Spoilers ahead…
Read the full review on Film Companion, here: http://www.filmcompanion.in/article/vivegam-movie-review
Vivegam (Prudence) is a big-hero movie, so let’s begin with the big hero introduction shot. We’re in a Serbian forest, where Evil Man No. 1 is selling a hard disk to Evil Man No. 2. One of them calls himself “ruler of Russian mafia,” which instantly raises a few questions. For instance: Is the Russian mafia like a kingdom, where the head isn’t just a “don” but a “ruler”? Are his underlings required to bow in his presence? What is Putin’s take on this self-proclaimed monarch? (Were his services invoked during the American presidential election?) I’m fairly sure the answers were on screen, but I was unable to catch much over the screaming and whistling in the theatre.
But that is understandable. Everyone knows, of course, that the first five minutes of the big-hero movie are pretty much a write-off in terms of exposition, especially when Anirudh is conducting his own little Metallica concert in the background. All this is just the prelude to the hero’s appearance – and in true “mass”-movie style, this occurs in parts. First, we glimpse the famous salt-and-pepper hair. Then, his silhouette, with two outstretched arms pointing guns at the bad guys. Finally, after an explosion, light from the blast lights up Ajay “AK” Kumar (Ajith, in autopilot mode, playing a Counter Terrorist Squad agent). You have to wonder: If the amount of thought expended on the hero’s introduction were devoted to the screenplay, what terrific movies we’d get!
Continued at the link above.
Copyright ©2017 Film Companion.
Baradwaj Rangan 
Akhilan
August 24, 2017
“The wife, played by Kajal Aggarwal, goes by the name Yazhini. (Tangential thought: Can Kajal Aggarwal say zha?)”
Hahahaha BR…!! At your hilarious best…!!
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sanjana
August 24, 2017
What a joke of a movie! Your review made my day and evening.
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Pavan
August 24, 2017
“Another film that came to mind was Dhool, where Paravai Muniamma broke into a sensational song over the final fight sequence. Yazhini tries the same trick here and we laugh.
The above line, by you, was the final nail in the coffin.
A film of her’s named Nene Raju Nene Mantri released just before this, had one thing in common: the wife is pregnant. In that film, her miscarriage kick starts the plot. Her character drives the protagonist’s rise and fall. Her death marks the beginning of his end as well as the final segment. I am not a fan of her, but it was such a great performance (bonus for self-dubbing too) and that too being her 50th film. Here, she is pregnant and nothing changed. Her husband listened their baby’s heartbeat in a chase full of bullet sounds (wonder she couldn’t listen one as well). Not against such things (I’d be expecting too much from a mass movie) but isn’t it against the character’s artsy and mild nature? Or, am I missing something substantial?
Now, this was like watching two Marilyn Monroe films: one showing her as a legitimate performer and the other, as a dumb blonde. Period!
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"Original" venkatesh
August 24, 2017
And to solve the mystery : “Tangential thought: Can Kajal Aggarwal say zha?” – i have it on good authority that she can.
And this is AK’s 25th year in movies. . wow ., really..
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Honest Raj (formerly 'V'enkatesh)
August 24, 2017
“Another film that came to mind was Dhool, where Paravai Muniamma broke into a sensational song over the final fight sequence. Yazhini tries the same trick here and we laugh.”
Lol. In Dhool, it was fantastically funny!
Looking at the review, this sounds more like Captain’s Narasimha.
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Anuja Chandramouli
August 24, 2017
Damn! If only I had read the review before watching this horrendous excuse for a movie… The only good thing about Vivegam is that it gave BR ample cause to get his snark on which always makes for howlarious reading.
Why anyone in their right mind would give the likes of Siruthai Siva such a massive budget and a free hand to blow up stuff in exotic lands is beyond me! What was with the horribly accented Tamil everybody onscreen was saddled with? It sounded like they dubbed while wrestling with a severe bout of constipation. And why on Earth was every single line of dialogue so unspeakably stiff and stilted? #Ugh Plus does every single actor in an Ajith film have to look like they are going to orgasm simply from being in his immediate vicinity? GEEZ!
And the characters! Kajal is the sort of wife who is so saccharine you need deworming tablets to flush her out of your system. As for Oberoi, I was convinced that he was going to start humping Ajith’s leg at some point! #DoubleUgh Finally Ajith seriously needs to stop cooking up a storm on the set and spend the time studying the script or the lack of one and give the likes of Siruthai Siva one of his patented kicks up their worthless backsides!
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Sidd
August 25, 2017
“Secret agents who double as missionaries, spreading Tamil culture around the world?” Brutal.
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Akhilan
August 25, 2017
Also, is it just me or has the name Yazhini suddenly come into vogue recently…?? Feels like it’s the go to name in every second movie… The brief seems to be – get any non-Tamil speaking heroine, call the character Yazhini, et voilà, she’s all set to play a ‘Tamil Ponnu’…!!
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Kay
August 25, 2017
Haven’t read the full review since I wanted to watch the movie first before reading it. I did read the excerpt here and had a doubt. Don’t they run previews for the critics and others, so that you can avoid the FDFS madness?
I’m kicking myself for clicking on this link, because I wanted to watch the movie without any prejudices. But the temptation was too much to resist.
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Vikram S
August 25, 2017
BR, I have said it before and I am grinning as I say it again…the badder the film, the better you are at battering it….,
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Arjun Dev Mullankara
August 25, 2017
I can’t understand why so many people are attacking this film? What were you expecting from the teasers and trailers? You don’t go to Sri Krishna Sweets for Biryani. They make MysorePas that are so sweet that you get high – no nutritional value as such. Siva has done a good job at using the best ghee and a lot of sugar to make a nice batch of mysorepa. Vivegam is a much superior product compared to recent star vehicles like Singam 3, Bairavaa, Theri, and Iru Mugan. Only ’24’ is a better movie (I heard it was a flop in TN, which lead to Singam 3 being green lit all of a sudden). If you want biryani, go to Kamal Hasan thalappakkatty.
Also, Let’s get off our high horses about exposition – mainstream movies are watched by many who haven’t been fortunate to receive even primary education. Such a person would definitely need an explanation on what a morse code is.
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praneshp
August 25, 2017
@brangan: Barely the battering I thought I was going to read. After 30 mins, the only thing I was even bothered with was your reaction to the seen.
I wonder if the VIP2 is cursing themselves for not getting Anirudh. I’m not sure about the authenticity, but the music in this movie was really good (I hadn’t heard any of the songs going in.)
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sravishanker1401gmailcom
August 25, 2017
Vikram S : Heartily Heartily agree !
Anuja : That hilarious comment was pretty much a review !
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sravishanker1401gmailcom
August 25, 2017
“Anirudh is conducting his own littke metallica concert in a corner” LOL
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sanjay2706
August 25, 2017
Tangential thoughts:
I find it ironic that the same people who are controlling, influencing and some would say ruining young minds talk about secret societies and conspiracies.
I was listening to the songs of Mersal and noticed a line ” Kaasu is verum paper!” or something like that. Why is the star who receives crores of money in remuneration talking about this? So the Rich Elite of TN are the advocates of Happiness without money.
Did they reduce their salaries after the introduction of GST? A TN film Male Lead receives a salary that is more than 50% of the movie’s budget and yet no one seems to be pointing that out as a problem.
And now the recent words on too much “negativity” that apparently exists on Social Media!
2 stars have spoken about this recently. Instead of condemning the acts of their fans(abuse of a journalist), they are spinning it off (in Trumpian fashion) and making it sound like there were mistakes on “many sides,many sides”. In other words, they don’t want any dissent or criticism, they only want to spread “love and positivity”, whatever that means.
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sanjana
August 25, 2017
I feel for the Russians! And also those kids!
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Honest Raj (formerly 'V'enkatesh)
August 25, 2017
This is hilarious:
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sudharsanansampath
August 25, 2017
I thought you were going to have a field day with this film. But you went too soft.
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hattorihanzo4784
August 25, 2017
BR
any chance of watching latest Telugu release “Arjun Reddy”? Telugu friends are claiming that after Premam (Malayalam) and Kirik Party (Kannada) this is their own new age college movie.
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Kay
August 25, 2017
Anuja: Howlarious comment! And spot on.
The accented Tamil was so irritating. The director has made a mockery of morse code and sniper rifles. The movie is clearly meant for the diehard fans, who just want to see their hero on the screen, and whistle when he spouts those punch dialogues. There were so many gaps in the scenes and everything just falls in place without any logic behind it. Like the scene in the beginning when the database of FBI, CIA, etc. are searched to match the image of AK and suddenly someone deduces that he is from the military, so his image should be sent to the counter terrorism squad. Why wasn’t the counter terrorism squad consulted in the first place. And when everyone else in CTS seems to be acquainted with the guy with lot of medals (who spearheads the search), why didn’t the medal guy know AK? So many questions left unanswered. I hope we don’t get a Vivegam 2.
