Spare a thought

Guys before I even start writing this article, let me admit one thing, I am not a Rajnikanth fan. I never followed his movies or was greatly impressed with his achievements. But as all things change, my resistance to the Rajini magic waded with the passage of time. My friend Rahul happens to be a big Rajini fan, maybe this had an unknowing influence on me (Haan sale, you can take credit for this; your life is not a waste after all. LOL.) Only after his recent release Sivaji, did I pause and give a thought to this iconic personality from down south. I must admit what I saw and felt, really amazed me.

Imagine the power of an actor who can sway his followers at his will. He has completely cast his spell over millions. People have built temples in his name; they worship him as if he is a god sent. Mahabhisheiks are performed in his name in all the major temples, before the release of his films, for their box office success. His fan following easily outnumbers the best in Bollywood. His followers will blindly oblige to his will, afterall he is their talaivar (leader). The truth is, if he decided to contest the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister elections, he will win hands down. Jayalalitha and Karunanidhi with all their power, money and experience will be helpless. But god has been kind to them; this superstar is least interested in politics and is determined to stay away from it.

What he has achieved can only be dreamt of by the rest of us. The status, good will and the respect that he has earned is amazing. People wait for hours together in front of his mansion just to get a glimpse of him. They touch his feet out of sheer respect and regard. What he says is considered final in Tamil Nadu, a state of 65 million people.

Not many people know that Mr Rajinikanth, is incidentally not a Tamilian at all, atleast not by birth. He is a Maharashtrian, originally named Shivajirao and born in Karnataka. He has done all kinds of odd jobs in his early days, as a coolie, a bus conductor, you name them. He came to Madras (that was what the city used to be called then) as a nobody. Tried his luck in films and failed initially, was about to quit when offered the movie Billa (remake of Don). It was an instant hit and he hasn’t looked back from there on.

Let me share an interesting news report that I read in The Times, not very long ago. It is a well known fact in the state that this actor is a neighbour of the present Chief Minister Ms Jayalalitha, and she, as we all know has an army of guards guarding her 24 x 7. The arrangement is very tight, (apparently she has received a lot of threats), so much so that all her neighbours faced a lot of discomfort. Rajini, the nice guy that he is, appealed to her to reduce the bandobast so that they can continue to lead a peaceful life. The appeal was rejected outright by amma, and she continued with business as usual. This embarrassed Rajini and he vowed to teach her a lesson. So, what he did was, the next morning when the lady was leaving her mansion for her office, he drove out and simply got out of his car. He didn’t give a speech or even utter a word for that matter, he just got out of his car and stood there. Within the next few minutes the road was filled with masses of people, there may have been thousands and thousands of them. The all mighty queen B’s convoy was stopped on its track. Her guards tried to disperse the crowd, but there were too many of them. There were people getting on top of the Ambassadors which were part of her elaborate arrangements, just to catch a glimpse of their hero. Her z + security had been thrown to the dogs. There were people all over the place and she was completely left stranded. This was a fitting reply for her ego and arrogance. There are many such instances; this space is too small to talk about all of them.

The fan following that he has in countries Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia needs to be seen to be believed. The biggest Rajni fan club outside India is in Japan. The Japanese absolutely adore him and his movies are screened before packed audiences.

Now, let me come to the reason why I am writing this article. Rajini in more than one way is an unsung hero in most parts of our country. He is one of those people who have not been given their due credit and recognition. Especially we, living in Mumbai think that all other Indian film industries are third rate, while this is far from the truth. The talent and contribution of regional language artists, especially South Indian and Bengali film industry is immense and it is just our bigoted view that does not do justice to them. Satyajit Ray has won an Oscar for lifetime achievement in films. Can anybody in Bollywood beat that, or even come close for that matter?

Whenever we are asked who is the greatest actor in India? We (including me) respond by saying Mr. Big B, the second most likely answer would be Dilip Kumar or Shah Rukh Khan or Amir Khan. But do we ever spare a thought to the film industries of the regional languages? Do you know that the Rajini fan clubs across the world out number the fan clubs of the above mentioned actors put together 10 – 1? (sourced from the Times)

Let me ask you a simple question, if Ranji fan clubs can be found in hundreds in a country like Japan, why can’t they be found in our own country, in states like UP and Bihar? Even before you begin to answer that question, let me remind you, Japanese do not speak Tamil or any other Indian language and what’s more they are racially and culturally very different from Indians. If they can accept a foreign culture, why can’t we accept and recognize our own people? We just celebrated 60 years of freedom of The Union of India. How unified are we really? What I am really asking is, are we prone to prejudice while dealing with the people from other states and cultures within India? How comfortable we Indians really are with each other?