The movie starts with an insight into the underworld of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Kabali who is in jail now and is about to get released. once released Kabali gives a surprise visit to the small time villains den , who was eager to kill Kabali as soon as he is released from jail. Kabali sits on the sofa opposite him and utters few dialogues, in the mean time villain signals his gang and everyone gets ready to kill Kabali. But Rajinikanth silently observes everything going on around him (like everyone around him unveiling knife and gun cautiously) and strikes the villain just in time when he pulls the gun. He does make a punching bag out of rest of the villain and utters the infamous dialog about Kabali which we saw in the teaser.
The rest of the movie and Kabali’s character could be predicted from this scene. Kabali the character who does not strike first but gives some space for the opponent to get comfortable and then makes the situation in favor of him by striking at the right time.
But Kabali as a movie not only revolves around the gangster world Kabali lives in but around this Kabali character. He was a don ruling the underworld of KL, Malaysia, gets jailed after a lot of people gets killed(which includes his pregnant wife) in a gang war. So what would he do once he returns from jail?. He looks after the people he used to look after. He has a welfare foundation for teenagers who were into drug abuse. He makes sure that nobody is into drug business under his nose, which makes life miserable for the villains.
Then with a sudden turn of events, Kabali gets a hint that his loved one might be alive. Watch out in theaters for the surprise element. This makes Kabali go in pursuit of his loved one which makes the most emotional moment in the movie. This stretch is where we get to see the actor in Rajinikanth. Radhika Apte’s acting is immaculate.
Once the family chapter of the dons era is sorted out we are given the trifle, which Rajini created during his comeback. Only now does the real don business begins. It is the  good vs bad now, and Kabali is going to sort this out in his own style. (nope not the Rajini one).
Every song is beautifully placed that it blends itself with the scenes, Maya-Nadhi, and Neruppu da stands out though. The timing for Neruppu Da is impeccable. Music does justice to the scenes too. Attakathi Dinesh and lot of other characters are well built.
Get together with the loved ones, and a fight scene with lots of guns are to be watched out for.
We get a lot of dialogues that makes us understand the strive behind the Kabali’s character. Indeed we come to know  how the  Malay Tamil people are treated, but we are not shown what happens behind, instead we get to know about this only through Kabali’s dialogues. Such dialogues feel injected towards the end. Maybe this is what makes us feel that the movie lacks something, although the movie does overall justice in all manners.
Thanks to the director for making no compromises and keeping the story intact. The story doesn’t have mass elements or twists that we have not seen before, but we need to  accept the reality of the story and the message that was lying on the lines ( not in-between ), which makes it a worth watch.