Rajnikanth - Entertainer of the year 2007

"I am back", ala Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator II. It is finally nice to get back to blogging after a busy holiday season, travel, work, GMAT etc.

Came across this piece of news about Rajinikanth winning the NDTV Entertainer of the Year 2007 award from Dr. Manmohan Singh. Terrific speech in typical Rajni style, spiced up with questions from Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar. I loved his answer when cryptically asked "Is there anything Rajni kant do?"; he had the humor to respond with silence, which only he could have gotten away with it. Excellent viewing.

More importantly, it is the first time that a national level populist award (I am discounting National Awards since it is more to do with politics than anything else), usually the birthright of Bollywood, has been given to Kollywood. Nice trend indeed.

Fictitious Facts about Rajnikanth

This was forwarded to me by an American friend who read my post on Sivaji and Rajnikanth. Thought I will share it with you. It is hilarious. Enjoy.

Top Rajnikant Facts known to man:

• There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Rajnikant has allowed to live
• Outer space exists because it’s afraid to be on the same planet with Rajnikant
• Rajnikant counted to infinity – twice
• When Rajnikant does a pushup, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down
• Rajnikant is so fast, he can run around the world and punch himself in the back of the head
• Rajnikant’s hand is the only hand that can beat a Royal Flush in Poker
• Rajnikant doesn’t wear a watch, HE decides what time it is
• Rajnikant gave Mona Lisa that smile
• Rajnikant can slam a revolving door
• Rajnikant does not get frostbite. Rajnikant bites frost
• Remember the Soviet Union? They decided to quit after watching a Padayappa on Satellite TV
• There are no races, only countries of people Rajnikant has beaten to different shades of black and blue
• Rajnikant’s house has no doors, only walls that he walks through
• Rajnikant doesn’t actually write books, the words assemble themselves out of fear
• Rajnikant can divide by zero
• Newton’s Third Law is wrong: Although it states that for each action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, there is no force equal in reaction to a Rajnikant turnaround kick
• For some, the left testicle is larger than the right one. For Rajnikant, each testicle is larger than the other one
• When taking the GRE, write “Rajnikant” for every answer. You will score over 1600
• Rajnikant invented black. In fact, he invented the entire spectrum of visible light. Except pink. Tom Cruise invented pink
• In the beginning there was nothing…then Rajnikant kicked that nothing in the face and said “Get a job”. That is the story of the universe
• Rajnikant has 12 moons. One of those moons is the Earth
• Rajnikant grinds his coffee with his teeth and boils the water with his own rage
• Archeologists unearthed an old English dictionary dating back to the year 1236. It defined “victim” as “one who has encountered Rajnikant”
• Rajnikant ordered a Big Mac at Burger King, and got one
• If you Google search “Rajnikant getting his ass kicked” you will generate zero results. It just doesn’t happen.
• Rajnikant can drink an entire gallon of milk in thirty-seven seconds
• Rajnikant doesn’t bowl strikes, he just knocks down one pin and the other nine faint
• It takes Rajnikant 20 minutes to watch 60 Minutes – no, he doesn’t have a TIVO
• The Bermuda Triangle used to be the Bermuda Square, until Rajnikant kicked one of the corners off
• There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Rajnikant lives in Chennai
• Rajnikant once ate an entire bottle of sleeping pills. They made him blink
• Thousands of years ago Rajnikant came across a bear. It was so terrified that it fled north into the arctic. It was also so terrified that all of its decedents now have white hair.

Sivaji - The Boss

Magical - that's the word that comes to my mind if I have to describe "Sivaji", Rajnikanth's latest celluloid offering, in one word. From the moment, the innovative title graphics replace the retro style placard title of the namesake yesteryear thespian, to the last time the bald super star says "Cool" in his inimitable style, the movie simply mesmerizes you, despite a slow paced climax. Rajni acts in a very niche genre of movies, the so called "masala movies", and he does such an awesome job of it that it really exposes the many other inspired actors who simply ape the man - be it his mannerisms, known more popularly as his "shtyle", his penchant for punch dialogues (usually with philosophical undercurrents) or his speed of speech, walk and action.