BTW, AK doesn’t call himself Mozart of pain. He refers to the other guy (Sean?) as Mozart of pain, and says here comes your music just before injecting those multi coloured solutions.
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Anuja Chandramouli
August 25, 2017
sravishanker and Kay, thanks ever so much. And Kay: ‘There were so many gaps in the scenes and everything just falls in place without any logic behind it. ‘ I guess it’s because this Siva dude just decided to coast along on Ajith’s popularity which like Vijay’s continues to endure despite the awful films both insist on making inspite of the vast resources at their disposal.
Sick and tired of folks saying, ‘Waddaya expect these stars to do? They have to satisfy the fans know?’ ‘It was staggeringly ambitious not to mention aspirational and Baahubali or Dangal wannabeesque’ Tamil cinema guys really make me impatient with their lame excuses. I mean everybody has access to top drawer content thanks to Amazon Prime and Netflix etc. Why can’t they just do work that isn’t utterly and unspeakably disgraceful?
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brangan
August 25, 2017
Kay: But that makes it even more nonsensical, no? The person doing the torturing says he is the Mozart of pain versus the person being tortured being called Mozart of pain — which makes more sense? 😁
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abby
August 25, 2017
Tangential thought: Can Ajith say zha?!
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Aman
August 25, 2017
Friend went to see the film and someone sitting in the back row made a comment that white walker is here when the hero was introduced, he says it was the best moment for him.
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dSam
August 25, 2017
@BR, the person Ajith tortures is being shown as torture/interrogation specialist in the intro scene. so in a sense, Thala is playing that guys music to him. As illogical as the movie was, this dialogue did make sense 🙂
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brangan
August 25, 2017
Aman: “white walker”?
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Akhilan
August 25, 2017
@Anuja
Like you, I too have grappled with this frustration for God knows how long now… Though I do believe things are beginning to change (albeit extremely slowly)… If 2017 is anything to go by, the writing is well and truly on the wall for the some of the biggest ‘superstars’ of the country… Besides Baahubali, it’s been a pretty shambolic year for Hindi Cinema, and the failures of Tubelight and JHMS are testament to the audience’s evolution in terms of taste and sensibility… I know it sounds so clichéd to say this, but we have to be the change that we wish to see… We have to put our foot down and reject the trash that the so-called ‘superstars’ seem to churn out on a regular basis and likewise appreciate and encourage what we believe to be the ‘good’ content out there too…
Just take Netflix’s Sense8 for example, which is easily one of the best shows I’ve ever seen… After releasing Season 2 in May this year, Netflix canceled the show despite overwhelmingly positive reviews… (I guess the $9 million budget per episode had a lot to do with it)… But with huge fan support and petitioning across various social media platforms (I too tried to play a small part here), Netflix agreed to produce a two-hour finale for the show, which is all set to release sometime next year…
So it is possible… Sure, will it take time – yeah; I guess even more so as far as Tamil Cinema is concerned, but we as the audience can be a catalyst and make some kind of difference… Regardless of how long and small/visible that change takes/happens to be…
Apologies if this sounded rather preachy…
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sravishanker1401gmailcom
August 25, 2017
dSam : Ah ! So the movie DID have some layering to it.
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Ravi K
August 25, 2017
Anuja Chandramouli wrote: “I guess it’s because this Siva dude just decided to coast along on Ajith’s popularity which like Vijay’s continues to endure despite the awful films both insist on making inspite of the vast resources at their disposal.”
Ajith and Vijay movies just have to meet a certain set of criteria, and neither their stars nor the filmmakers care about going beyond that or even the more modest goal of making a cohesive film with those elements. They just tick the boxes on the checklist and count the money
If Ajith and Vijay’s fans were more discerning they wouldn’t be Ajith and Vijay fans 😛
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jaga_jaga
August 26, 2017
The funniest comment I have read in a while:
“So many questions left unanswered. I hope we don’t get a Vivegam 2.”
Kay, you deserve a medal for this! I hope you intended it exactly like how I read it – well so many questions to be answered. Typically, you can expect a sequel to answer them. But this one so damn awful that, a sequel can only be more crappy!!!
And of course I won’t see this movie. I won’t see this movie, and I won’t see this movie.
A movie I have been looking to watch for too long is “Puriyatha Puthir”! The trailer looks promising, the premise appears to be enticing. It has been an eternal wait for this movie.
Does BR and/or anyone know what took so long for this movie to release? And will it release on the scheduled Sep 1st date finally?????
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KayKay
August 26, 2017
Aman: “white walker”?
Game of Thrones reference, B.
Not caught the bug yet?
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Amit Joki
August 26, 2017
BR: They are the vile characters of Game Of Thrones. Watch it, an episode of GoT is far better than most Ajith/Vijay films and you get a lot of nudity as bonus 😀
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The AB Verdict
August 26, 2017
Tamil Cinema has a different emotion and story. Cinema is a major source of entertainment in Tamil Nadu. People go out to chill when they watch a movie. Substantial number of movie goers don’t want to watch “One flew over the cuckoo’s nest” or “Mahanadi” when they go to theatres. People in TN watch movie for entertainment.
I cannot understand how reviewers write so good about Fast and Furious, Mission Impossible, Star Wars etc (All Hollywood movies) but write so bad about Tamil movies. Is it because of the discriminative intent or because of the fact that the reviewers and meme creators think about themselves that they are genius humans.
Not that I am a genius. Not that I am a big fan of Mr.Ajith Kumar. But I certainly know what to expect from each actor or a director. It’s fair enough to expect intensified story telling from Mr.Martin Scorsese when he comes in collaboration with Mr.Di Caprio. It’s foolish to expect the same when Mr.K.S.Ravi Kumar or Mr.Hari is making a movie. They are entertainers. They don’t demand awards. They just work for their comfortable lives and they entertain people in pursuit.
I have watched wide range of movies from The Bicycle Thieves to Dunkirk. I appreciate Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott and anyone for that matter. I don’t JUST criticise. I JUST don’t !
As a matter of fact, I don’t really like the jobs these reviewers and memes are doing. But I fear for their next “meal”. Pity !
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Pavan
August 26, 2017
Kay: “I hope we don’t get a Vivegam 2.”
Chances for a sequel appear bleak. But cannot rule out them as well. But, as Vivegam cannot decide whether to be a westernised action thriller or a hero centric masala film, it would be interesting what would Siva eventually think of and come up with (though it is for granted that the focus would be on wolf whistles only).
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pato
August 26, 2017
Puriyaatha puthir earlier titled as mellisai was wrapped up about 3 years back but the production house of this movie (their first movie) ran into some financial issues and movie was in cans until jsk bought it from them last year.It was supposed to release during pongal but was postponed again.After Vikram Vedha’s success,i guess’s they realised vijay sethupathi’s market value and planned to release it.Hope Idam Porul Yeaval also releases soon.
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vijay
August 26, 2017
I am surprised the number of people in Tamilnadu (or Tamils elsewhere for that matter) who rush to watch Ajith/Vijay crap-fests and then go “of if only I had read the review or waited…”
How many brain farts does it take? And it is because of audiences like these such films are made in the first place.
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"Original" venkatesh
August 26, 2017
@Anuja Chandramouli: So you are saying ,.. its a “oru thadava paarkalam ba” padam
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Kay
August 26, 2017
BR, I think the guy being tortured specialised in extracting information and called himself the Mozart of pain, so he gets a dose of his own medicine.
About the sequel, rumour has it that talks are already on for the next Siva-Ajith movie.
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brangan
August 26, 2017
The AB Verdict:I cannot understand how reviewers write so good about Fast and Furious, Mission Impossible, Star Wars etc (All Hollywood movies) but write so bad about Tamil movies
Allow me to explain. Just because “Mission Impossible” is meant to be an “entertaining” film (as opposed to a “serious” film) and “Vivegam” is also meant to be an “entertaining” film, they are not automatically equal. There’s something called craft, which involves all elements from screenplay to cinematography to editing to performances. Even if you don’t know how to appreciate this craft (i.e. in technical lingo), it will worm its way into you and make you “feel” the film in a way a bad film won’t.
Many people seem to think that a “fun” movie means all these elements are disposable. Actually, no.
So forget all the technical stuff. Even if the three most important aspects of a film — writing, direction, editing — work, you have a pretty much watchable film. And really, that’s not too much to expect.
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Madan
August 26, 2017
“Even if the three most important aspects of a film — writing, direction, editing — work, you have a pretty much watchable film. ” – Yeah, even though I didn’t really like the last Star Wars film all that much, as a one time watch, it was a breeze. Even the absolute cookie cutter of Hollywood like Speed etc is eminently watchable. It’s only when you want the film to be interesting and not just watchable that you start finding fault with such films.
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brangan
August 26, 2017
Madan: I don’t know how one can separate “watchable” from “interesting.” For me, something is watchable only if it is interesting at some basic level (even if not edge-of-seat levels) — I should be interested in the characters, reasonably invested in their actions, their fate, and so forth.
