Tale of two Rajinis

When Amitabh was at his prime, age wise and career wise, he was touted as the “angry young man” who represented majority of the then youth. His style, voice, persona that were initially thought to be his bane, became his USP and established the phenomenon that he became. Rajini made a career for himself by remaking hits of Amitabh and in a way, owes his initial success story to the hits of Amitabh. Even though performance wise and personality wise they were chalk and cheese, the story that had already tasted success with a set audience, guaranteed a semblance of repeat when it got remade in local languages with regional flavor. Add to that the undeniable screen presence coupled with quirky mannerisms, which were initially frowned upon and eventually grew over the audience, Rajini carved an identity for himself as the angry young man for TN audiences. Even before his cult grew to its present frenzy, traces of its future were evident when movies where he never had a role, started referencing his antics and gimmicks were some or other character doted on him. I remember one Visu movie, based on joint family and chawl kind of setups, there was a character that would have Rajini poster on the wall, while mock practicing karate. With Rajini and Karate being as related as politicians and public welfare, the impact that a movie of his had created where he was prancing around with his own version of Karate steps (that would’ve put Shaolin to shame) was quite evident. 

As more of his movies became hits, his mannerisms became style quotients. His staccato style of dialogue delivery that was primarily to hide his language deficiency became a style of its own. His dark complexion which would’ve relegated him to henchmen roles, had he been in the industry a decade early, became the statement for those who had inhibitions about their skin color. His rise was as much a media construct as much as his success where majority of the reviewers and sections of the audience were clueless as to how come he is so successful when every bit of him is against the natural order of the industry. While people were still debating about this luck, hard work, the timing of his entry into movie industry or because of god’s grace, his cult of fanatics grew and reached a crescendo when he announced his political entry few years back. All those years of having rooted for him finally took shape in the form of something that will give tangible returns for his fans, who wanted to encash on his popularity to gain political mileage. But what is now coming out as quite evident across all those interviews of industry folks on every Youtube channel, Rajini, true to his circumspect nature, withdrew from the race citing unquestionable health reasons. Some felt, it did have its bearing on the last couple of movies of his that were not as successful as they used to be. 

In his last 5 movies, there is a visible confusion on his characterization, which dressed him up as an old man, yet setup the stage for him to replay his screen persona of his success years. Be it Kabali, Kala, Darbar or Annatha, his role was very confused. It was neither true to his real age nor was it helping the character on screen. Petta was one exception where the confusing sections were limited for it was a mish mash of scenes from all his previous hits, making it more of an Instareel of his own performances. In this backdrop, comes Jailer his latest release. It makes it abundantly clear that he has decided to move away from his formulaic method that reaped him good dividends for 3 decades. There are certain elements in a rajini movie, that any one can make out even before they watch – there would a strong sentiment/emotional connect with his sibling or parents, the heroine would be wooing for him after an initial fight and would probably be an arrogant character who will repent once she is defeated by Rajini, along with good songs and nice comic scenes plus the actions scenes that were always whistle worthy. Add a few liners here and there you’ve got the story line for most of his 170+ movies. Violence on screen never actually helped his movies but for few exceptions like Thalapathy. The main USP of his movies that catered to family audiences seems to have diminished or relegated in his last few movies. The excess violence that had replaced those scenes seemed to have peaked in Jailor where right from the first scene, the violence overdose is nauseating. After 4 decades, Rajini has finally donned the role of a grandfather and doesn’t have duet or a heroine who is a third of his age!! He has always been careful in picking the crew for his movies, betting only on the winning horses – be it the best music director of that year, best director, best heroine, best comedian etc. He ensured success right from the cast and crew selection and never ever went solely on his own accord. That he never experiments is often an albatross hung on him, but such attempts even though halfhearted, never got him the success that he desired. He had shelved such attempts altogether and was quite vocal about it as well. With Jailer and his last couple of movies, it seems like he is reinventing the angry man concept but polished to his present age. I have always wanted him to continue making movies that are done by Amitabh, including those ones which are non-commercial. But the superstar is not made of a mettle that is understood by mere mortals like me and if the success of jailer is any indication, we are set for couple of more movies from Rajini that will glorify gore on screen!