Coolie Review: Rajinikanth & Lokesh Kanagaraj Deliver a 675-Crore Masterclass in Mass Cinema

Let us Get One Thing Straight

There is a moment in Coolie -- about twenty minutes into the second half -- where Rajinikanth walks into a warehouse full of armed men. He adjusts his cufflinks. He fixes his sunglasses. He says exactly one line of dialogue. And 600 people in my theatre erupted like a volcano.

That moment is not fan service. It is masterful filmmaking. Lokesh Kanagaraj understands something most directors never learn: Rajinikanth does not need explosions to set the screen on fire. He just needs a close-up and a half-decent line.

Coolie is, on every measurable level, the biggest Tamil film of 2025. It crossed 675 crore worldwide. It ran for 100+ days in single screens across Tamil Nadu. It made grown men cry in Imax auditoriums in Dubai. But the numbers, impressive as they are, do not tell the real story.

Rajini at 75: Age Is Just a Dialog Card

Let us address the elephant in the room: Rajinikanth is 75 years old. In an industry that often sidelines its veterans, here is a man delivering the most physically demanding performance of his career. The fight choreography is brutal, the emotional range is wider than anything he has attempted since Kabali, and the screen presence -- well, that was never in question.

But here is what surprised me: the quiet scenes. There is a conversation Rajini has with Nagarjuna in the film's third act -- two legends sitting across a table, talking about legacy and loss -- that contains more genuine acting than most entire films released this year. Rajini lets his guard down for exactly ninety seconds, and those ninety seconds will wreck you.

The "sunglasses adjustment" will get all the memes. The quiet vulnerability is what makes Coolie special.