The intriguing phenomenon called Rajinikanth

(image courtesy: the internet)

The Chief Minister of Kerala, Mr.Pinrayi Vijayan, was asked his favorite ways of winding up. he replied, "Rajinikanth movies". A state which has two of the most versatile movie actors of this country - Mohanlal and Mamooty - and its Chief Minister likes Rajinikanth!

With a new movie of Rajinikanth slated to release tomorrow and which such mass hysteria - much media created, i would like to believe - surrounding the release, it is but pertinent to discuss what sets him apart and why there is such mass hysteria surrounding him.

What makes Rajinikanth a phenomenon? Fascinating. One of the biggest paradoxes of our times is this phenomenon called Rajinikanth.

The rise and rise of this person to such dizzying Heights as a superstar of our times in one of intrigue. What made him tick? How did this person with none of the special characteristics - fairness (an Indian obsession), muscular body, striking features and above all acting skills - that set a movie screen hero apart from the others manage to climb and lord over the others?

The answer to this is that Rajinikanth had something which others did not have - he did everything his way. What he did was unique. Being discovered by K Balachander, director, when, as a bus conductor in Bangalore, he flipped a cigarette in the air and onto his mouth, he had his turning point then, which was a turning point for one man and the movie industry, notably the Tamil movie industry.

Initially typecast as an antagonist (I still hold this view that being a antagonist on screen comes naturally to him and he is really good at that than his umpteen 'hero' roles), he managed to climb the hero ranks with his unique dialogue delivery, on screen mannerisms, style and gimmicky antics, helped by movie scripts (and not to forget, dialogues) that were written with him in mind - an orphan wronged, a boy without a father being cheated by the rest of the family, innocent simpleton, country bumpkin - who, a do-gooder, in the end, vanquishes his enemies and comes up trumps.

This was the formula for M G Ramachandran, yesteryear Tamil superstar who had charisma and a fan following non-pareil in movie history so much so that he tapped it to the fullest to become the chief minister of Tamil Nadu and remained so till death. His movies saw him doing  only good to even his enemies, not even looking at the direction of his heroines (prudish beyond imagination), but they fawning over him and falling head over heels for attention. This carefully cultivated persona led to a cult following among the mass and ultimately made him an unrivalled phenomenon. 

Rajinikanth followed a similar formula - invariably his movies will have a doting mother, his father would have been wronged and killed when he was a kid, they would live in penury, he would do a blue collar job, the richest girl in the city would fall for him and in the end he would best his enemies and take the girl home. The only difference was that theism was propagated in his movies as against MGR's, which had atheistic connotes at times.

Unrealistic, untenable and unbelievable. But that's what the common man wants to see on screen. He identifies with the hero -  Rajinikanth - and wants  to do all that which he does in those three hours on screen. He lives his imagination in the hero and goes back home happily. Which explains why movie stars were, are and will continue to be the biggest heroes of our times as they make us live in an unreal world where we cannot live in but which we want to.

Which also partially explains the "Rajinikanth" phenomenon. An ordinary looker seducing the most beautiful women in the world, taking on injustice single handedly, embodying all virtues and living  happily ever after is stuff only dreams of made of and every common man with such a dream lives that through a Rajinikanth on screen. It has to be said, that his personal life of the last 20 odd years also has a role to play in his image. His off screen reputation as a good man also has contributed in no less way in adding to his onscreen persona.

However, all said and done, with increasing literacy, awareness and realisation that a movie is, well, but a movie, and that characters are not the same in real life, the stratospheric and near God like position enjoyed by such superstars is coming to an end.