Coolie is a recently released Tamil Movie authored and directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj. The movie has Rajinikanthan, Nagarjuna Akkineni, Soubin Shahir and Upendra in the lead roles. It is an action thriller genre movie for which fans and I have been waiting. In this article, we are going to discuss about the movie, analyze movie reviews from the audience and critics, and put my own views on the movie. Cinematography by Girish Gangadharan and edited by Philomin Raj, the movie got decent positive reviews from the audiences.
Produced by Kalanithi Maran under the banner of Sun Pictures, the movie got global screenings, it was also screened in my local theatre. Reportedly made on a budget of Rs 350 to 400 Crore, and the reported box office collection of it is currently at Rs 560 Crore, which means the movie is currently at a profit, so it’s not a box office failure, it’s a Box office success.
Contents
Reviews
When a director like Lokesh Kanagaraj works with a legend like Rajinikanth, the sky is obviously high with expectations. Coolie, one of the biggest spectacles of 2025, comes with the promise of mass entertainment, nostalgia and stylish filmmaking. The film does not leave anything to be wanted in terms of whistle-worthy moments, but the other side of the coin is the uneven storytelling and the overstuffed narrative of the film.
The story is set in Vizag’s port with Simon (Nagarjuna), a smuggler of luxury watches and drugs and his ruthless assistant Dayalan (Soubin Shahir) control the underworld. Their illegal activities cross paths with scientist Rajasekhar (Sathyaraj) who has developed a device for dangerous cremation. When the death of Rajasekhar under mysterious circumstances, his old friend Deva (Rajinikanth), a coolie turned a benevolent guardian, suspects foul play. The film then unravels, as Deva investigates the murder, protects Rajasekhar’s daughters and assumes the mantle of Simon’s criminal empire.
Lokesh Kanagaraj has the reputation of mixing style with substance, and here, too, he attempts to combine action, emotion and moral overtones. The first half is stretched too thin with too many introductions and cameos that do little to move the story forward. The second half, however, is tighter, with interesting twists and high voltage confrontations. The pacing picks up after the focus is entirely on Deva’s mission and his conflicts with Simon and Dayalan.
At 74, Rajinikanth is once again backing up his status as a phenomenon. His entry sequence, ingeniously shot with reflections on shining blades, is pure cinematic electricity. His dialogue delivery, his playful humour and commanding presence illuminates even the weaker parts of the film. Deva’s character is made up to be an all arounder: a fighter, a father, a trade union leader, a moral crusader. While this makes him larger than life, it also doesn’t leave much room for vulnerability so it leaves life with less suspense in many situations.
Nagarjuna plays Simon with trademark style but the character is shallow. Soubin Shahir on the other hand makes a quite indelible impression as the cruel and unpredictable Dayalan. Shruti Haasan’s Preethi gets a lot of screen time, but her role too often succumbs to the damsel-in-distress trap, but there are a few moments when her strength is emphasized. Among the cameos, Upendra and Aamir Khan lend star power but not too much narrative weight.
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Technically Coolie is world class. Girish Gangadharan’s cinematography is full of gritty action and big visuals, while Anirudh Ravichander’s music is a powerhouse, with the background score adding a new level to fight sequences, and songs packed in nostalgia. The de-aging technology applied on Rajinikanth is done carefully so that it is not forced but gives fans a glimpse of his youthful charisma.
The greatest fault of Coolie is his overambition. Lokesh attempts to incorporate several plots, revenge drama, a smuggling syndicate, drama of emotional family relationships, social justice, and fan service, but it does not quite hang together. Some subplots are undercooked and too many characters weaken the power of the main storyline.
Still, being a Rajinikanth film, Coolie succeeds as far as entertainment. Fans will cheer, whistle, and clap for their idol, and there will be enough mass moments for the casual audiences to enjoy. It may not be Lokesh’s best, but it stands tall as a celebration of Rajinikanth’s unparalleled legacy.
Coolie is a feisty, but choppy ride, with a high ratio on style, charisma and mass appeal, bogged down by a “too crowded screenplay”. For fans, it is a festival. For others, it is a mixed, but interesting experience.
Cast
One of the best talking points for Coolie is its power house cast. Lokesh Kanagaraj has worked with veterans, stars and character actors but the manner of using the roles has attracted both acclaim and condemnation.
