I've never been crazy about any film hero/super hero. I've liked most movies of Mammootty, Kamal Haasan, Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan. However, I've always failed to grasp the God-like aura that is associated with some southern superstars, thanks to which they are placed at a pedestal that mere mortals can possibly never attain.
All this, until I saw Sivaji- The Boss.
It's been over a week since the movie released, and in the essentially Hindi speaking Delhi, I could not get a ticket for any of the shows on Sunday and had to be content with a 11.00 PM show on Saturday (yesterday) at one of the multiplexes.
The movie began with a tribute to 60 "golden" years of AVM, followed by the graphics which read "SUPERSTAR" followed by a pause and then... "R-A-J-N-I". The shouts of "Rajni" then drowned whatever sound/ music came off the Dolby speakers over the next few minutes. All this- at night in a Punjabi dominated locale.
The next few minutes were crazy- whenever HE was on screen, the crowd went just crazy. There is a dialogue in the movie, when HE is lodged in a jail, and HIS neighbours asks him if HE had been jailed for murder, dacoity or rape... The Boss replies in the negative... The neighbour asks, "then why?".... The Boss says "Naattukku Nalladu Senjaen" (I did something good for the nation)... There...the crowd goes into a frenzy again...
In the later minutes, I saw how Rajni beats up a 100 goons single handedly (THIS FIGURE OF 100 IS NOT AN EXAGERRATION, BUT AN UNDERSTATEMENT)... and then visits them all at the Royapettah hospital with a basket of fruits and horlicks for each of them...
I saw how he turns barren land into green pastures, and gives a sense of direction to misguided youth... How he builds hospitals and schools where treatment/ education is free... how he converts thatched huts into concrete structures... untarred roads into tarred ones....
The concretization of a zillion dreams on celluloid....
The erstwhile beedi/ cigarette that he used to so stylishly throw into his mouth has now been replaced by a centerfresh. The punchlines are very much there, though he lets his sidekick mouth them for him at times (eg. chennaiya thaandna Katpaadi - Sivaji adicha nee dead body.... Sachin adicha sixer- Sivaji adicha nee puncher)
The slow motions shots are very much there.
For a nation starved of real life heroes (ah! i know thats a cliched quote), what people see on screen is a manifestation of things as people would like them to be... a man fighting against a corrupt system... And Winning... a state where there is visible progress... where evil dare not raise its hood.....
And the person who makes it all happen is none other than the Boss himself. When I walked out of the theatre, I was somewhere disappointed in Shankar's skills as a director for he gives so simplistic solutions to so complex problems. But I now know why Rajni is worshipped in Tamil Nadu and a few other places. To all of you who read this, you may or not be convinced of Rajni's powers. But go watch it- you may or not like the movie, but its an experience not worth missing.
PS- As I walked out of the hall, my mind raced back to my 4th standard days. I could hear my Malayalam teacher recite "Maaveli naadu vaaNeedum kaalam...."....
Only that "Maaveli" was replaced by "Rajni".