Also, the first Speed — IMO — is not just a cookie cutter action movie, but an extraordinary example of how good writing, directing and editing can lift a cookie-cutter premise into superb entertainment. Plus, the film has some of the most extraordinary action photography.
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sravishanker1401gmailcom
August 26, 2017
The AB Verdict : You’ve made some good points.
All this might have been true twenty years ago but not today with the kind of exposure everyone has – when the boy from Chennai AND the boy from Chandigarh are watching the same episodes of Breaking Bad.
When a film like Vikram Vedha doesnt think twice about respecting the intelligence of its audience its too bad that the other V for Vivegam got it all wrong.
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brangan
August 26, 2017
sravishanker1401gmailcom: I don’t even think we should be comparing Vivegam to Vikram Vedha, which is not exactly a “mass” movie. That’s truer to a genre. What some of us are saying is that Vivegam isn’t a Dhil or a Dhool…
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Madan
August 26, 2017
brangan: I mean interesting in the sense of offering something to think about, something that is unusual or unexpected with respect to going trends in cinema. I don’t think Speed is that for me but it handles the premise well enough that it is still edge of the seat stuff.
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Madan
August 26, 2017
You mentioned Dhool. So again there is nothing very novel about Dhool as such but something about the performances exudes a freshness that makes it worth its running length. To be fair, maybe there were other aspects that hooked me apart from the performances but it feels like a long time ago and I am not able to get more specific.
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Madan
August 26, 2017
Sorry to split it into three comments as I try to articulate my thoughts, but when I say interesting, I don’t mean only granular details that may differentiate a well made action film from a dull one (which is not to say those details aren’t important). When I saw interesting, I mean films that experiment with form (if that is the correct word). Films like Network, Groundhog Day, even War of the Roses I would say. So I was trying to say that a film doesn’t have to be a masterpiece or win extraordinary critical acclaim. Merely that it is reasonably fresh and well made is enough. I would call Disclosure a well made film but not an interesting one to give another example.
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jaga_jaga
August 26, 2017
@pato – Thanks a lot man! I sincerely look forward to idam porul eval too.
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sravishanker1401gmailcom
August 26, 2017
BR : Agreed. I picked on Vikram Vedha just to highlight the journey we’ve traveled from explaining everything to the audience to allowing the audience to make their own conclusions.
In these times its reasonable to expect that there be some method to the ‘mass’.
Close to 20 years ago there was a movie called Singara Velan which kept winking at the audience everytime a masala gimmick was deployed.
Why not now ?
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Honest Raj (formerly 'V'enkatesh)
August 26, 2017
sravishanker: “All this might have been true twenty years ago but not today with the kind of exposure everyone has …”
The older films at least had good actors, songs, action scenes, et al. When Thalaivaa/Raja Rani are being regarded as today’s equivalents of Nayagan/MR, it pretty much gives an idea about the state of “serious” films in the industry.
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sravishanker1401gmailcom
August 26, 2017
Honest Raj (formerly ‘V’enkatesh) : I think memory dulls the sharp edges quite a bit. If you mean the older films had more well rounded and larger than life personalities – yes – thats correct – but then they had time to experience life, make their mistakes and move on.
There was time to stand and stare and times were simpler.
In all fairness today’s generation doesnt get much time either on screen, off screen or in the workplace – they’re judged in a jiffy and thats scary.
Honestly do you think you’d have the patience to watch a Varumaiyin Niram Sigappu today (entertaining though it was then) ?
The reaction would be “Why the hell doesnt he register with Naukri.com or monsterdoubtcom ?”
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Deepak
August 26, 2017
Looking at how blue sattai is getting harassed by ppl who call themselves fans, I’m really perturbed .These so called fans want to coerce their opinion on to u. Thank god baddy, your writing is very refined for the fans to understand else I think your state also would be a nightmare like blue sattai
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vishal yogin
August 26, 2017
“is just a collection of “moments,” woven around a series of action scenes.”
That’s what I felt when watching Dunkirk. Except I guess because Dunkirk was real, one is supposed to like it ? I didn’t.
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Deepak
August 26, 2017
Loved your writing by the way. You take it upon you to educate your audience on cinema in addition to the review.
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rana
August 27, 2017
@BR could you please write a review on the new telugu movie arjun reddy . Intrigued to know what you opinion of the movie is ?
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Madan
August 27, 2017
@sravishanker140: Imagine trying to make Mausam today. You would not be able to because he would have simply obtained Sharmila’s mobile no. and kept in touch instead of drifting completely out of her life for decades. The convenience of technology has killed the romance of happenstance that filmmakers could once concoct entire epics out of.
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Madan
August 27, 2017
At the time of its release, Dhadkan was praised for being ‘different’. By jove, that film is simply unwatchable today and that song unbearable (just try watching the film with the song or its main refrain repeating a zillion times in the BGM). And Anna’s acting in the climax….yappa, worthy of several FB memes!
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Vidhya M
August 27, 2017
Dhil dhool released in 2001/03. I’ve been thinking about the proper mas(s)ala movies after these two.
I could think of these films (no rom/coms – but masala films/star vehicles only):
Polladhavan, Viswaroopam, Enthiran, Anniyan, Pokkiri, Ghajini, Billa, Sandakozhi, Varuthapadadh V.Sangam, Thani Oruvan, Ayan, Sethupathi…
and none if these seem to me to be on par with the SP Muthuraman / Rajasekar brand of movies of the 80s / early 90s.
Movies like Kakki Sattai, Murattukaalai, Manithan, Aboorva Sago, Guru Sishyan, Thoongathe Thambi Thoongathe, Captain Prabakaran, Walter Vetrivel, Agni Natchathram, Kizhakku Vasal, Uruthi Mozhi, Jeeva, Vetrivizha Vellai Roja – would never have a dull moment in their running course of 2.5 hrs. Comedy, songs, action everything would be organic to the main thread and memorable for years.
The formula looks very simple for a masala padam – yet, none of the present gen Directors is able to crack it.
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sravishanker1401gmailcom
August 27, 2017
Vidhya M : Maybe we again need to go back to Honest Raj’s comment.
Where are the actors / personalities ?
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brangan
August 27, 2017
I have a theory. Would like to hear others’ thoughts on this.
The masala hero can be divided into two eras: before and after Rajini started using his roles to “talk to the audience”, circa the time he began to hint at political ambitions.
Before this era, it was more about the “story” — even if we’re talking something silly like a Kakki Sattai. A silly film if there was ever one, but it treated its story as a proper “story” and not as a clothesline on which to hang “hero” moments. Plus, the actors looked like they were having fun. Kamal and Sathyaraj seem to be enjoying themselves, and this rubs off on the audience.
Around Baassha (correct me if I am wrong), things begin to change. Annamalai was still a very normal masala — it could have been made in the MGR era. It’s an enjoyable star vehicle. But Baassha kinda redefines what a “mass movie” is. The lines are no longer just fun lines — they become more portentous, more serious, like a direct conversation with the audience.
And thereon, the mass hero is expected to not just stick to a story, but do this fourth-wall breaking. So while we do get the occasional light, fun masala like Thuppakki, most of these films are burdened by “seriousness,” the need to position the hero as a demigod. And the hero rarely seems to be having fun, and by extension, the audience doesn’t end up having much fun either.
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Madan Mohan
August 27, 2017
“Movies like Kakki Sattai, Murattukaalai, Manithan, Aboorva Sago, Guru Sishyan, Thoongathe Thambi Thoongathe, Captain Prabakaran, Walter Vetrivel, Agni Natchathram, Kizhakku Vasal, Uruthi Mozhi, Jeeva, Vetrivizha Vellai Roja – would never have a dull moment in their running course of 2.5 hrs. ” – Some of these films – Vellai Roja especially – haven’t aged well. I notice that in Tamil (just like in Hindi) it’s the irony/comedy films that have gained a cult following probably because they winked at the excesses of the film world. I am sure the films worked big time for the audience of their time but if we watched them now, we would see through the plot in a jiffy and start yawning along. We have become harder to please because we don’t want the usual masala must haves and also reject dramatic excess in acting (paavam, no work for nadaswaram/shehnai players). This has had the perverse effect of whipping up even more superstar frenzy and overloading violence in Ajith/Vijay films, especially Ajith films, to sustain the interest of the audience for 3 hours. Kind of like WWE. You could easily swap a bunch of episodes of WWE with Vedhalam, same difference. Not much of a plot but plenty of action and noise. Essentially, what we still identify as masala films have changed into something more primal to fulfill a different need of cinemagoers which doesn’t quite fit into conventional definitions of entertainment.
