No one expected this. The entire tinsel world was keeping its fingers crossed. Collecting a worldwide box office collection of unimaginable Rs.400 crores in just six days, Jailer has flagged off victoriously as a mega super hit movie. The magic of Rajinikanth is such. It has always been like that. As a person having grown up in Chennai, every time I watch a film of Rajinikanth, I unconsciously fly back to my teens and become a Chennai boy just forgetting that I’m into my 50’s now. Also, I can’t resist the temptation to write or talk about my all-time favourite Rajinikanth – the superstar demigod – when his new film has hit the screen and turned the entire nation crazy . The fanboy in me is as always seated in the first row of the gallery to applaud the superstar. It’s not just a wheel of fortune that took him high. It’s the energy. The passion and dedication. The never-say-die spirit. The charisma. The style. The potential to decipher the market. The legacy. And everything.
Rajini is a household name in Tamil Nadu. Right from his maiden appearance in “Aboorva Raagangal” in the song “Kelviyin Nayagane”, Rajini has an alluring presence that wipes off all other artistes in the scene. I have heard that he even amazed his guru, the stalwart Director K Balachander, by walking in reverse – in a scene in “ Moondru Mudichu” – where he had no dialogue, and the entire scene was staged on the heroine Sridevi. That but demands lots and lots of unseen homework and dedication.
I had the opportunity to launch a linear channel in Tamil a few years ago and my greatest ambition was to convince him and get him to host a talk show on the lines of Aamir Khan’s Satyameva Jayate and was waiting to get an opportunity to meet him. I was once on a flight from Bengaluru to Chennai and the pilot announced ‘Welcoming Ghajini in the flight’. As the pilot was a foreigner, nobody understood or got the name correct and we didn’t give it a bother too. But when the flight was about to land my co-passenger said it looks like Rajnikanth is in the flight .I quickly got up from my seat and proceeded to meet him. He was seated in the last row in his usual white kurta-pyjama. I went up to him all excited and rattled my plan of wanting to do something with him for the new channel. He smiled patiently and listened .While asking for a selfie he quickly took my phone and clicked my dream picture. Nobody in the flight had realised it was ‘Thalaivar’ sitting in the last row and with my excited actions, all the other passengers got to know that Rajini was on board. The pilot had to intervene asking the passengers to get back to their seats .When we disembarked and boarded the bus from the tarmac, most of them were sending the photos to the universe. My co-passenger commented how the IPL players stayed away from the mob when he travelled with them the previous week . As he narrated how strict they were, I saw this simple human being clicking numerous selfies with passengers and flight attendants. Such is his magical pizazz, and aura, that all of us have lots to learn from this great human. How I wish we had a universe full of such humans and this world would have been a much better place to live in. Thalaivar is an embodiment of hope, sacrifice, simplicity, goodness, respect and we bow our heads to one of the greatest humans on Earth.
Life has been seamed with his dialogues and songs in every common man’s day to day events in Tamil Nadu. We retort with his “Oru Thadava Sonna” comically, we cry with “Oora Therinjukitten” and find peace and romance in all his films. His guiding philosophy “En Vazhi Thani Vazhi “ has been the mantra of his celluloid journey. He has been open to new ideas and challenges and has always worked with new talent in different stages of his life and moved away from his comfort zone . Be it in terms of shifting his profession from that of a bus conductor to an actor and then moving from a successful villain character to play a hero’s character, he has always displayed the greatest risk appetite. That is his ability that he always persisted in his risk-taking abilities and considered the consumer as his God. He always delivered to the tastes of the customers and has always played to the gallery.
My peer group tells me that he is always on time to the sets, reads the bound script. While making the movie ‘Petta’ when the director deviated from his ‘Bible‘, he went up to him and asked about the scenes that were not part of the original bound script. Such was his level of involvement. That inculcates confidence – his walk, in real life, his gestures in real life and his on-screen charisma. In every act of his is an example of his high confidence in what he undertakes.
The importance he gives to people who have been a ladder in his life is unbelievable. When he got the Dada Saheb Phalke Award, he expressed gratitude to only three people – his brother, his close friend and mentor K. Balachander. When Nelson the director of Jailer mentioned that every time he would pass by Thalaivar at the shooting spot, Thalaivar would get up from his chair and always addressed him as ‘Sir’ with respect. He used to shower gratitude on his guru K. Balachander and quote his guru’s words – to have a trademark for himself and not to imitate anybody. In the audio launch function of Jailer, he made a statement that an eagle while flying is so focused on flying in high altitude that it is not bothered about someone trying to disturb it. It has single-minded devotion to its goal.
Never did he hesitate to embrace mistakes and learn from them. In the same Jailer audio launch, Thalaivar mentioned that the biggest mistake in his life was his drinking habit, reminding us to accept our mistakes and correct ourselves. The way he balances his spiritual pursuits and his professional quest echoes the quintessence of his life. We all think with age one should take a step back but to have a child-like enthusiasm, zest for life and hunger for excel at the age of 72 is something to learn from. The heart to embrace new products by appreciating if he finds them good is a great gesture. Many don’t welcome the next generation in their profession. Appreciation of good quality products that comes out in the market even if it can compete with you is a sign of care for the industry.
Ethics of his heart speak volumes. He has never forgotten the rejections of his earlier life. The director of Jailer in the same audio launch also spoke about him not using a character artiste when he didn’t perform, but Thalaivar gratified him by asking that actor to be with him in one scene so that actor leaves the spot with good memories.
I watched Jailer in Bangalore just to see people from various walks of life flooding the theatre, dancing and rejoicing, letting slip off all their worries. Sick people, physically and mentally challenged people were among them. The nexus with the superstar transcends all boundaries and it annihilates gender too. The mass hysteria that this film has created with our own Superstar at this age is a reminder that he can keep scaling up and the consumer will lap it up and love it.
Rs.400 Crore turnover in six days – not a joke. The greatness of Rajinikanth is that you can never imagine anyone else in his role as you come out of the theatre. There he wins.
What else…
We love You Thalaivaa …
(The author is COO – Regional Content , IN 10 Media Network, Views are personal.)
