MUMBAI: Rajnikant is back with a bang as an endearing robot, portraying the age-old formula ‘good vs evil‘ in a new avatar.

Robot, built on Rs 1.6 billion, begins with scientist Dr. Vasi (Rajnikanth) creating a humanoid, (Chitti), looking exactly like him to serve the purpose of defence of the country. On the other hand, Vasi‘s guru, robotics scientist Dr Bohra (played by Danny Denzongpa) who heads the committee that would approve Chitti‘s induction in the army, cites Chitti‘s inability to differentiate between good and bad as a reason to deny Chitti‘s inclusion in the army.

Dr Vasi now trains different chores of life, teaching Chitti the value of human relationships and ability to understand emotions. He succeeds, but his plan goes haywire when Chitti falls in love with Sana (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan), Vasi‘s girlfriend.

What follows is a love triangle between Sana, Dr Vasi and Chitti. As the creator and his creation are locked in a jealous battle against each other. Meanwhile, Dr Bohra plans to misuse Chitti for his wrong objectives.

Dr Bohra, who has been trying to create his own set of robots that would cause more destruction than do good, fails in his act. In Chitti, he sees the opportunity to fulfill his dream. What follows is mayhem.

From here, the mind blowing special effects and awe-inspiring and jaw-dropping action takes over. And the result is one that can give any Hollywood film a run for their money.

The director and Stan Winston Studios have served a relishing dish with a little bit of iRobot, mixed with bits of Iron Man, Matrix, and Terminator type climax that results in a mindboggling entertainment fare.

The choreography, the camerawork and editing complement the film and so does the art direction. AR Rahman too has done a decent job with the background score.

The film has many engrossing moments. But the best scene of the film is when Dr Vasi, told to do away with his creation Chitti, asks the latter to dismantle himself. And in doing so, Chitti gets tears rolling down the cheeks.

Rajnikant gives his innumerable admirers something to cherish about in Robot. Aishwarya gives an equally good performance and the chemistry of both the lead actors have to be seen to be believed. Danny is efficient as usual in his role, in what is said to be his last feature film.

Robot, a mix of substance and visual effects, does amazingly well.