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Madan
August 27, 2017
“it could have been made in the MGR era. It’s an enjoyable star vehicle. But Baassha kinda redefines what a “mass movie” is. The lines are no longer just fun lines — they become more portentous, more serious, like a direct conversation with the audience.” – In another thread, I had used Rajni’s ‘mass’ dialogue scenes (Intha Naal from Annamalai and the board exam or something one from Baasha) to contrast the difference in just his acting style. Annamalai was very much in the Sivaji-like dramatic delivery mould while Baasha was kinda AB like, slightly hoarse, monotonic and abrasive. But the character did not present you with the moral dilemmas that AB found himself grappling with in Deewar, so it was a new chapter in masala films. I think Baasha has been more influential than the subsequent Arunachalam/Padayappa which I feel were a little lighter than Baasha. Baasha’s kind of grimy, urban underbelly appeal probably created the template for the Vijay/Ajith action films to follow in the noughties. To make it more ‘realistic’, Ajith, at least in Vedhalam, dispensed with the need to even be a hero and was instead a bad guy with one soft corner, one noble cause by whatever name called.
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lowlylaureate
August 27, 2017
Hi BR and all, we never ever give up and so we put FRS for this muvvie! Thanks
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sravishanker1401gmailcom
August 27, 2017
Madan Mohan : Superb comment !
“We have become harder to please” Thats exactly it and ofcourse thats a byproduct of the internet age.
Similar to Mysskin’s comment on the cinematography in the movies. “If its noticed then where’s the director ?”
Same reason. WE HAVE changed and we’ve become visually much more sophisticated and …………………….we read BR’s Blog 🙂
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sravishanker1401gmailcom
August 27, 2017
BR : Enjoyed reading your “theory” but beg to differ on the actors “enjoying” themselves part.
An actor enjoys himself at his own peril. One razor thin line beyond enjoyment can degenerate into lack of enthusiasm or boredom with the material.
The movie “Thamizh Padam” is a case in point. It had some great gags but the actors enjoyed themselves tooo much to the detriment of the film’ s performance at the box office.
In ‘Kaaki Sattai’ the players knew when to get serious and when ti let go …but juusssst enough.
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sravishanker1401gmailcom
August 27, 2017
Lowly Laureate : That was awfully funny. It was more racy than Vivegam for sure 🙂
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Honest Raj (formerly 'V'enkatesh)
August 27, 2017
sravishanker1401: Honestly do you think you’d have the patience to watch a Varumaiyin Niram Sigappu today (entertaining though it was then) ?
The reaction would be “Why the hell doesnt he register with Naukri.com or monsterdoubtcom ?”
Not long ago, you had a VIP. Considering that we’re living in the era of “Digital India”, it should be more difficult to remake a Kathal Kottai. 🙂
Rajini wasn’t the first actor of his era to “talk to the audience”. Sure, his pre-Baassha outings had dialogues laced with political punches. For instance, Maappillai had a scene where he subtly reminds us that he’s the “Raja of Tamil Nadu” but the film had a “proper story”. But consider this song from Ezhai Jaathi – it outranked anything did by Rajini onscreen up to that point:
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brangan
August 27, 2017
I’m not saying Rajini was the first. A ton of MGR songs speak to the audience. I’m just wondering if that point (around Baashaa) changed things…
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Pavan
August 27, 2017
brangan: “The lines are no longer just fun lines — they become more portentous, more serious, like a direct conversation with the audience. And thereon, the mass hero is expected to not just stick to a story, but do this fourth-wall breaking.”
Irrespective of the era of films, anything what a film communicates is a director’s choice. Even if it might be a conversation between the star and the fans, it is always the director’s urge to cash in on the audience’s masturbation prowess (I mean it). For example, let’s take Padayappa and Khaidi No. 150. Both are separated by 17-18 years, produced by people close to the star, and are the respective “mass hero”es’ 150th films. But, they might have been legitimate dramas if the directors didn’t want them to be an ode to the stars and a “gift” to the audience. Having said that, a not-for-mass film like Andha Naal too needed the audience support in this way by making them root for the widow in the end, It was no longer a murder mystery; it was like a message by the makers to the audience like “Kill even your own ones if they are against thy motherland”. In short, they communicated with the audience, trying to manipulate them.
Now, let’s take another example: Ram Gopal Varma’s Shiva. It had everything what a usual mass hero’s film consisted of. Even a cheesy cycle chain scene. But see the difference. Using Shiva’s face, Varma sold the story just like any other mass film. But, he treated Shiva as a pawn in a power game of mafia and student politics, which was the film’s actual point. In short, the director chose the hero to service the film’s script which when executed would back the hero to the level he actually deserved. One can even consider Velaiilla Pattathari as well. Its a film where the star and actor get equal chance, exist together, and have situations which make them service the script and earn the return for it. Recollect VIP II, and you might get a clarity of why I chose to talk about the prequel in this case.
Annamalai was still a very normal masala — it could have been made in the MGR era.
Really. Whenever I am reminded of this film, I would be like “KB would have tried to convince MGR and Sivaji in the B&W era, they might have found it similar to the dozens of films they did, doing, and are going to do. Now, KB revived it, met Rajinikanth, he agreed and did this. If Annamalai was political, Muthu (also produced by KB) was even more political.” It also makes me think, if KB finding him an efficient crowd puller of the masses might be a reason for this apparent encouragement to harbour political aspirations. As I said before, cinema is a director’s medium. It indeed is!
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Arun
August 27, 2017
I am not sure if Baasha marked a period from where the fourth wall being broken with ‘seriousness’ became hardwired into mass movies, but if it did, it is because it’s probably the most important mass movie in the past 20-25 years. It has sired a ton of wannabes, and I think it’s only natural that directors and mass heroes have sought to replicate its most defining attributes. Baasha has probably inspired Theri, Vedalam, Vettaikaran, Thiruppatchi, Bagavathi, Jana, Velayudham, Citizen, Thalaivaa and Aarambam.
I say this as a huge Ajith fan. I love the man and will watch any movie he does on Day 1, but someone has to tell him he should move on from Siva. It worked well twice, and didn’t quite the third time around.
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"Original" venkatesh
August 27, 2017
BR : Interesting theory : “The masala hero can be divided into two eras: before and after Rajini started using his roles to “talk to the audience”, circa the time he began to hint at political ambitions.”
However, i dont really agree with it primarily due to MGR films. MGR and the DMK in their prime consistently spoke directly to their audience. A whole host of movies have direct political messaging that are more important than the actual story-line itself.
Re : Baasha, it is important in other ways , especially the “Enakkae innoru paeru irukku” . The hiding in plain sight hero who has a second face, the stylish flourishes, the 1000 damn cars opening/closing in unison etc. etc. Other than that its not really that important a film.
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lowlylaureate
August 28, 2017
Nandri Hai!
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Rahini David
August 28, 2017
Just dropped in to say that it was a delightful discussion from those who discussed regarding combat.
Plus does every single actor in an Ajith film have to look like they are going to orgasm simply from being in his immediate vicinity? GEEZ!
I know, right? I have been feeling this even in older Ajith movies too but now they seem to have taken it to new highs.
http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/how-do-tamils-accept-ajith-hero-kamaal-r-khans-tweet-unites-angry-vijay-ajith-fans-67404
I don’t know this Kamaal dude from Adam but I have to say he has a point. I am not saying that older men should not be heroes but the way people claim that Ajith is exceptionally handsome and charismatic is quite baffling.
Reminds me of this: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InformedAttractiveness
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Rahini David
August 28, 2017
First line of my previous comment should have gone to another thread. Sorry.
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Naveen
August 28, 2017
the movie met the expectations on it. a pure ‘strictly for fans only’ movie which other stars do as well. copy and past comments from many of the older movies and it will fit this movie.
IMO, initially Ajit got acceptance due to his good looks and later got hijacked by some stupid directors who managed to con him to do their films and made a mess of him. i think he accepts to do films on personal equations than the merit of the scripts or material.
he could be a very fine actor, if he only he realizes what has been done to him. he has already become a balakrishna + vijayakant without even a handful of tolerable films. somebody please save him
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MANK
August 28, 2017
The masala hero can be divided into two eras: before and after Rajini started using his roles to “talk to the audience”, circa the time he began to hint at political ambitions.
Brangan, in my view, whether its the ‘Action Hero’ in western cinema or the ‘Masala hero’ in Indian cinema ,evolved over 3 stages and they are rather inter related.
In the west , first it was the really uncomplicated , simplistic,morally strong swashbuckling hero – can be called the old fashioned Action Hero- as epitomised by the likes of Douglas Fairbanks, Errol Flynn etc who played everyone from Robinhood to Zorro. the old MGR films were very much influenced by them
Then came the more morally compromised, psychologically complicated heroes – the modern action hero- of Bogart, Cagney or Stewart. The Sam Spades,Philip Marlowes and Ethan Edwards’ are all valiant heroes , but there is a definite psychology that is driving their actions and they are not all that nice
The third stage is the action Hero as a Style statement – The post modern action hero – which actually began in Europe, first with the James Bond films, but most importantly with the Sergio leone Westerns with the ‘Man with no name’ character. the heroes where hardly defined by any inner psychology, but just by their attitude, style, the way they dress, speak, the punchlines.So it was more about Connery’s exquisite suits, the martinis and walter PPKs,the one liners, the gadgets along with Eastwood’s Mexican Poncho, the half lit Cigar, the Hat that defines the character in public conscious.
