I had written this post several days before..But I was waiting for Utsav to post his experience...For ppl who are mystified by Rajni's soaring popularity all over the world and for those who wanna why he is a GOD to millions of fans all over the world...read on..
Few days back I took my friend Utsav to see the most hyped film of the year SHIVAJI for the second time . Yeah u heard it rite..he watched with me for the second time..Like millions of his fans all around the world I relished each and every frame of the movie as much my three year old niece would enjoy watching her favorite cartoon in Pogo. Utsav also had a blast of time. The 57 yr. old thespian exuding the silver screen with his charisma and style drove me into mild delirium. During those three and half hours I was swayed into the phantasmagoric world which costed the producers 80 crores to create. His abracadabra made me rejoice and cheer whenever he broke Newton's laws of motion. It was indeed a feat to watch Rajni making the left side of the brain which is endowed with spatial reasoning go numb for all his fans watching the movie. He is indeed a phenomenon. I had been a Rajni fan since my childhood days.One of my cherished photographs till date is one taken when I was 5 years old in which i was wearing huge black tinted glasses of my dad and ruffling my hair as Rajini would do in most of his movies. During the 90's when my country's economy was incapable of providing me with comics of spiderman and superman in my hands, he was my Indian version of a superhero. All his gimmicks and his machismo sent adrenaline down my nerve. I deluged in the after glow euphoria of the movie for many days after I watched the movie. I still remember vividly how I nagged my dad to record a cassette which contained all the introduction songs of his. His introduction song is his unique USP. In most of his movies Rajini entered the screen with a bang and electrify the screen with his traditional innocent smile and dance with a group of 100 artists in lush green fields of Tamil Nadu.Now lets come to d analysis part.. Sigmund Freud in one of his books talks about understanding the psyche of a city. He says that if you want to understand the psyche of a city you simply have to go and watch the successful movie running in the city. Most of the people here in South go to the cinemas to take a break from the humdrum routine of life. It is the only form of escapist entertainment for them.. Movies are simply made for ppl to enjoy......Tamil Movies with its visual images transport the viewers to the world which is a perfect mix of reality with fantasy. The directors add realistic dimension to the movies so that the viewer could associate himself and feel connected with the world that is created in the screen. Once association is made the audience begin to love watching what they have been aspiring and dreaming in their lives. This strong attachment makes the hero and the viewer one. The hero becomes the junta and viceversa. This strong emotional attachment with the hero obviates their mind from thinking about logic. This is the reason why no one watching the movie bothers whether the feat done by the star is humanly possible or not.
One of the prime reasons why Rajini' movies have clicked with the audience is because they simply love the way he stands up for the masses. Rajini during his rise to stardom acted in movies in which he stood against an institution. During the 80's when the labour and capital was not liberalised he acted in movies wherein he stood up against the cruel factory owners. Hapless factory men who had absolute no control over the way their paymasters treated them felt great to watch one among them in the screen screwing the lives of the sinister wealthy owners. As India opened up her economy Rajni suitably changed his identity to match with a common man living down the corner. In Shivaji Rajini plays the role of a rich NRI who returns back home to do good for the country. Rajini personifies the agglomeration of several personas in an individual human being. A matured adult sees him as an obedient dutiful son for his parents while a kid sees him as a superman who can kill 100s of thugs in one go. For the middle aged woman he is the ever caring and affectionate brother
Movie experience differs from the west and the east. In a country where there are umpteen no. of castes and sects..the western theatrical definition of 'collective consciousness' wont work. People look upon stars like Rajni who has multiple personalities on screen. People also find it difficult to differentiate the on screen persona and off screen persona..Thats why u find his faithful fans doin all sorts of worship to their thalaivar(as he is called in tamil)
Rajini, as I see him also personifies the much talked about eclectism of Indian ethos. That a maharashtrian who spent most of his early years in Bangalore as a conductor has won the hearts of millions of Tamilians simply reinstates this fact. People of TN have already begun to see Rajni as the future CM of Tamil Nadu. THe reasons are pretty obvious. People want some one with whom they can share their identity to rule them. People are fed up of politicians whose identities are as flimsy and transient as their promises they throw . Though I dont know he is fit enough to be the CM, I would love to see him donning the CM's chair.....
