The motion poster, much like most first looks and teasers of Rajini films in the last few years, screams its homage to the Superstar.
Structured like an intro scene, we have the basic elements such as fire, broken glass, and bottles lying around as we meet the man with a shot of his legs, which is reminiscent of his Baasha intro.As he steps on a glass bottle and breaks it, we see that the man has opted for a heavy-duty pair of brown boots, with his khaki trousers tucked in, instead of the polished tan shoes.This also immediately establishes the fact that though he's a cop, he isn't going to be sticking to the books and will instead do things his own way.In the next shot, we see him already him going at it with henchmen in a dilapidated building.With one of them literally tossed up in the air in the back, we now get a shot of Rajini's lower body as he raises his leg to stomp on something (or someone).This is followed by the quintessential shot we get to see in all cop films — the one showing his name badge.The shot also has a lapel pin that's often reserved for officers holding the top position in the Mumbai Police force.As he is wearing a jacket — a matching brown coloured one — we don't get to see the shoulder of his shirt which would have the badge to denote his exact position.The following shot shows us the man slicing his way through his enemies with a katana sword like a samurai.The last shot is where we finally see his face with a reaction that shows the wrath of a man standing against evil but with a subtlety the Superstar brings to this.As the goons lie motionless next to him, we have Rajini pose stylishly as always, sitting on a revolving chair with his legs crossed.Keeping with the rest of his attire, the round glass double bridge aviator he wears is also brown coloured, which doesn't do much to hide the piercing stare of the man.As the names of those associated with the films get a shout out, they're embossed on what looks like a map to probably denote the Mumbai city which would be under the control of Aaditya.Anirudh's massy theme music fills our ears with a beat that's groovy and thara local at the same time.Keeping the poster aside, a question lingers in the minds of all Rajini fans. Considering his name, could he be the son of Arunachalam who gave off all his wealth for the betterment of the society?We have to wait two more months to know if Darbar belongs to the same universe as the 1997 film Arunachalam or if it's just a fan theory that we wish was true.