Since then, all three versions of the action hero has coexisted in western cinema .And the nature of the action hero has defined the nature of the action film. so in the first 2 cases the hero characters are there to serve the story and their actions are driven by the narrative. in the third case , the narrative is there in the service of the Hero. his presence , his actions define the narrative . scenes and shots are designed specifically to beef up his screen presence
Coming to the indian context, I think the first instance of a solid contemporary masala hero is Bachchan’s Vijay in Zanjeer. Those series of Salim Javed scripted characters laying the foundation stone for the serious masala template that will be appropriated by almost all the major film industries in the country. this is more closer to the modern action heroes of the west. the actions of the hero being driven by his inner demons , his environment.etc.
The second stage came pretty quickly enough with Bachchan as Anthony in Amar Akbar Anthony, where desai removed the psychological undertones and made the masala hero more on the surface , more of a caricature.This version of the masala hero is what has endured the most and has been in vague especially in the tamil and telugu
Baasha is the third stage of this evolution and very close to the post modern action hero – hero as a style statement with lot of meta overtones.. where heroes’ mannerisms , dressing style, the punchlines all begin to stand out from the narrative and harken back to his real life self than the actual character in the film.. this was not the first time it happened. Bachchan was there before him with Shahenshah – may be even earlier with Coolie, it was really Coolie, sharaabi, mard building to Shahenshah- and it was undeniably a great influence on Baasha. the different voice , the different appearance for the the ‘second ‘ character an one punchline defining his whole character – Rishte main hum tumhare bap hote hain to Njan oru tadave sonna -Bachchcan did not pursue this much further , eventhough he would go on to play similar – ordinary hero\superhero alter ego characters in Toofan, Jaadugar and Ajooba, his major successes of the time would come in more conventional masala narratives like Aaj ka Arjun,Hum and Khuda gawah.his fourth wall breaking exercise will come almost a decade later and this time not on the big screen , but on TV with KBC. which would lead to a career resurgence and career renaissance as a solid character actor because he did not pursue that big screen image any further.
coming back to Rajini , i think Padayappa is the real meta masala or post masala movie that set the template for the current Vijay , Ajith movies.Baasha still had a ‘Story’ and a a strong narrative. Padayappa is just a sum total of Rajni’s gesticulations and punchlines, where every scene , every shot is carefully designed to pump up the superstar’s screen presence.
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MANK
August 28, 2017
BTW, watch these pre climax portions from A fistfull of Dollars -the first of the Leone westerns and the film that established hero as a style statement- and Padayappa. they are very similair in their aesthetic , in how the hero character is built up,just prior to the climax fight. he is transformed from human to divine, clint emerging out of dust after a dynamite explosion , or the sweeping crane shot that establishes Rajni as the lord of the crowd. they are carefully designed only to beef up the actor’s screen presence rather than for any solid narrative purpose.
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Uncouth Village Youth
August 28, 2017
Saw the movie. The movie lags and required some patience to get through – considering that I sat through Red, I was up for it though. The sole reason for Ajith’s existence in Kollywood, is for fans to channel their Vijay hate . This can be ascertained from the fact that Ajith was donning secondary roles to Simran around the turn of the century 😛 .What changed suddenly? Vijay haters who were searching for a credible alternate to rally around,elevated Ajith to Thala, post Amarkalam and Dheena. Otherwise someone like Ajith(who’s acting ,dancing,fighting skills are questionable) getting a mass opening like this,is unthinkable.
There are a number of reasons for the proliferation of the mass hero-mass films.A less explored aspect is the economic reasons behind this. Vijay Ajith,Surya and even Siva have copied Rajini in 1 film/year a little too quickly.I doubt,at this rate Siva will even get to 50 movies. Rajini and Kamal had both done well over 100 movies,at this point of their career – older people tell me of weekends where multiple Rajini movies released simultaneously. This is no longer possible, now that entertainment options have exploded. Hence, you simply cannot go wrong with your only film in a whole year- they have to be public funded ego trips.The trick is to put a lot of stuff to pander to the base and add enough senti,dance and comedy to pull in a fraction of the general public. This business model works largely due to next factor.
I think a tipping point came at the epic Deepavali tussle of 1991. 9 films, all starring major heroes were released. The other movies, along with Guna were completely humiliated at the BO. Bramma held its own I guess. I think the film industry burnt its fingers and that is exactly when timing/spacing the releases gained importance. Solo releases started becoming the norm even on big weekends. We did get Pandiyan vs TM,Kuruthipunal Vs Muthu but they reinforced the lessons learnt that only one hero can do well in a given weekend. Later movies like Nattamai and Surya Vamsam raked in the moolah with this strategy.When you carpet bomb all the theaters, the public are pretty much being bullied into watching the only movie in town. A smaller portion of a much larger pie is almost always larger than a bigger portion of a smaller pie.
Rajini’s stardom slowly(as per my unscientific classification) started seeing an upward arc from Rajathi Raja, receiving a major bump around Thalapathi and a hockey stick curve post Baasha. What many forget is that Rajnii fronted many fun, light movies(that BR refers) in between each of these phases : Raja Chinna Roja, Athisaya Piravi,Manithan,Siva post RR. Annamalai, Veera,Pandian,Mannan post Thalapathi. Hell even after Baasha, he did janaranjaha movies like Muthu and Arunachalam .Most of the stars who came in just as this was playing out(here my cutoff is – Naalaya Theerpu), now aim straight for the hockey stick, deeming the other phases irrelevant. And here we are wondering why every movie is a Baasha wannabe.
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Anuja Chandramouli
August 28, 2017
“I know, right? I have been feeling this even in older Ajith movies too but now they seem to have taken it to new highs.”
Rahini I noticed this way back in Dhina, where the camera kept zooming in for extreme close – ups of Ajith’s mug during the song and action sequences. When I commented on it, the rabid Ajith fans in my family informed me that it was because he is such an ‘Aan azhagan’ and his face is so flawless he does not even need makeup… (Apparently the cast and crew had given interviews on this very aspect.)
I found it particularly annoying in Yennai Arindhaal as well when Anoushka’s character who seemed otherwise sane and smart drooled all over him gushing that his mum was not lying when she claimed he was the most beautiful thing in the world which made me go Ewwww…. I am sure it will be better for Ajith’s career if the people who work with him keep it professional instead of going overboard with the fanboy thing.
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Srinivas R
August 28, 2017
Every Ajith movie is an attempt to surpass Gaptun’s Narasimiha, but that’s a tough benchmark to break. Off late Vijay movies are doing a better job of this “conversation with fans” within a plausible story. Even Bhairava, a totally useless movie, the focus was on the story ( laughable as it was), the image building exercise was secondary to story, all Ajith movies off late are meant only for people who can orgasm at mention of his name.
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sravishanker1401gmailcom
August 28, 2017
Ah ! MANK finally checks in
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Srinivas R
August 28, 2017
@Naveen – you are giving Ajith a free pass or at least, that’s how it comes across. He is smart enough to know what he is doing, he doesn’t care about his filmography and such things, cash is king, he will milk the formula till the time there are enough stupid people to buy it
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NA NA
August 28, 2017
Understood very early that Ajith and Vijay movies are made for their fans and expecting meaningful film from either of them is an exercise in futility. GVM and ARM made the best out of whatever they could. YA and Thuppakki had the perfect balance which eventually reflected in those 2 movies. Better directors who can make a perfect blend of class and mass are in serious short supply,
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MANK
August 28, 2017
Ravi Saar 🙂
he could be a very fine actor, if he only he realizes what has been done to him. he has already become a balakrishna + vijayakant without even a handful of tolerable films. somebody please save him
i seriously doubt that. Ajith has very limited skills as a performer. if you have any doubts, watch his films like Villain,Citizen etc etc where his attempts to be a Kamal wannabe ends in utter disaster.
As we have discussed before, Ajith’s stardom is an unexplained phenomenon. his dialogue delivery is weak. – His anglicised tamil is a pain on the ears-. he has no special fighting or dancing skills like Vijay, Vijay has a unique style of his own which may not be to everybody’s tastes , but still he has a star signature. Ajith has absolutely nothing like that . only thing one could say is that he is conventionally good looking, which with age has completely withered. The last resort to justify his stardom is to say that he is a good human being and which i have come to realise is not far from truth.
I agree with both UVY and Srinivas. it seems that people have propped Ajith up to downplay Vijay. And he knows exactly what he is doing . he has completely given up any hope of being a serious actor . he just wants to ride on his current stardom as long as he can.
