New Delhi: I remember last year I was writing something on Rajinikanth and somewhere in the article I referred to him as a powerful Southern superstar. Somebody, obviously one of his fans, took offense and asked me to not call him a Southern star. He further suggested Rajinikanth should be called an Indian superstar as his appeal is much beyond the boundaries of Tamil Nadu. But, I had to be sure of his pan-India appeal before re-positioning him in my articles.
In last 12 months, I have been interacting with people from nooks and corners of India and Rajinikanth always remained a part of those conversations. Friends from North-East told me some new jokes about 'Thalaiva'. I was surprised to hear the word 'Thalaiva' from them, and that's why I could remember that joke. It was 'Thalaiva actually knows the Victoria's secret'. It was a bad joke but the path it followed to reach that guy was quite interesting. The WhatsApp trail revealed that it started in London and reached Kohima via Delhi.
A group of voters tried to propagate some Arvind Kejriwal jokes made on the lines of Chuck Norris and Rajinikanth during the recently concluded Delhi polls. And, this group consisted of people from UP, MP, Haryana and Bihar. The desired results couldn't be achieved and Rajinikanth was stopped from being reborn as Kejriwal. I guess it also has a lot to do with a person's aura. How can an Aam Aadmi be treated equally as a demigod?
All this happens when people haven't seen many of Rajinikanth's films. His earlier Tamil films are almost unknown to his North Indian fans. The Hindi speaking audience know Rajinikanth via films like 'Andha Kanoon', 'Hum', 'Geraftaar' and 'Chaalbaaz'. He has done 28 films in Hindi and those films didn't create waves when they were first released, but now they have turned into 'solid' entertainers. Rajini's dialogue 'Aaj Sunday hai, din mein daaru peene ka din hai,' from 'Chaalbaaz' is a cool hangout line for youngsters. Every smoker tries to catch cigarette at least once in his life as Rajinikanth. Now, even his common moves are seen as style statements by many.
We don't need to go back in time machine to realise his unimaginable popularity. The 'Kochadaiyaan' teaser was launched on a Monday morning and by Tuesday afternoon it had got more than 1 million hits on YouTube. I don't think only Tamil film enthusiasts watched that trailer. Had this been the case, every Tamil teaser with relatively big stars would have registered at least half million hits. Vijay's recent success stories demonstrate his fan frenzy but 'Thalaivaa' trailer took more than 48 hours to achieve I million hits. Doesn't this explain anything?
See, it's not just about an actor; it's about a person who doesn't believe in hiding anything about his personal life. He is probably the only one actor whose fans don't mind a joke on his balding head. "Rajinikanth is not bald, he is bold."
His Marathi lineage (His original name is Sivaji Rao Gaikwad) makes him popular in the Western part of India. If the frequency of his jokes is a testimony then most of them originate in Mumbai and Bangalore. It seems he is a favourite with the techies.
I seriously don't think 'Kolaveri Di' hit the bull's eye only due to its content. Dhanush's association with Rajinikanth must have played a good role in the song's success.
I can't remember the name of the original but this Rajinikanth film was released as 'Mahavatar Babaji' in the Hindi heartland. I saw that film in Lucknow where it was a crowd-puller. As usual, everybody chanted Rajini-Rajini and didn't let anyone watch the film in peace. This is likely to happen at any other tier 2 and tier 3 cities.
Over the years, Rajinikanth has become a part of our lives. A film star who look like us, talk like us and behave like us.
The man is a phenomenon, a humble giant, whose appeal can't be restricted to certain areas. Yes, it took me 12 months to figure it out, but today, on his 63rd birthday (He was born on December 12, 1950), I am ready to call him an Indian superstar.####
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