Run Review

On your mark...get, set... wheeeet!! And they're off! In the lead, we have the audience's expectations. A close joint second are Madhavan and the director, trying desperately to catch up. We have a huffing, puffing, well-fleshed out Mira next - but she's doing okay for a first timer. And we can't really see the rest from here, but we trust they will, in fact, be able to finish the race. Run, Lola, RUN!!!

A M Rathnam is a smart man because he made sure he can't get sued for this one - he's warned the audience with the title. Run is a Tamil 'hit' dabbaad... oops, dubbed into Telugu. I would, normally, at this point go into the story but... sorry? You want the story? Okay, then. Boy sees girl, falls in laaauuu, boy bashes up girl's goonda bro's bad boys, then girl loves boy, boy beats bro, the end. (Am I a time saver or am I a time saver.)

You asked for it... and so (apparently) did I. Watching Run is like being washed into submission by a detergent of a somewhat similar name.

Siva (Madhavan) comes to Hyderabad to study and sees Priya (Mira) from a bus. The courting ritual then moves away from green, leafy vegetables and their taller relatives to bus-stops, trains, and the like. Priya wants to get leech boy off her back, but persistence pays off, I guess. She tries to save Siva from her over-possessive bro's goons, but our man thrashes them (yes, all 25 of them) crapless. And while the script-writer's brain cell played some solitaire, we meander into... wheeet!! Halftime.

Yes, the game sorta changed while you were away. Score:

Audience - 10,000 points, for stamina. (Apparently, scoring is on the lines of Whose Line Is It Anyway)

Madhavan - 54, for brushing his teeth and proving it

Mira - ummm, around 100, for not pearly-whiting and generally prancing around in her first game in the big league

Choreography - negative

Music - 20

But somehow, the audience is still behind at this stage.

Wheeet!! Second half. You're all pumped to see the thumping ahead, but the plot meanders aimlessly again. Whatever little interest was generated is lost irretrievably. Maddy plays Batman for a while and Kapow! Biff! Sock! Wham! And the lowlifes Run! Lingaswamy gets Maddy pumping those legs every once in a while to justify the title and to keep the audience's attention from the crates of eggs.

The comedy track is the only saving grace - some situations are truly hilarious. Of course, this is quite irrelevant to the story. Anyway, staying consistent to the irrelevance, another hour goes by. Showdown time and a brilliant, unbelievably original ending.

I was told that the heroine was a doll. She reminded me more of one of those punching dolls, with a cute face but the weight distribution all wrong. Gravity, thy cruelty! But she does impress in her debut role as someone with a smidgeon of maturity and a sense of comfort in front of the camera. Maddy is his usual 'what's up, doc?' self, smiling away to glory at the smallest, but he does manage to pull off the intense and fight scenes with some credibility. The music is tolerable in parts, but I can see some tracks scoring goals.

If you haven't done so already at halftime, this is your chance - RUN!