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Kid
August 28, 2017
MANK:I will reply to it in detail a little later, but what an astonishingly great comment Sir (one of your very best ones).. And it can only come from someone who has truly understood Masala cinema (and very few people do so…I have a sneaking suspicion that most who do either read or comment on this blog). Your comment pretty much says everything one can say on the topic. I will just say this- Masala cinema has found its right viewer and reader in you.
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KayKay
August 28, 2017
“Allow me to explain. Just because “Mission Impossible” is meant to be an “entertaining” film (as opposed to a “serious” film) and “Vivegam” is also meant to be an “entertaining” film, they are not automatically equal. There’s something called craft, which involves all elements from screenplay to cinematography to editing to performances. Even if you don’t know how to appreciate this craft (i.e. in technical lingo), it will worm its way into you and make you “feel” the film in a way a bad film won’t.
Many people seem to think that a “fun” movie means all these elements are disposable. Actually, no.
So forget all the technical stuff. Even if the three most important aspects of a film — writing, direction, editing — work, you have a pretty much watchable film. And really, that’s not too much to expect”
THIS. This should be printed out, laminated and preferably framed and hung someplace where every deluded apologist for shoddy film-making (that coincidentally happens to star their Man Crush) can see it.
I mean, I even have a sense of deja vu typing this. It’s like I can set my watch to this. Every year, some cinematic flotsam drops out of the Ajith/Vijay assembly line, as B would say, not so much films but a personal conversation between them and their rabid fans although I liken them to a form of insidious hypnotherapy. Where every time these stars come on screen they’re doing their own special “Mandrake Gestures Hypnotically” to their fans saying “This is a piece of crap. But you will like it. You will see it again. And Again. And again. And….”
And when those of us not swayed by this Jedi mind trick call out the film for the mindless drivel that it is, we get excoriated with these standard phrases taken out of mothballs, dusted off and paraded around for just such an occasion:
“It’s a masala flick. What do you expect?”
Duh! How about a modicum of inventiveness in the writing, a smidgen of creativity in it’s characterizations and a dollop of technical prowess in it’s filmic craft?
” Why don’t you appreciate the hard work that’s been put in?’
Funny, but these are the same clowns who’d probably call out Avatar for it’s lack of originality (reheated Dances With Wolves with blue cats). And you know what? They’d be right. If The King Of The World and the most expensive movie in the world with cutting edge effects that took 10 years to bring to the big screen doesn’t get a pass for generic writing, Siruthai Siva sure as hell doesn’t get one!
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Honest Raj (formerly 'V'enkatesh)
August 28, 2017
UVY: Interesting theory. A small correction: Manithan came before RR – it clashed with Nayagan.
Sure Vijay was the bigger star around the turn of the millennium, but I don’t think he went anywhere near what Ajith did with Dheena.
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shaviswa
August 28, 2017
I am surprised people even expect to see something sane and logical in an Ajit movie. After I saw Mangatha and Aarambam, I decided enough is enough. I dont want to waste my money and precious time on his films.
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Prasanna
August 29, 2017
I have not yet watched the movie, have to wait for Tentkotta. But quite disturbed with what some “fans take on reviewers” video on YouTube. I don’t agree with reviewers all the time, Kabali worked for me, it didn’t for my favourite reviewer. But the fan army wants you to say it’s good even though you feel otherwise. This has been same for many other star actors, directors, music directors etc.
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hari
August 29, 2017
UVY even I was not sure why Ajit gets such good publicity. A friend of mine who is well versed with film industry said that Ajith (or his fans) runs few “film” based websites, which publishes few “good” posts related to him at the bottom of the site, which people inadvertently consume. Also his image of “good” human being who does not have any fan clubs, doesn’t attend film shows, doesn’t give interviews etc etc has given him such a reputation, methinks.
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brangan
August 29, 2017
MANK: What a delightful comment. Just to add a bit (by coincidence, I am working on something on these lines), the noir-cinema protagonist is in a sense the ur-masala hero, the prototype. Obviously not in the “I will destroy 20 men single-handedly” sense, but in the sense of “I am too cool, and every line I say is a punch line sense.”
Just sample these:
The Bogart character from Key Largo:
“When your head says one thing and your whole life says another, your head always loses.”
From The Maltese Falcon:
Wilmer Cook: “Keep on riding me and they’re going to be picking iron out of your liver.”
Sam Spade: “The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.”
You can draw a straight line from Bogart in these films to Salim-Javed’s Bachchan.
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Ravi K
August 29, 2017
KayKay, I also hate that “hard work” argument. It’s such a cop-out, and practically an admission that the film one is defending is terrible. EVERY film is made with hard work, good or bad. Every film is made with long days, people moving and setting up equipment, building sets, etc. That’s not a reason to appreciate a film.
On another note, I’m fascinated/horrified by the rabid fans of actors like Ajith and Vijay. The ones putting decals on their bikes, putting up posters with the faces of the fan club members, making cakes when the trailers and teasers for their films are released. I can understand teenagers acting like this, but not men in their 20s or older!
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Uncouth Village Youth
August 29, 2017
Honest Raj – thanks for the correction-was tallying the movies with my school years. Yes, Manithan did indeed clash with Nayakan.
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brangan
August 29, 2017
Ravi K: The things you mention — decals on bikes, etc. — are so last century. Death and rape threats are the latest. see this:
http://charuonline.com/blog/?p=6155
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MANK
August 29, 2017
Brangan & Kid Thanks , i will look forward to your upcoming piece and response.
KayKay, its like how every costar calls Katrina Kaif a hard working actress, because they have nothing else to say about her 🙂
And regarding Ajith fans, see what they have gone and done, seriously, pouring milk on the screen 🙂
http://www.catchnews.com/regional-cinema/vivegam-celebration-of-thala-ajith-starrer-gone-out-of-hand-after-fans-poured-milk-on-theater-screen-during-actor-s-introduction-scene-79139.html
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Honest Raj (formerly 'V'enkatesh)
August 29, 2017
More than the rabid fanboy culture, I’m worried about the surge of Tamil sub-nationalism (especially Vijay’s and Dhanush’s films). “Aala poran Thamizhan” is vintage jingoism.
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shaviswa
August 29, 2017
I have never had a high opinion on Charu Nivedita’s works. I find him highly opinionated and ill-informed about whatever he writes. But that does not mean that he should be the target of such vile attacks.
Tamilnadu is becoming a state of the intolerant. Be it politics, cinema, culture, language…..you see people immediately protesting and hyperventilating for the most trivial issues. Such caustic attacks due to poor reviews….
I am reminded of the scene in Balaji Mohan’s series on Hotstar. That was a hilarious take on a pretty serious issue. This needs to stop ASAP.
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Kay
August 29, 2017
“I found it particularly annoying in Yennai Arindhaal as well when Anoushka’s character who seemed otherwise sane and smart drooled all over him gushing that his mum was not lying when she claimed he was the most beautiful thing in the world which made me go Ewwww…. ”
That was a ewww, double ugh and barf moment, all rolled into one. How could a movie have two totally different ways of the characters expressing their interest in the other person? In contrast, I loved the scenes involving Ajith and Trisha.
Considering how Ajith is off the screen – media-shy, no straightforward, decent guy – which I think is partly the reason for his huge fan following, I wonder how he agrees to such obsequious dialogues in his movies.
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Naveen
August 29, 2017
thankfully God’s Own Country is sending its best talent to Kollywood. waiting for original Tamil work of Nivin Pauly, Dulquer, Fahad Fazil et al. add them with Vijay Sethu and that is the only ray of hope for Tamil film audience to escape from the super heroes’ torture
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Raju
August 29, 2017
Mank: In my opinion, Ajith’s good looks and his “good human being” tag need not be last resorts to justify his stardom. Stardom in tamilnadu, at least so far, comes primarily from these two factors. Other factors come into the picture only when these two factors are not so pronounced. And i don’t think Ajith ever even considered being a serious actor to begin with, for him to completely give up at some point. In his own words, his passion is racing, not acting per se. Acting just seems to have happened for him.
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Ragenikanth
August 29, 2017
naveen, it’s unfair to judge tamil cinema based on ajith & vijay movies, their has been lot of good & decent movies this year, it’s same everywhere you get only a handful of good movies be it any language and most of the star movies be it in kannada, telegu, tamil & malayalam it’s same or even worse.
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Ragenikanth
August 29, 2017
More than the rabid fanboy culture, I’m worried about the surge of Tamil sub-nationalism (especially Vijay’s and Dhanush’s films). “Aala poran Thamizhan” is vintage jingoism
i think in tamil cinema it’s not that big, you will shocked there are so many songs in kannada which does this and it was filmed by superstar from late rajakumar to current generation sings onl
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Srinivas R
August 29, 2017
I have heard this “Ajith is a very nice human being” speil a lot and have interacted with two auto drivers who shared the personal story of how Ajith helped them financially, but I can’t help but feel it’s part of a deliberate propaganda. Anyway, since he is such a nice guy and so straight forward, the right thing would be to tell him on the face that his movies suck and his fans are a pain in the wrong place
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Aadhy
August 29, 2017
Please delete the previous comment, BR. Errors abound.
when she claimed he was the most beautiful thing in the world which made me go Ewwww…”
We have to reproduce the same dialogue to feel the effect of what might be one of the milestones in the most pukeworthy moments of Tamil cinema. “Ipdi azhagaite pona epdi ?”