Rajinikanth as Deva, At the centre of it all is Rajinikanth. Playing Deva, a former seaport coolie turned guardian, trade union leader and fearless crime-buster, he has the film on his shoulders. At the age of 74, Rajini’s screen presence has still not been surpassed. His entry scene on reflections on meat cleavers is pure cinema magic. Deva is depicted as an all-in-one hero, a protector of the students and a father figure of his friend’s daughters, and a criminal gangs destroyer.
While the writing of the film does waver at times, the charisma of Rajinikanth saves the weaker bits of the film. His performances are as much energetic as they are emotional, although the screenplay did not allow him the necessary vulnerability to make the drama even higher.
Nagarjuna as Simon Xavier, Nagarjuna plays Simon, the high-end watch smuggler who runs a drug empire from Vizag port in secret. Stylish and calculated, Simon is introduced as the main bad guy. Nagarjuna brings presence and sophistication the character is underwritten and often one-note. His villainy serves as a backdrop for Deva’s heroism, but because it is flat it makes Simon less memorable than he could have been.
Soubin Shahir as Dayalan, If there is one character outside Rajinikanth who makes a lasting impression then it is Soubin Shahir’s Dayalan. As Simon’s brutal operations supervisor he is slimy, unpredictable, and scary. Hanging a police informer with a chain is a menace that his introduction scene establishes instantly. One of the film’s highlights is Soubin’s performance, and adding intensity to the film is his arc. In fact, some felt that his role was more impactful than that of Simon as Dayalan is shown to have more edge and personality.
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Shruti Haasan as Preethi Shruti Haasan plays the role of Preethi, daughter of Rajasekhar, who at first does not like the Deva but later trusts him completely. She is depicted as strong on paper when considering the leadership of her sisters after her father’s death, but often written into crisis situations where she needs rescuing. Despite this, Shruti’s emotional depth laudable as one of her more memorable recent performances. Her chemistry with Rajinikanth’s Deva gives the story a lot of heart, even though her independence may be sacrificed by the screenplay.
Supporting Stars and Cameos: Aamir Khan’s tattooed gangster cameo and Upendra’s belated appearance add star power but too little meat to the bone. Sathyaraj in his limited role as Rajasekhar adds gravitas, while Rachita Ram and Kanna Ravi make a mark in their limited screen time.
Critical Reception
Sridevi S of The Times of India gave 3.5/5 to the Coolie movie and said that Coolie is a high-energy tribute to Rajinikanth in which first half is slow with too much fan services and second half is a tight action, sweat breaking twisting episode with memorable cameos. Rajini’s charisma, Sathyaraj’s presence and Shruti’s emotional strength were not to be overlooked, with Nagarjuna and Soubin adding menace. Lokesh struck the right balance between nostalgia and story and made it entertaining and enthralling.
Avinash Ramachandran of Cinema Express gave two stars out of five to the movie and praised the film for Coolie for his charm, smart action, and some gripping moments with Shruti Haasan and Soubin Shahir. But they felt that the film has too many characters, flabby writing, and unnecessary cameos. There was a rushed flashback, the villain was forgettable, and the emotional depth was missing. Lokesh Kanagaraj’s style read overused, and so Coolie was entertaining in parts but uneven – not quite as engaging as the huge expectations it raised.
A critic from Bollywood Hungama gave three stars out of five and reviewed Coolie for his terrific form of Rajinikanth, stylish action and mass moments that fun the fans. In their review they said Nagarjuna and Soubin Shahir glitter and Shruti Haasan and Sathyaraj shine. Impressive music and visuals by Anirudh but editing could be tighter. At the same time, the plot was messy, confused and weak at several places. Still, the film achieves enough drama, swag, and entertainment in terms of audience draws.
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Janani K of India Today gave the movie as two star out of five and gave much credit to Coolie for the screen presence of Rajinikanth and Shruti Haasan, also for the music by Anirudh with top class visuals. They observed the styles of Nagarjuna and Soubin, but believed both were underutilized. Lokesh Kanagaraj’s direction has huge agenda build-up and a few applause-worthy moments, but far too many subplots, poor transitions and unnecessary cameos left the movie looking messy. By concluding they said, Coolie is entertaining in some parts, but not to the extent the popular reading expects.
Audience Reception
The Coolie film received acceptable positive reviews with viewers, the film received 6.4 stars out of 10 at IMDb and 4.1 stars out of 5 at Google with 16.7k people giving the positive review. I will give an analysis to these reviews as these two ratings have got varying opinions as contributed by viewers. After reading the reviews left by the users, I discovered that most users agree Coolie is a snazzy, mass entertainer, which runs on the charisma of Rajinikanth. His on screen presence, old fashioned swagger and the de-aged flashback scenes were all widely acclaimed with a lot of references citing it as a tribute to his 50 years of history.
