Coolie (2025)

Rajinikanth could carry this movie on one shoulder, which is lucky, because the script keeps dropping it. He plays Deva, who runs a strict boarding house in Chennai and refuses to believe his old friend Rajasekhar simply had a heart attack. Digging pulls him toward the Visakhapatnam harbour, where Nagarjuna’s Simon moves gold and luxury watches through a logistics front, with Soubin Shahir’s Dayal as his very busy right hand. Shruti Haasan plays Preethi, the friend’s daughter who wants Deva gone and keeps needing him anyway. Every Rajinikanth entrance is an event, and Lokesh Kanagaraj stages them for a crowd that’s ready to scream. The trouble is the writing: twists stack on twists, the tone lurches, and the emotional core gets buried somewhere inside 168 minutes. On IMDb, 25,103 voters average a 6.0. A 5.4 because the star power is real and the story is a knot. $5,806 says you practice a slow-motion Rajinikanth walk down the hallway before bed.

What works: Rajinikanth’s screen presence is enormous, and his big moments are built for a cheering crowd.

What doesn’t: The narrative is disjointed, the twists pile up until they stop mattering, and the long runtime drains the emotional punch.

Who it’s for: Rajinikanth fans who come for his entrances and don’t mind a sprawling, twisty crime saga around them.