Magizhchi!

I did mention on my SoCS post that I will be watching ‘Kabaali‘ movie with my friend. We did. Even though I was shocked to see only 5 of us in the theater in Boleyn Cinemas I am not sure if it should be attributed to the success or failure of the movie. There was a news that the movie was leaked online a day prior to its release. And Boleyn Cinemas was not a well maintained movie theater, sadly. The only saving grace was they had the subtitles for my friend, who otherwise would have had a very bad time trying to understand. Heck, I needed those subtitles for some parts of it because the slang was very Malaysian Tamil and I didn’t understand most of those words. And according to my friend, the subtitles were very well done (as opposed to some of the ones he had the pleasure of seeing in Bollywood movies where he had to focus hard to ignore the grammatical errors 😛 )

So what did we think of the movie? I am a Rajni fan, but not to the extent that I have watched all of his movies. I haven’t watched his last two movies because I knew, even from the trailer that they would turn out very bad and it did not give me the ‘you gotta see this’ vibe. But ever since I watched Kabaali’s trailer I wanted to see it. And there are a lot of good points that I really really appreciated. He isn’t romancing the heroine who is almost half his age. The romance angle was very subtle and also it shows more of when he is old and still in love with his wife and is searching for her. He plays his age. He has some scope to act when compared to his last 5 movies. It was a gangster movie. When I heard the songs separately, I didn’t quite like them, but in the movie most of them were in the background, so they went well with the story line. This was a big deal for me. I wanted a commercial entertainment movie and that is what I got. And interestingly my friend also liked it for its commercial value.

We both were a little confused with the Malaysian politics and how people kept backstabbing each other. But after some time I got the hang of it. My friend struggled to get that part especially in the first half. It is based in Kuala Lumpur and about two gangs there. Unless we are aware of what had happened with Malaysian Tamils over there, I don’t think we can appreciate it. But I am glad that someone made an effort to shot an entire movie (except for a small part in Tamil Nadu) in KL based on the life there. I have no clue why there were so many bad reviews for the movie or why Rajini was criticized so much. He is criticized not matter what he does, so I shouldn’t be bothered. I don’t really care for his or any of the movie star’s personal life. That is their own. As a profession, he, the director promised me a good time in the movies. And they kept their promise. That is all that matters to me. Magizhchi! (Cheers!)

I am a fan of …

This post is something I intended to write on 12th December, but eventually did not get around to it. So I thought, let all the hoopla’s go down and then I will do it. So here it is.

With respect to movies, I am not a fan of many actors/actresses, especially in Kollywood. I like quite a few actors, but not a fan of much. And we have been having two big stars always being pitted against each other for so long. Earlier it was MGR and Sivaji Ganesan and then it was Rajnikanth and Kamalhassan, then it was Vijay and Ajith and I am not sure which two are reigning now. Because there are too many to take into consideration. I belong to the generation who grew up watching Rajnikanth and Kamalhassan. When people ask me whose fan are you, I would say, I don’t mind anyone who does good acting. But when they prod a lot and if I have to choose one, I choose Rajnikanth.

I stopped following celebrities life some time ago. Not much worth the trouble, when I had enough of my own to contend with. But I was kept up to date, thanks to my friend. But ever since she moved to a different country, that also go lost. Girl, I know you will read this sometime, so know that you are missed, if not for anything , at least for this 😉

But with this guy, it is difficult to not follow. He has become an icon not only of Tamil cinema but also for whole Indian cinema. He has fans in Japan now and has had it for some time. He is well over 62 years or more and is half bald and doesn’t sport a wig. He is dark skinned and doesn’t dance. News about him, his family always keeps coming up here or there.  He does only one movie nowadays in almost three years and makes sure he comes with a bang. His next movie, (an animation with him as the lead) directed by his daughter is yet to hit the theaters. 12th December is his birthday. Even though he is known to escape to Himalayas to spend his birthday in a quiet way, the whole Tamil Nadu celebrates it. To achieve that status, is no small feat.

Why do I like him ?

• He has had a rough start and has taken years to come to this level of achievement. His story is not that of one that gets transformed overnight by a single hit. He has had mental breakdowns and had faced depression and come out it stronger than earlier. I always like the don’t-quit attitude in people.
• His style. He is one of the very very few people in Indian Cinema who has a unique style. In his earlier movies, he has this unique style of flipping the cigarette to his mouth. He got really famous for that and then came his style of wearing his glasses. The twist of his fingers and all that.
• His voice. He has a very rough voice, but which can bring in quite a lot of emotions. Especially when he has to challenge, I think I like his voice than anyone else’s.
• He started as a villain and then changed to a second hero and then became a hero and later became a commercial hero. I think his acting skills went unused once he became the commercial hero. And the Tamil Cinema missed out on a very stylish villain. I really liked him as the villain in his earlier movies. He will make you hate him so much.
• His humility. In his speeches during the functions, he doesn’t write down and talk, but he talks a lot of spiritual things along with stories (which I like) and is not afraid to put himself on the same pedestal as everyone else.  Once when one of his movie flopped very badly, he came back with the next which was a huge hit. He commented in a function, that his occupation as an actor puts him in the same league as a race horse. The moment he fails, he knows he will be shot down. Only elephants take time to get up after a fall, and that horses always spring back with a hop.
• Recently my brother told me how this guy is one of the super stars who does not promote any product. He doesn’t appear in any ads. He was a serial smoker. But when he quit, he urged his fans also to consider it because he has seen its effects first hand and he would be happy if they learnt from his mistakes. He practiced before he preached.
• One of his movies, his own production / direction which got sold for a very high price among distributors flopped majorly (I saw the movie years later and I liked it). He paid the loss of the distributors from his own money and compensated each and every one of them.
• He was pitted as the next Chief Minister of the state, but after twice bitten during election campaign, he kept himself away from it. Even though people urged him , he maintained his distance from politics, which is one of his very wisest move.

These are the facts that are known to everyone and most people who like him will tell you these as their reasons. The main reason I like him is that he has this charisma to feel that what he does is personal to you. He has that personal touch to his acting, to his deeds that makes you feel comfortable with him even through the screen. If I have to say in blogging terms, there are quite a lot of super / power bloggers, but you don’t feel that level of personal comfort with everyone. Only with a very very few you feel that connection, as if they are part of your clan.

I haven’t liked a lot of his movies, but that doesn’t stop me from watching it. Because of his huge fan following, he has to resort to get involved in commercial movies with all the style and stuff. But I wish I could see him in a role of his age, performing, which he did in his earlier movies. Nevertheless, I am still waiting for the release of his next animation movie with all eager 🙂