Rajnikanth: Silent Pope of the Tamil masses

'Sivaji' will be released on June 15th (unless something else crops up in the meanwhile) and the City of Chennai doesn't talk of anything else for the past so many months. Autorickshaws sport the Sivaji stills as stickers in their front, large hoarding have come everywhere in the city, blogs and websites have been agog about the making of the movie, the music is already a celebrated hit and is repeated being played across the city. Rajnikanth is back and with a bang. Since his earlier movie, Chandramukhi, there has been too much expectation and the combination of talent that has come together for Sivaji has ensured that the rumour mills have been working over time.

Rajnikanth as a phenomenon is South India, particularly Tamilnadu is worth understanding. The best way to describe his stature is that he is a religion. The celebration, anticipation, faithful following, reckless spending, mindless sentiments all those other things Indians do with their religion, they do to him too. That doesn't mean he is God though (the only time he tried to call himself that, the box office bombed like never before in Baba) unlike the earlier generations of MGR, NTR, Krishna, etc. At the most, he is a Pope, a silent one at that. He is religion and adhered to and followed with great fervor as there is no regulating of his followers as Hinduism does. His silence as to what his fans should do (except for the one famous, 'even God cannot save you' statement endlessly and shamelessly exploited by the DMK) has perhaps made him an enigma to whom anything can be ascribed. The fans want to believe he is the ideal person, indeed, my favourite friends, the autorickshaw drivers of Chennai, when queried as to why they need to keep his photos with them, state that it is because ' he is a good man'! All his limitations can be forgiven for this purpose.

In times deprived of leaders and models among men, in the social and political milieu of tamilnadu where spiritual / religious quest or even an inclination can only be ridiculed, where jingoistic showmanship rules the roost as social commitment, where the nonsensical verbiage of a person is often directly proportional to his eminence, Rajinikanth is an exception. He doesn't talk often, never seems to give any large interviews, does not endorse any products, does not hide his spiritual / religious inclinations, does not make a show of his giving (except a few times when there were rumours that he will eventually join politics) nor try to derive unnecessary media and political mileage out of it. Yet, despite all the political rhetoric that is placed on his door step, he has managed to rule the hearts of the tamil masses through movies that repeatedly portray the oldest formula on earth - the good will eventually prevail! The success of his movies is partly based on the machismo attached to the 'good' that appeals to the tamil masculinity. But, at the same time, his appeal to women is no lesser, at least two generations of women have admired his 'style'!! He is not the best of actors, but, the effortless ease of his performance of any role (mostly the action hero) ensures that the movie goer is never to forget the fact that this is all celluloid. His message is rather direct and often becomes the most used one liner, gesture, gimmick in Tamilnadu. Some of them have become legendary and are repeated for generations.

The spectra of a Rajnikanth movie release in Chennai and Tamilnadu is to be seen to be believed, Sivaji is already booked for the first month according to my informers (all auto-wallas), it has had a record sale of its music, it is being released in Japenese and some African language also. I find that there are large number of blogs that offer everything from unofficial photos to song downloads of this movie, there are even blogs in French and Japenese!! It may be a movie for the rest of the world, but, in Tamilnadu and particularly in Chennai, the religion of Rajnikanth will be seen in action...its achievements and pitfalls yet again discussed, rumours of his eventual entry to politics once again resurrected, the madness of high cost for the first day ticket and the meaningless acts of sentiments discussed by the intelligent...the show start soon!