Just like any other kid who has grown up in Chennai I am a part of the innumerous "fans" of Thalaivar. Though I may not belong to those group of people who do the "palabhishekam" and "Rupeemala's" for him , the number of times I have watched every movie of his cannot be counted on my fingers. My mother is still amazed at how I do not tire from watching their repeats on the Saturday 1'0 clock slots. I still remember the adrenaling pumping for each of those dialogues I heard during the second day screening of Sivaji.There were fathers of teenagers sitting around me outshouting their sons , that is the excitement created when Thailavar delivers his punchline.
Despite all his fan following and demi-god status in South India , he is just a laughing stock in the north. The people are amazed at how Rajnikanth does not obey the laws of physics and fail to accept the fact that none of his stunts are graphic-animated, all of it is true - he does not use a stunt double- that is what all of us believe and that is what makes the movie a success down south. We are all believers :).To just give you a sample of what non-believers make out of a Superstar movie , please read this , a blog post by Anuradha Sengupta, a CNN-IBN journalist. The post recieved a response of a meagre 1798 comments to date many of which included death threats and denouncing her skills, all for writing a few lines about her views on the Superstar's latest movie-Sivaji. The beauty of the movie is lost when she understands the dialogue as : Pigs come in herds, lion comes single ; while sitting in a Mumbai theatre. For the same line, Satyam( the theatre) literally vibrated from the audience response. Down south , it is imbibed in our culture to watch a Rajni movie and cheer for every line, hate the villain, buy first show tickets for whooping prices of upto 1500 to display our love for the Man .
More than everything else, a Rajni movie takes cinemagoers to a level never seen before. For which other actor, would producers ever be ready to invest the staggering amount of Rs 80 crores without thinking twice.Everything moves to a new level when the stakes are on Rajni- the music, the camera work, the art , nothing goes unattended. Such is the perfection levels a Thaliavar movie delivers. No other actor in the Indian cinema industry can command such respect, his worst flop gave him Rs 25 crores if I am not wrong ( a self-driven spiritual based venture Baba ) . For ages altogether he has reigned the movie industry down south and of late has started gaining good ground in the lands above too. The distributors of "The Pirates of the Carribean : At the world's end " advanced their Indian release date fearing the Rajni onslaught awaiting in the form of Sivaji. A fact that is well known is that Sivaji's parking costs in Mumbai and Delhi earned more than the total collection of the Bacchan family starrer Jhoom Barabar Jhoom .
Pages altogether can be written , and has most recently been released - "The Name is Rajnikanth" by Gayathri Shreekanth which I am sure is by far the bestseller in lands where Tamil is spoken. We all await with bated breath ,the auspicious moment to see the Thalaivar on big screen for the next time.
To end with, despite all the hype and hoopla surrounding the new Rajni movies, my all time favourite still is ThilluMullu, whats yours ?
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