I
I always begin my articles with the closing sentence. A very un-Alice like thing, this.
So I always know how my articles end, even if nothing else is in place.
I work backwards.
It can occur to me anywhere. During the intermission, where I try to cram my thoughts in the little notepad on my phone. On the ride back home in a speeding auto. Or somewhere in between. But it always does. That first sentence, which is never the first sentence.
Last week, after watching Lingaa; and after reading a few reviews online, it occurred to me.
Surely you knew what you’d signed up for?
*****
Lingaa is typical KS Ravikumar fare. Typical KSR-Rajinikanth fare. There’s a little of everything in it. A little Muthu. A little Padayappa. A Vidu Kadhaiya… here, a Vettri Kodi Kattu there…even a little song from Basha. It takes a true Rajini fan to appreciate the moment when lines from that famous number starring Nagma are recited. And when Santhanam – in the garb of Rajini’s Muslim wife – reveals her husband’s name, it’s yet another nod to the masses.
It’s classic KSR formula, with a few Shankar touches.
Rajini the hero.
Rajini the lover.
Rajini the misunderstood martyr.
And then,
Rajini the hero again.
He ends how he begins. That’s how poetic KSR is. And how tremendously simple.
Forget the flaws, forget the one too many episodes of belly flashing, forget the gender prejudices; forget all else. For this is the Rajini I know. Yes, some frames – especially the ones featuring the ‘younger’ Rajini do seem contrived – but for the most part, it’s the nostalgic 90’s all over again.
And then, there is Radha Ravi, doing what he does best… it could just be a grander version of Muthu.
KSR even does a cameo, true to style. As the theatre erupts at the sight of him, you know, no matter how many alternative genres come into existence, KSR would always survive. He would still finish the race.
He’s Finishing Kumar.
*****
II
Solaimalai was a little theatre tucked away on one of the busy lanes in Madurai. It had paan-stained walls, and faux leather seats that reclined dangerously.
*****
December 1995
Rajini was already superstar. And it was a little over two months since Muthu had hit the theatres. I was watching it for the second time with a different set of family members who were visiting during the Christmas break.
Madurai didn’t hold too many attractions then. There were temples. And, there were theatres.
There was Meenakshi Amman… and there was the Solaimalai.
The only park in the heart of the city would be quite crowded on weekends. Also, the slides were always chipped at the end, and a few swings would hang precariously off the ledge on a lone strand of metal.
So, Solaimalai it was. Located in Arasaradi – so named because it was once thought to be the power centre of the Pandya kingdom.
It was here, amidst a running thread of history, that I watched my movies. Like Muthu. And Rangeela (thanks to a mother who had an undying passion for Hindi films). Then Muthu twice more.
And, marvelled at the talent that the Superstar was. He could sing, act and dance…all at once. My father – a dispassionate listener till that moment – burst out laughing.
That’s not Rajini doing the singing, he said. That’s SPB.
It was a heart-breaking moment.
That the superstar cannot sing, when he can do pretty much everything else, was beyond reason.
I didn’t trust my father.
The next day at school, I decided to check with a classmate who was an ardent Rajini fan.
Over rotis and curd rice, water bottles and hand-towels, and that sound of steel scraping against steel, we discussed Muthu. It was a typical lunch break at school.
No way, he nodded, calmly fishing out a ball of paper that had just landed in his tiffin box.
Rajini always sings his songs.
*****
III
Recommended
With Rajini too, I worked backwards. Annamalai, Thalapathi, Basha, Muthu, Padayappa – then, Veera, Manithan, Thillu Mullu, Johnny, Mullum Malarum….Aval Appadithaan, Apoorva Ragangal. The older the movie, the older I had to be to understand it. That sums up the superstar’s career graph. KSR, Shankar, Suresh Krissna and P Vasu in place of J Mahendran, K Balachander, SP Muthuraman, Bharathiraja and SA Chandrasekhar. Most of Rajinikanth’s critics today have never watched Thillu Mullu.
Or Billa.
*****
Rajini always had a little bit of the bad about him. Even when he was good. He’s vengeful to a fault and steals jewellery when convenient.
Also, his heroines always needed to be rescued – from raging bulls, manic spirits and explosive hot air balloons. They are a reverential lot in general. He likes it that way.
And when they are not, he takes it upon himself to deliver a moral discourse.
So, it would probably take little to flip him over to the other side again.
As the moustache-twirling Thyagu.
The dreaded don Billa.
The jilted lover in Johnny.
Billa_Rajini
And also perhaps as that cunning bastard of a collector in Lingaa.
Rajini would have been in his element there.
His sneer is way more wicked, for one.
*****