Whatever he does, he and only he does it best; so move away cheap imitators!

It is a typical Shankar movie evident from the thematic nature of the movie, the grandeur of the songs and stunt sequences and the conceptual style of song picturization. As with all his movies, the protagonist is a one man crusader against the evils that exist in our society with help from his buddy/uncle, this time fighting against the black money that has percolated into (or out of) the Indian economy.

Rajni plays an NRI returning to India with dreams of doing something good for the country (a dream that all B-School aspirants only write about in their admission essays), but finds himself roadblocked by a corrupt system. How the Super Star fights the system and changes the color of money (much like he does the color of his skin. Boy - our thalaivar is really capable of doing anything and everything!) to fund his ambitious projects is pretty much the gist of the movie. Comedy and romance dominate the first half with Rajni and Vivek tickling our ribs with their punch dialogues and idiotic ideas to sway the girl and Shriya Saran's svelte figure capturing our attention. The second half is all Rajni the super hero, as he ups the tempo to reach his goals and, as in all his movies, loses all his wealth only to recapture it all over the course of the next 30 minutes...of course he gets the girl too.

Rajni has retained some of his famous "swish-swooshing" hand movements, with some changes though. The cigarette has been replaced by a chewing gum (and sometimes red chillies!) that bounces off anything around him and lands perfectly in his mouth and he defies the laws of gravity by zig-zagging a coin in air without touching it, every time he scores a point against the bad boys. Fans who remember his "ithu epdi irukku" from "In the 16th year" will be treated to an equally enjoyable "cool" much in line with the NRI Software Systems Architect role he plays.

The chemistry between Rajni and Vivek is excellent and Vivek has been entrusted with the responsibility of miming some of the best punch dialogues of the movie like "chittor thandina kaatpadi, sivajia seendina dead body" and "Sixkku appuram seven da, Sivajikku appuram yevenda" . Nothing new from Shankar on the story or screenplay front but credit goes to him for restoring Rajni to his best remembered looks - a combination of Billa and Basha, and that goes a long way in convincing the audience. Sujata's dialogues add comedy and satire appropriately and Rahman's catchy tunes have been matched by brilliant visuals and choreography. Shriya looks pleasing to the eye and others like Solomon Pappaiya come and go, but the real vehicle that the movie rides on is Rajni and his charismatic screen presence. The way he ups the "shtyle" meter as he transitions from the NRI, to the Boss, to the "mottai boss" is mind blowing. His looks and performance are a pleasurable combination of retro and novelty and leaves the audience with nothing but continued loyalty to the true super star of Indian cinema.

Another big contributing factor to the movie's success I must mention, is the marketing. During my recent trip to India, I was amazed by the amount of coverage the movie was getting in national news channels like NDTV and CNN-IBN and it has really transformed Rajni from a Tamil Super Star to a truly national one, if not international. I guess the movie has become such an integral part of Tamilians that almost all conversations (phone or in person, local or ISD) begin with a "Sivaji pathutiya?" and anybody who answers in the negative is perceived to be living a wasteful life.

What more do I need to say, the name says it all - "pera sonna summa adhiridhulla!"


P.S: Below is a list of punch dialogues rumored to be in the movie before its release but aren't

• Kanna, naan pakka dhan software, erangunan mavane hardware....(this is my favorite)
  
• Kanna andha sivajikku nadikka mattum dhan theriyum, indha sivajiku nadikkavum theriyum adikkavum theriyum
• unaku Aandavan vekkaraan da date annaiku unaku Shivaji vekkaraan paar vettu
• Naan nallavanukku sami, Nayavanjaganukku tsunami
• Kanna, vitukoduthavan ennaikum kettathillai, kettavan ennaikum vittukoduthathillai
• Nallavanukku naan DHARMAN Kettvanukku naan YEMa dharman da