Know your Superstar

Alright, you northies out there, when was the last time you watched a South Indian flick, you know, and laughed at the intended jokes alone? I can see you laughing up your sleeve (Yup boy! That’s the GRE effect). Okay, let me make it tougher. How many times have you watched a movie not starring Rajnikanth, Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna or Vijaykanth and sunk in with the story? Now, I know for a fact that 99% of you Choms wouldn’t have seen such a film but what makes it tough for you guys is that you wouldn’t even have heard of the last two(or even three) names!

Now there was this huge debate sparked off by some whacko girl on Typical Delhi umm…Chokras prompting responses from the ‘victims’ in the blog post faster than a Bolt. What more, it was soon trending on twitter! After experiencing the first Indian such phenomenon to rock the web, my hopes were pretty high. After all, the blog had to match Govind Tiwari and his blinkies. This also leads to a pertinent fact: the hatred towards a TDC. Doesn’t it?

Anyway, one look at the post and all my hopes were hit for a six outside the stadium, crashing a car window and subsequently killing a man sitting inside it. A plethora of accusations came up from either side – some were fair, while the time spent reading the rest were genuine LOL-moments. The consensus was that the trigger post was written on the basis of personal experience and blogged immediately all the revulsion towards TDCs without heed to relevance. The author’s choice use of swear words and the way she warns the TDCs leave you thinking if she indeed was an “autistic 3 yr-old who has only seen coconuts all her life”. Anyway, the retaliation post had the author in a calm and composed mood which was necessary as the author could gain a point by pointing out to the former, “See? I held my composure while blasting you. QED I’m cooler than you are.”

Coming to the reason for the tangent, one thing that I found common in the former post and the accusations were the accurate in part generalizations. Northies know no difference between the southern states and by southern I only refer to the Dravidian states. They are all Madrasis to the Northie who couldn’t care less where you actually are from. But the author also thinks that TDCs=Punjabis. . Yes, Delhi has a lot of Punjabis but this is crass man!

Okay, so we still haven’t come to the actual point of the discussion yet. The point is titling all Vijaykanth, Balakrishna, Chiranjeevi, Benny Lava, Golimaar videos as Rajnikanth videos deserves this. .

Again, that is NOT Rajni

Come on, Rajnikanth videos are insane, I agree. But the others are crap! Labeling them under “Rajni funny tamil movie must watch” inspired by “huha mast bhajan…” is like calling like calling Vikash Dhorasoo the French Baichung. It’s an insult to Baichung, and Rajnikanth.Also the fact that no Rajni video is named “funny Chiranjeevi or Vijaykanth video” clearly shows the reach of this man.

Rajnikanth’s films make made sense to the film goer. His acting was and still is good. At his peak, he was unmatched. One could compare Amitabh and Rajni at their peak and find lots of similarities. His idiosyncrasies set him apart. These were fed upon by the media and he has been now transformed as a national symbol. Every child knows Rajnikanth but not the President. Do you know the President?

This pic circulating on FB says it all

Of late, yes, his films have an increasingly commercial appeal. But most of the myths being propagated like splitting a bullet or bullet reflecting and hitting the enemy and any other looney stories are actually performed by other actors like Vijaykanth.

Let me list down some characteristics of the videos involving these actors.

1. Vijaykanth: He is the man behind the bullet splitting, using aluminium plate to deflect a bullet and dishing out a shock to current itself. Take that! His famous scenes on youtube include typing criminal data and searching for a match in Windows Media Player, instructing his assistant Amit in Englis to protect Mogaali Kiriket Ground, etc.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        2.Chiranjeevi: Seen Indra the Tiger or Jwala? Yo baby! He’s your man. He can kick up tornadoes by just twirling his leg. Of course he can beat up 30 henchmen staying air borne all the while. (Hmm wait a minute.. Didn’t Rajnikanth do this before?) The most famous, I guess, is the Buffalaxed version of his ‘Golimaar’song. Before watching the video, please brace yourself for what you will be witnessing.

3. Balakrishna: Fondly called Balayya by his ardent fans, he even has his own statue outside the railway station of his home town, Nandamuri. Balayya can seemingly stop trains with his hands a la Sunny Deol, support a falling wall and bear it till everyone escapes from the collapsing structure a la Sunny Deol. He is somewhat a cult star in Gult Land.

Rajnikanth has come to be associated with the weirdest of stunts and is perceived more as a joker than a serious actor. Partly, it is the fault of ignorance on the part of the North Indian population and in part, Rajni’s fault too. His latest films have many such LOL-moments.

Rajni has come to represent Southern cinema today. Though such an opinion holds good for Telugu industry, the Tamil and Malayalam industry are in fact more technically advanced with better scripts than Bollywood. Do they make films in Kannada? Anyway the real deal of Tamil cinema lies not in Rajni but it is the other humble beings who churn out movies one better than the other throughout the year.

So the next time you see a ‘funny Rajni video’, first confirm if it is Rajni (99 percent it won’t be him). If it is him, then all you are going to see is a flick of cigarette landing right in between the lips and a mesmerizing spin of the glasses before wearing it. That’s all you’re gonna get.