Thursday, October 13, 2005

One aspect where I am not a Tamilian

A typical caricature of a Tamil will include a word about Rajnikanth. Rajni is a super hero, Tamil youth are supposed to be crazy about him, etc. Somehow I never felt that towards Rajni. He acted good in some movies (most of them in his initial days) and then became a caricature. But this post is not about his acting skills. I feel that his superstardom is as much a product of media hype as it is of actual heroworship. Pick any leading Tamil Magazine in the last ten years, a recurring article would be "Scoop about new rajni movie", "Aishwarya Rai to be Rajni's next heroine", "Who is going to direct the next rajni movie". And after the movie releases, "It beats all records", "Movie of the year/decade/century", blah blah blah.

I am one of those who hasn't seen Basha, Annamalai, Muthu, Baba, CM in a theater. In fact I have seen only bits of the first two movies when they were broadcast in TV. I never feel the so called nerve tingling experience when I see Rajni on screen, or I do not feel like claiming "typical Thalaivar movie. Paisa Vasool". In fact I thought CM was a mediocre movie. So am I out of touch with the pulse of Tamilnadu or are there more people like me.

I feel the fan club culture is dead and is kept alive only by the media hype. If the media stops covering events like Rajni's birthday, release day antics of fans and such stuff do you think the fan clubs will be so active?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

actually, if media stops covering, even kollywood would be dead.

Chenthil said...

My peeve is also towards bloggers lazy. When I read things like "Missing Thalaivar movie first day first show", I wonder was I reared in another state :-)

Anonymous said...

i knew that when i started reading the post. related to my post on the sivaji movie heroine :)

i agree, you're right but i was right too. include bloggers in media.

Anonymous said...

The last Rajini movie I saw was Dhalapathy and that too for Maniratnam. Just can't stand his movies.

For the life of me, I can't figure out what makes him tick.

Anonymous said...

I have a little different thought on this. We cant simply say it is only bcos of media. People feel that he is the best entertainer and he is. If media can determine the success of a movie then why wasnt BABA a hit.
Only bcos your site is good so many people read it and appreciate. Imagine if nobody reads your blog i probably think you would have stopped blogging...
I amn't a big fan of rajini either but all i want to say is please learn to appreciate people for what they are

I am sorry if I had hurt u in anyways..

Anonymous said...

CM is a definitely not a mediocre movie for Jyothika(for acting scope),Prabhu(for production), but definietly a medicore movie for Rajini!
In this regard, even padayppa was a mediocre for him..
For styles he was superb in Basha..and from then..every movie is mediocre for him(his acting,styles,etc).

Bart said...

Nothing over-rated lasts in this world for long.. that too this long... There might be many who would go with your views or agree with it but then you would be under-estimating the number on the other side..
It is fact that he is The One in the commerce of Tamil Cinema and would go into history books rightly so. Also its a fact that moon has dark spots in it ;)
We shall always tend to see the world we want to see it as. Hence, World is beautiful...

Chenthil said...

Guys, I accept that may be I am entertainment challeged and am not able to appreciate the entertainment offered by Rajni. Have you seen cricket matches in Indian Television. Whenever the TV Camera zooms towards a section of the crowd, people there start waving, jumping up and down. By continuously playing the same clip again and again you can create an image of a entertaining cricket match enjoyed by the spectators while in reality it was only for that moment. Rajni hype is also like that. That is what I was trying to convey

Premalatha said...

I agree with Js. It is not just media hype. it is also, what people want. but, it is not "everyone" likes. it is just "most people" like. You and me and some poeple like us are excluded from that "most people". It just because you and me and some people like us, exist, and it happens to be you are asking the question, you cannot say, that "most people do not exist. They do. and, beleive they do enjoy Rajini's movie. I don't get what they like in him. I never understood it. But I know they do exist. and they do like him (in fact carzy about him).

Anonymous said...

It's just not Rajini - It's a psychopathic condition of epidemic proportions. I was watching Sun Music just now and I noticed that the girl running the show said a great song coming up - turned out to be a Rajini song that I found to be very filmi and mediocre. Even the young'uns running FM and TV Music channels seem to go over the top - Is it just something in the Tamil Nadu air or is it instruction from mgmt to genuflect at the altar of Kollywood. The way these film stars refer to each other is also funny - Madhavan's recent movie PriyaSakhi had him referring to Kamal as "Padma Shree Kamalhassan".

That's also why I don't find too much fault with Thirumavalavan and Krishnaswamy - they are the only ones who open their mouths against the film industry. Maybe only in a state with folks who indulge in unquestioning worship of mere mortals and a feudal culture can dictators like J thrive ?

Kupathotty Govindasaamee(KG)