The title, I know, sounds sycophant to the core. What more can you expect when a movie called Kabali is whipping up the frenzy in India and beyond cutting across regions and languages. Social Media, FM Channels, Print,Television have been raising their TRP'S by indulging in either Kabali eulogising or Kabali bashing episodes. Not want to be left out; yours truly has joined the bandwagon too to revive this dying blog. But as an ardent Rajini fan who is yet to see the movie I have decided to take sides of Kabali even before I watch it. I would be watching the movie in due course but don’t believe that it’s going to change any part of this blog. (Well I’m posting this after I have watched it, and believe me, without making any changes to the story below.) I know most of you who are reading this are already suffering from a Kabali fatigue and wouldn’t go beyond this paragraph. I dedicate this to those hard core Rajini fans (First Day First Show at Albert Theatre types) like me who would continue to read it.
This blog is neither about Rajinikant nor his acting skills, but about the experience of a Rajini movie. You simply need to watch a Rajini movie to fulfil your theatrical obligations if you happened to be born south of the Vindhyas.
As somebody who was learning to walk as he made his Kollywood debut and having the privilege of watched most of his films over the last four decades, I bestow upon myself, to be the judge and the jury (A la Arnob Goswami) in the ongoing debate.
While the likes of a Nettrikan or a Moondru Mudichu, gave an insight into the acting skills of this legend. A Billa, or a Thee made you fall in love with the everlasting Rajini mannerisms, this was followed by the punch dialogue era of Padayappa & Basha. Then came the millennials, and the 50 year old Rajini had to be re-sold to the millennials, this was attempted with the help of some effective use of professional tools both on the technical and the marketing fronts. The era of Sivaji, Enthiran, Kochadayan, were targeted at the millennials by repackaging an ageing Rajini, which in my opinion was not well received. Kabali is for those fans like me who grew up watching his movies and wanted to watch one last one that featured a graciously greying Rajini that gave us more joy than a ‘orru koodai sunlight’ or a ‘orru Koodai moonlight’ Rajini or a Robot Rajini.
My only advice is don’t ever write or read a review on any of his movies. He is not worth any reviews, he is beyond that. Don’t complain about directorial flaws, the producer, the story, the cast, the acting etc. His movies are entertainers; experience facilitators, feel good providers.
The millennials who scorn at a Rajini movie today should know that collecting Pokémon collectables was in, when you were a kid but today it doesn’t impress you anymore since you need to enable your data package and need access to the GPS to enjoy your Pokémon Go. Both of which are a constraint on you as you grow older. No such constraints limit our version of entertainment. We still love the gravity defying cigarettes landing on his lips after behaving like a trapeze artist midway; the bullets from his gun take detours on their projectile defying all laws of motion thereby confusing, but landing on its intended target.Well, for all those Imdb rating hungry, angrezi movie freaks out there, if we enjoyed watching a trigger happy Tom Cruise in the Mission Impossible series from 1 to 5 without complaining, the same applies to our son of the soil Rajini too.
The title is what impressed me the most. Kabali which is a short for Kapaleeswaran derives from Kapalam (the head of Brahma) + Eeashwarar (Shiva), basically born out of an episode of Shiva the auspicious one (read lucky) challenging the creator Brahma. Rajini has just been doing that all these years. He has been challenging the creators of his movies to push him to the limits. Limits not for his acting skills but in testing his humility outside the celluloid world, a deglamourized, bald, greying Rajini is what we get to see unlike his counterparts in the other ‘woods’ who desperately try and look the same in real life too. He has never coaxed us to buy a soft drink or use an after shave or told us that the secret of his energy lay in that chocolate drink.
He is an un-solved conundrum that stardom and humility can be juxtaposed.
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