Finding an actor attractive can be totally a personal thing and I might be completely wrong on this, but I have a mild suspicion that Tamil cinema’s obsession with Ajith’s looks has something to do with its obsession towards white skin. There is no other hero who’s adored in Tamil cinema so much, or let’s say spoken about so much predominantly in the context of looks, excluding all the ‘self-made, hardworker’ persona that’s been associated with him.
And it’s also amusing that ‘hardworking’ has purely come to denote physical transformation in Tamil cinema, aka sweating out at the gym, losing a few kilos, contorting eyes, shaving off chest hair, going limp for a month. What about an actor’s primary job, which is to ACT? Both Vijay and Ajith being pathetic actors, why not take a few workshops, or a course/training under some acting coach like Guru Somasundaram in Jigarthanda? What about doing some research, traveling, reading a few books, picking better scripts that don’t treat the audience like fools? and then undergoing physical transformation if there really is a need, or in other words, taking real pains to give us better cinema, or in commercial terms, atleast a better product. That’s what I’d like to call hardwork. The rest are all gimmicks.
And gimmicks will be responded with gimmicky reviews, like the blue shirt’s one. Take it or leave. What’s with asking him to stop reviewing or dictating terms on how a piece of critique should be done? It’s appalling that even some filmmakers are going all out to stop his reviews, the very people who turn champions of FOE when it comes to dealing with the censor board. Hypocrisy much?
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hari
August 29, 2017
Aadhy neenga rombha edhir paarkireenga. Atleast for Ajith transformations means going to gym, for Vijay it is just changing hair style rest all is same for him.
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MANK
August 29, 2017
Raju, i think there was a period where he tried to do different films , from about the time of vaali,may be he was trying to distinguish himself from the more conventional stuff that vijay was doing . But yeah , after that brief period ,he just stopped caring
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Honest Raj (formerly 'V'enkatesh)
August 29, 2017
Ragenikanth: Or a sudden surge. I can perfectly understand that people in Bangalore may have their reasons to do all this under the garb of Kannada activism, fearing that outsiders are usurping their land, but I don’t understand this phenomenon in TN.
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KayKay
August 29, 2017
Ravi K, thanks man!
“On another note, I’m fascinated/horrified by the rabid fans of actors like Ajith and Vijay”…that’s a phenomenon worth a socio-anthropological study all it’s own! I don’t get it!
I mean, I went through Stallone/Schwarzenegger phase in my early ’20s, with their oiled and muscled pectorals adorning my bedroom walls (prompting more than a few snide remarks about which “team” I was “batting” on, if you know what I mean) but even at the height of my fandom, I could differentiate the brilliance of Predator from dreck like Jingle All The Way, the addictive exuberance of Rambo 2 or Rocky 4(truly, 2 of the great “mass” movies of the ’80s) from the woeful Stop!Or My Mom Will Shoot.
But these Ajith/Vijay fans, man! Are their blinkers so effective they can’t tell a “Gilli” from a “Suraa” or a “Yennai Arindhal” from a “Vedhalam”?
MANK, I’m double face-palming at the glut of YouTube videos excoriating our “Blue Shirt” review uncle for his scathing review, including threats of bodily harm and property damage. I’m just thankful the only casualty so far has been a screen (face-palming again)
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GODZ
August 29, 2017
So should we recommend the same classes to Arnold, Stallone, vin, Dwayne etc? First of all, Ajith was never a successful actor. If there is one main stream actor, who has given more flops than any other actor, that would be Ajith. There were series of flops before Vaali, After Vaali and even after Varalaru. No body will have a huge fan following with an actor who consistently has given more flops. Its not he is a nice human being. Ajith is one of the most arrogant actors in the Industry. He has never given any direct interviews in recent past and even in the past most of his interviews were controversial. His white skin could have helped him initially. But then all his movies should be box office hits right? The reason for Ajith Stardom is he is an outsider. His fans see him as a guy who can never be knocked out. It’s the fighting spirit in him is one of the main reason for such a huge fan following. Whether you like it or not, you have to give to him. If any other Actor has given such number of flops, he could have been pretty much written off from the industry.
I do like Ajiths Performance in Varalaru. It’s one of his best. Yes, he tried miserably in Citizen but at least he tried to be THE Kamal and failed as Ajith which is fine.
As far as people who are complaining about the movie, The movie is not a pure trash(BR has given a 2-star rating, not a single star). You have to see Vijay and Ajith movies as something similar to Fast food. If you are an avid food lover, You will definitely see them as junk and trash. But then should we close All Fast food chains in the world. Still, its a business and there are certain people who love fast food, who don’t care about their health and want to instantly satisfy their taste buds in the cheapest possible way. So until those segments exist, these movies will continue to exists similar to those fast food chains. If you are an amid food lover and don’t like fast food, Please stay away.
And you cannot blame the Actors for that. At least they are smart enough to cater to their audience and earn some money.
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brangan
August 29, 2017
I’m a tad confused when people attribute Ajith’s popularity to his fair complexion. Hasn’t it been a tradition in the post-MGR era that a ‘mass’ hero is necessarily dark-skinned and one who “looks like one of the masses”, so to speak — in the sense that he doesn’t stick out?
KayKay: Not to worry. From earlier comments, people in this blog have no doubt about the team you bat for, or about the kind of videos you like to watch featuring members of said team. 😛
But what makes you wake up to comment only for these films?
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Raju
August 29, 2017
BR: According to me, it is not his fair complexion, but his overall good looks, that captured hearts. That said, I think there is still a craze for fair complexion among a section of tamil public, though it has reduced significantly since MGR.
Mank: I wonder if he cared even during his vaali days. He always struck me as a passionate racer even then.
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ragenikanth
August 29, 2017
We hv seen MGR,Shivaji,rajini kamal now it’s a curse we hv 2 jokers ajith/Vijay
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Aadhy
August 29, 2017
I think I’ve been misunderstood a bit. I didn’t say Ajith’s popularity is because of his white skin. What I said was, there is an unusual amount of talk with respect to Ajith’s looks which has not been the case with other actors. This talk is not just from his fans/admirers, but also referenced inside his movies like in the case of Yennai Arindhal.
” Hasn’t it been a tradition in the post-MGR era that a ‘mass’ hero is necessarily dark-skinned and one who “looks like one of the masses”, so to speak — in the sense that he doesn’t stick out?”
That’s why people attach with Ajith not just an image of mass, but also class. Well, it could also be due to his abstinence from media and other similar principles, but I still think the Tamil audience is a bit…let me put this in the correct way, racially insecure and that’s why we always had terms like “MGR coloru”. The same reason why we also have an affinity towards white-complexioned heroines. That’s why a lot of movies have this brown hero ‘winning’ over a white heroine kinda stories, almost in a way as if she’s a trophy. And with Ajith, I think he needn’t necessarily win over because that’s already a given for the audience. Moreover in Ajith’s movies it’s the women who swoon over him. While people associate themselves with mass heroes like Vijay, because he’s a man of the masses, it’s slightly different in Ajith’s case. He’s not exactly a man of masses rather a man the masses strive to be. Of course in songs like “Aaluma doluma” he tries to get people into believing he’s one of them. But the audience always see him as someone they would ‘want’ to be. The odes to his “thannambikkai” , hardwork, good-heartedness, dignity are examples of a certain behavior they wish to imbibe from him, bringing the ‘classy’ quotient to his image. Among these qualities, I assume skin color also has a part to play. This is of course no fault of his, rather just reflects the mentality of our audience.
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Jayram
August 29, 2017
@MANK/raju- I think he cared during Kandukondain Kandukondain. He seemed to be giving a genuine performance rather just being there.
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Honest Raj (formerly Venkatesh)
August 29, 2017
BR: I think the notion is largely a myth. Kamal, for the most part of his career, was a mass hero as well. Also, we had the likes of Sarathkumar, Vikram, Suriya (to an extent) and STR(?) Dhanush has to be the game changer.
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Vidhya M
August 29, 2017
I still remember this anecdote in the Lights On (film tid-bits) column of Kumudham sometime around 1994. Ajith had acted in Amaravathi but the movie was an average grosser with less mileage to the hero and more to its heroine (Sanghavi – for her other hero-propellor film Rasigan)
So Ajith had driven to Tirupati in his bike (an avid biker always) and while returning relaxed in the corridor of a random house. Apparently, the house owner hurled a bucket of saani-water (~cow-dung) at him and shoved him out. He mentioned this and said – there would be a day when everyone would recognise him here as a star.
