Of Gratitude and other things

 Happened to see one interview after another of Mohan (Mike Mohan of Kollywood) across several YouTube channels, who was promoting his upcoming movie, after almost 2 decades. I had never been a big fan of his movies, but they were supposedly super duper hits. I always felt he was more of a "Oliyum Oliyum" actor, who primarily scored success solely because of wonderful songs that adorned his movies and more importantly the comedy tracks that were raging success. Goundamani and Senthil combo would've played as much role in bringing repeat audiences for his movies as much as Ilayaraja and other music directors who had a soft corner for Mohan, reserving their best for him. SPB seemed to enjoy extra while singing playback for his songs and Mohan's mannerisms and actions almost mimicked the voice (be it for songs or dubbing). It was a perfect amalgamation of everything in right quantities that contributed to his movies being superhits.

The best part of all of this being, in his interviews he was as honest as he possibly could be and as humble and grateful, rightly acknowledging the factors that made him who he was. He was sounding politically correct and down to earth for all those gushing praises from his anchors and fellow actors and attributed to blessings for his fame. Whenever there were pointed questions about his personal life, the superstar actor in him slightly woke up and his calmness conquered all those traps. To me personally the best part of all those interviews were his memory. It is one thing to be grateful in real and other thing to remember about the person but a totally different thing to mention about it in a timely and correct manner. Many a times we may miss mentioning about the several good things that might've happened in our life, overshadowed by the few bad things that tend to get blown out of proportion, having a longer stay in our minds, eating over happy thoughts. But despite not being in the industry for close to 2 decades, having been its darling with several silver jublee hits, Mohan not just manages to stay grounded but comes back with a positive aura around him, that adds to his calm demeanor. I am not sure how his second innings will pan out, but if at all you need a star who vanished from stardom and is trying his luck again, i would bet on a second successful innings for him more than any of his compatriots. And his interviews are a real lesson on how to handle the aftermath of a life, having seen super success and sudden displacement from such strong positions.