I personally admire Rajini very much as a great human being. Not everyone can understand this phenomenon. Only those who have been Rajnized can...
Few days back I took my friend Utsav to see the most hyped film of the year SHIVAJI for the second time . Yeah u heard it rite..he watched with me for the second time..Like millions of his fans all around the world I relished each and every frame of the movie as much my three year old niece would enjoy watching her favorite cartoon in Pogo. Utsav also had a blast of time. The 57 yr. old thespian exuding the silver screen with his charisma and style drove me into mild delirium. During those three and half hours I was swayed into the phantasmagoric world which costed the producers 80 crores to create. His abracadabra made me rejoice and cheer whenever he broke Newton's laws of motion. It was indeed a feat to watch Rajni making the left side of the brain which is endowed with spatial reasoning go numb for all his fans watching the movie. He is indeed a phenomenon. I had been a Rajni fan since my childhood days.One of my cherished photographs till date is one taken when I was 5 years old in which i was wearing huge black tinted glasses of my dad and ruffling my hair as Rajini would do in most of his movies. During the 90's when my country's economy was incapable of providing me with comics of spiderman and superman in my hands, he was my Indian version of a superhero. All his gimmicks and his machismo sent adrenaline down my nerve. I deluged in the after glow euphoria of the movie for many days after I watched the movie. I still remember vividly how I nagged my dad to record a cassette which contained all the introduction songs of his. His introduction song is his unique USP. In most of his movies Rajini entered the screen with a bang and electrify the screen with his traditional innocent smile and dance with a group of 100 artists in lush green fields of Tamil Nadu.Now lets come to d analysis part.. Sigmund Freud in one of his books talks about understanding the psyche of a city. He says that if you want to understand the psyche of a city you simply have to go and watch the successful movie running in the city. Most of the people here in South go to the cinemas to take a break from the humdrum routine of life. It is the only form of escapist entertainment for them.. Movies are simply made for ppl to enjoy......Tamil Movies with its visual images transport the viewers to the world which is a perfect mix of reality with fantasy. The directors add realistic dimension to the movies so that the viewer could associate himself and feel connected with the world that is created in the screen. Once association is made the audience begin to love watching what they have been aspiring and dreaming in their lives. This strong attachment makes the hero and the viewer one. The hero becomes the junta and viceversa. This strong emotional attachment with the hero obviates their mind from thinking about logic. This is the reason why no one watching the movie bothers whether the feat done by the star is humanly possible or not.
One of the prime reasons why Rajini' movies have clicked with the audience is because they simply love the way he stands up for the masses. Rajini during his rise to stardom acted in movies in which he stood against an institution. During the 80's when the labour and capital was not liberalised he acted in movies wherein he stood up against the cruel factory owners. Hapless factory men who had absolute no control over the way their paymasters treated them felt great to watch one among them in the screen screwing the lives of the sinister wealthy owners. As India opened up her economy Rajni suitably changed his identity to match with a common man living down the corner. In Shivaji Rajini plays the role of a rich NRI who returns back home to do good for the country. Rajini personifies the agglomeration of several personas in an individual human being. A matured adult sees him as an obedient dutiful son for his parents while a kid sees him as a superman who can kill 100s of thugs in one go. For the middle aged woman he is the ever caring and affectionate brother
Movie experience differs from the west and the east. In a country where there are umpteen no. of castes and sects..the western theatrical definition of 'collective consciousness' wont work. People look upon stars like Rajni who has multiple personalities on screen. People also find it difficult to differentiate the on screen persona and off screen persona..Thats why u find his faithful fans doin all sorts of worship to their thalaivar(as he is called in tamil)
Rajini, as I see him also personifies the much talked about eclectism of Indian ethos. That a maharashtrian who spent most of his early years in Bangalore as a conductor has won the hearts of millions of Tamilians simply reinstates this fact. People of TN have already begun to see Rajni as the future CM of Tamil Nadu. THe reasons are pretty obvious. People want some one with whom they can share their identity to rule them. People are fed up of politicians whose identities are as flimsy and transient as their promises they throw . Though I dont know he is fit enough to be the CM, I would love to see him donning the CM's chair.....
I personally admire Rajini very much as a great human being. Not everyone can understand this phenomenon. Only those who have been Rajnized can...