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To remake a hit film in another language is always tricky. Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan tasted success with their respective versions of Don. Rajnikanth's Tamil remake of the film, Billa (1980), was also a huge hit.
So Ajith's Billa should have followed the same path. But then, in showbiz, two plus two does not make four.
Director Vishnuvardhan seems to have been in a dilemma as to whether to focus on Ajith or give the film well-etched characters. There are too many diversions in the form of female cleavages in the rain forests of Malaysia and garish sets.
So the megaphone wielder snipped off some of the supporting characters -- especially the trapeze artiste-cum-safe-breaker (played by Pran, 'Thengai' Srinivasan and Arjun Rampal in the earlier three versions) -- substituted a pen-drive in the place of a red-coloured diary and expected Ajith to bear the entire burden of carrying Billa on his shoulders.
To expect the slightly pot-bellied Ajith to work a miracle which even Rajnikanth wasn't expected to do is probably asking for too much.
The story begins with a sadistic underworld don Billa (Ajith) being killed in a police chase. An officer Jai Prakash (Prabhu, wasted) substitutes a look alike wastrel Velu (Ajith again) in his place to net the whole gang, whose boss masquerades as an Interpol agent (Rahuman, average). An avenging belle (Nayantara, adequate) and an itinerant cop help in nailing the baddies...
Yuvan Shankar Raja's tunes and music are pulsating -- especially the pan-song and the praise for Lord Murugan (filmed excellently around the Batu Caves near Kuala Lumpur).
Ajith has tried his best under the circumstances -- in the absence of other props -- purely with the help of motorcar chases and fisticuffs.
The audience expects one last twist to the tale as the villain is shot down but it doesn't come.
Rediff Rating: 