I yaam a rajini fan - book review

A little note about the author -Dev. He is my college mate and is very well known for his tamil poems and short stories that he carries out till date on his personal blog. Been associated with him for almost 2 decades now and his passion for reading books is never diminishing. Considering the amounts he spends every book fair, pretty sure, he could start one of his own. An avid movie enthusiast, its a no brainer on who his favorite hero is and how he feels about him, considering that THE MAN himself has posed with a copy of this book and for a change, the author got a signed copy.

The book, as the title gives it away, is a proclamation of undying love for rajini. There is a slight twist as it also involves his first love, who is also named rajini. How the two rajinis travel along with him in his life's journey is vividly captured. The book is full of booby traps of nostalgia. Infact, the entire story is structured in such a way that, every single incident in the life of Arun (the lead character) is told with an associated movie release of rajini and his interaction with the other rajini at that time. There is an immediate and undeniable connect to the situation mentioned on the chapters as everyone of those movies mentioned are blockbusters and definitely the readers would've watched each of them. There would be nostalgic connect to each of them and would take the readers back to that very moment and for a story from their own life. There are political undercurrents as well and a tinge of sadness that is associated all throughout with the book. Its an open ended ending, with Arun remaining steadfast on his belief on either of the rajini's irrespecitve of the demands of his situation and their's as well.

I loved the childhood portions where the kids fight over kamal/rajini posters. I've never been a big fan of any star in particular, with favorite movies for almost all of the actors. After reading this book, which is literally a booby trap of memory triggers, i was reminded of the time when i saw Thalapathy. It was 90th day show i guess, went with my dad to the theater owned by his boss. They played only MGR movies on that theater and Thalapathy, on its 90th day of the release then, was closest to a new movie release that screen had ever seen. Probably the only tamil movie that i could recollect seeing with my dad on theater ever. 

I am pretty sure, each of you would have your own stories to recollect, when you read the book and those "90's kids" "80's kids" and "kids forever - like me" will sure have quite a nostalgic trip. Really proud of the efforts that has gone behind the book and it involves many of my friends. Its truly a remarkable achievement and having seen things behind scene a bit closer, it made me truly appreciate the work that goes behind in a story seeing its print version - web or hard cover. Kudos to Dev for his work and would be eagerly looking for more such stories from his side.