grand.


Analysis: Rajnikanth movies are known for creating magic on screen with nice story and punch dialogues. Though the intention is to create a good content, the magic in Lingaa is missing. Plus points of the film are Rajinikanth, dialogues and characterization of Lingeswara Rao (pre-independence). The screenplay is uninteresting and direction should have been better. On a whole, Lingaa is for fans!