The music conducted by Anirudh, particularly philanthropy such as Monica and Powerhouse songs was also high, and they charged not only action beats but also emotions. The supporting cast was also not disregarded: Nagarjuna appeared cool, stylish and believable as Simon, Soubin Shahir was menacing and intimidating, Shruti Haasan brought emotional touch, and Sathyaraj came out power-packed despite minor screen time. Upendra and Aamir Khan appearance as cameos was viewed as entertaining extras but unnecessary.
Most people believe that the movie gives the audience what they desire, action set-pieces, whistle worthy scenes offered by Rajini and a cinematic time that would fit in theatres. The second half is a festival on screen, as many have called it, and improves with tension turning twists, crowd-satisfying appearances, and emotional resolutions. It has also been noted by the users that the movie had strong technical handiwork, gritty camerawork done by Girish Gangadharan, stunt coordination by Anbariv, and the use of sharp editing by Philomin Raj which polished the cell.
But the criticism by the minority is important. Some critics have complained the screenplay itself was clumsy, redundant and bloated with plots in comparison to Vikram and Jailer. Others suggested that Lokesh Kanagaraj had appeared to be recycling old concepts hence not coming up with something new. Some were plainly unimpressed with this view of the Coolie is his weakest movie, the bewilderment of the second half, its squandered cameos and inadequate characters. Critics gave it only 1-2/10 ranking it as lazy and boring with, the only salvaging factors being the presence of Rajinikanth and the music of Anirudh.
But, the users have agreed that Coolie is more of a mass entertainer than a narrative masterpiece. Although film experts deplore its writing and plot speed, the film serves the major role of honoring the legacy of Rajinikanth by use of spectacles, music, and style. It is a must watch among fans and possibly an unstylish film about content to others.
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Soundtrack Review
Among other strengths and weaknesses of Coolie, the music of Anirudh Ravichander is under these areas of the film that both the critiques and spectators have always magnetized in their reviews. Bith the throbbing background music score or whistle-tune tunes, the soundtrack can be discussed as one of the main reasons, which help to raise the film above the narrative deficiencies.
The opening up of the movie with entertainment thumping songs that best suit the movie theatre. Other tracks such as Monica and Powerhouse (the Hindi dub title track) are quite appropriate as they revitalize the opening scenes of Rajinikanth and power set-pieces. Although lyrics and setting is formulaic at certain times, the sound design is guaranteed to have a mass appeal. They are not always ubear chart topping songs without being in the theatre but work best when combined with the screen presence of Rajini.
The BGM (background music) has received universal admiration of intensifying beats (portraying emotions and action). Specifically, Anirudh employs percussionists, retro-style accents when a fight is happening, and the fusion of nostalgia and contemporary emphasis is created. Although the emotional overtures are a bit cliched, they also concede that the music rescues the lesser dramatic scenes which would have otherwise lost the flow.
Overuse of 90s songs and remix cues has been used as one of the larger criticisms against Lokesh Kanagaraj. As a nostalgic reference point to those who liked them, but placements that others found to be ill-chosen and distractive, these inclusions were their problem. Several critics pitted this unfavorably against Jailer, in which cameos and old songs were also overloaded.
It was music that enhanced the flashback scenes in which an aged Rajinikanth appeared more youthful. Anirudh skillfully applied minor musical elements in this song to make clear reference to the freshness of the young Rajini and provided long-term sci-fi fans with a sense of familiarity.
Unless people remember Coolie as a mixed storytelling, it will be mostly due to the charisma of Rajinikanth and music of Anirudh. Their songs might not stand the test of time as stand-alone hits, but in theatres, they take the energy, nostalgia, and mass moments of the film into Overdrive, making Anirudh yet again the unwanted hero behind the superstar.
How to Watch
The Coolie movie is still going at the box office and in case you would have a desire to watch the movie now, then you are required to visit the theatres and watch the movie. On BookMyShow or the District app, you may buy online tickets or directly at the in-theater without any commission charges of those applications.
According to the reports, the digital OTT rights of the movie by the Coolie movie went to the Amazon Prime Video and the digital version of the movie would be soon available on the digital platform. Then, you need to buy the subscription and stream the film within the actual OTT partner of the film.