Now in retrospect, we dont see this as a tall claim. But back then when even his name wasn’t known to many, he had the gall to give such an interview to (snooty, snarky, sarcastic) Kumudham. (Kumudham had infamously given the review for Rasigan Vijay as “indha moonjiyalam kaasu kuduthu paakanum nam thalai ezhuthu”. So generally Kumudham was known to pull the legs of most actors).
He had that spark and to this date that’s what’s probably keeping him going.
Looking back – he has had the most colorful journey among all actors (excluding Kamal). His first film’s director died while shooting, his link-ups with Swathi and Heera which filled pages in Tamil mags, his whirlwind romance with Shalini, his declaration to not give interviews – “Pessa Maaten” & not to read scripts as he trusted his directors, his role in Asoka with SRK when we were busy importing stars from Bollywood, his dismal flops, his emaciated look in Paramasivan – likened to Thayir Vadai Thesikan, his decision to focus on racing, Salt ‘n’ pepper looks liked to Clooney, his rant against the DMK govt etc… This doesnt seem to be carefully cultivated.
His good deeds, benevolence blah blah may be fan-generated but his amusing life-journey is to his credit.
(Not a fan. Never a fan. Most favourite movie of Ajith – Mugavari)
(Even in his second movie Aasai and next Kadhal Koattai – there were dialogues referring to his good looks. So blame it on Vasanth and Agathiyan)
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brangan
August 30, 2017
Honest Raj (formerly Venkatesh): I disagree there. I don’t think Kamal, for one, is/was a mass star. Even his monster hits like Thevar Magan — in the sense of films that worked big-time with the masses — are really ‘class’ films. His hardcore ‘mass’ (rather masala) film hits (SKV, TTT, Kakki Sattai) are all bunched in one phase, after which he changed tracks.
Among your other names, Sarathkumar and Vikram don’t have a sustained ‘mass’ career, and STR is too erratic.
So I think my point stands. Ajith is the first real mass star in the post-Rajini era who is also fair-complexioned. (And whose films keep mentioning this.)
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Raju
August 30, 2017
Jayaram: Giving a genuine performance is one thing. Caring is another. The former shows his sincerity towards his job. The latter is all about passion. Ajith lacks passion towards acting, not sincerity. Even in vivegam, i would say his performance was genuine, but his choice of script was uncaring.
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Rahini David
August 30, 2017
Has any mass hero in recent times gone on record asking that his fans not harass critics?
Can’t be too difficult, no? Just takes a twitter handle and a good choice of words. Why is this not done enough?
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shaviswa
August 30, 2017
@Rahini David – Vijay did that recently when his fans attacked journalist Dhanya
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Naveen
August 30, 2017
BR, any chance of an interview with thala? maybe you will get a chance with thalapathy before Mersal.
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Rakesh
August 30, 2017
There’s also another interesting aspect about Ajith, and people who have personally met him will vouch for it , gushing like an excited teenager, about this aura around him.
I personally met him in the summer of 2001, when he was shooting for Citizen , in a studio right next to my school. An entire neighborhood including a mosque was painstakingly recreated at this studio. Being an inquisitive bunch of 15-16 year olds, we sneaked in through the gates, and somehow managed to inch towards his caravan.
Ajith emerged wearing a neck brace, with a taqiyah , a black kurta and a lungi. I believe he was playing a muslim in that movie. There was this young urchin, who also sneaked inside , along with us, and who was so excited to see him in flesh and blood, that he ran as fast as he could and slammed into Ajith, with a major force, trying to wrap his arms around him.
I truly believed the kid was about to get a slap, but Ajith, after brusquely pushing away the kid, stooped down and said something to this effect, “Ennaku romba valikudhu ( pointing to his neck brace), thappa eduthakadhe pa, appadi ellam modha koodathu….” (Translation: “ Hey kid, it hurts real bad when you slam into me like that, look at this neck brace I am wearing, I did not mean to push you away like that…”
This is a true story, and I am not exaggerating at all, it got burned into my memory, that these movie stars were also normal people like us.
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MANK
August 30, 2017
Brangan, what about Sathyaraj , tall and fair and he was a mass hero right?, not on the scale of Rajni, but still.
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sravishanker1401gmailcom
August 30, 2017
Madan and other Mumbai folks :
Hope you’re all in a safe place.
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Madan
August 30, 2017
@sravishanker140: Yes, I am safe after quite a bit of an adventure. Had to stop over at a colleague’s place because there was no transport available up to my home (normally just a 20-30 min drive away). This colleague drove the four of us from Worli in central Mumbai to Airoli on the eastern outskirts…over four and half hours. And his car was minutes away from stalling as water began to seep inside on a waterlogged stretch of highway. Close shave, else we’d have been trudging along looking for some good samaritan to give us a ride to wherever. Today morning, the local trains on my line were working and I could get home. On my stretch, the trains were barely minutes late today. Surreal! A repeat of 26/7 though not quite as nightmarish; this waterlogging was ‘only’ bad enough to stall traffic, not to kill people.
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Prasanna
August 30, 2017
@MANK Sathyaraj was more of a THA(MASS) Hero
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Iswarya
August 30, 2017
Rahini: Vijay did it after Dhanya’s episode got very serious – to the point where she filed police complaints under non-bailable sections. Ajith also did it preemptively before the release of this film, going so far as issuing a lawyer’s statement that anyone misusing his name or picture to abuse anyone would be prosecuted. But then, rabid fandom in TN being the Frankenstein’s monster that it is, no easy way to actually impress upon these jobless dimwits that abuse is illegal.
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Srinivas R
August 30, 2017
I think all of us have entered into a silent pact with nature, you batter us for a week or two and take a few innocent lives in return for the abuse we put you through for the rest of the year. I am sure if Chennai sees rains similar to 2015, the nightmare would repeat itself
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sravishanker1401gmailcom
August 30, 2017
Madan : Thanks for checking in and glad to know you’re safe !
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hari
August 30, 2017
Srinivas and we are not going to do nothing about it.
Yes Vijay came in very very late. Was pretty sickening going over Dhanya’s timeline.
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brangan
August 30, 2017
What can one do when faced with this?
https://twitter.com/devarajdevaraj/status/900949850136625152
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Honest Raj (formerly Venkatesh)
August 30, 2017
BR: Whether we agree or not, Kamal is/was also a ‘mass hero’. Yes, I was referring to the SKV, TTT, KK period. In the post-MGR phase, you had Jaishankar and Ravichandran (of course, the definition of a ‘mass hero’ could’ve been different back then). For every Rajinikanth/Vijayakanth/Vishal you have a Kamal Haasan/Ajith/Arya! However, if we talk about ‘sustained’ career, you are right – Ajith has to be the first mass hero who’s had a prolonged career since MGR. But then, I don’t think he is successful because of his complexion. I pretty much subscribe to UVY’s theory.
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Honest Raj (formerly Venkatesh)
August 30, 2017
Vidhya M: Apparently, the house owner hurled a bucket of saani-water (~cow-dung) at him and shoved him out. He mentioned this and said – there would be a day when everyone would recognise him here as a star.
LOL. This seems straight out of a Vadivelu comedy. I’ve heard several such stories:
http://tamil.samayam.com/tamil-cinema/movie-news/actor-ajith-forgive-actress-meena-who-insult-him-in-award-function/articleshow/56977964.cms
Also, I don’t buy the ‘self-made man’/ ‘came up without any background’ argument. He hailed from a well-to-do family, and had close ties with SPB’s family right from childhood, which ultimately paved way for his film career.
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Rahini David
August 30, 2017
Honest Raj: That was an interesting link. The title implies Meena insulted him and the text says that her mother did. Also, it says that after Meena starred in a role with Ajith, her mother refused to allow her to dance with him on stage. That is weird to say the least.
Around that time, it was said that though Meena was somewhat younger than Ajith and Vijay, her starring with Rajini too early in her career made people see her as woman older than she actually was and that producers only wanted her to pair with Kamal, Prabhu, Sathyaraj, Sarath kumar etc. Maybe someone conflated that and wove a story around this.
Ajith wasn’t THAT small a hero and Meena THAT big a phenomenon in 1999 as I remember.
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Honest Raj (formerly Venkatesh)
August 30, 2017
Rahini David: You’re right and it’s quite obvious that the article was written by a hardcore fan. The incident is supposed to have taken place around the mid-90s (during the success meet of Naataamai, I think).
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Bharath Vijayakumar
August 30, 2017
“That was an interesting link. The title implies Meena insulted him and the text says that her mother did. Also, it says that after Meena starred in a role with Ajith, her mother refused to allow her to dance with him on stage. That is weird to say the least”
Rahini David: To add on it says he was being awarded the best new face award. How can someone bag such an award after being in the industry for 6 years!!!
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praneshp
August 30, 2017
@rahini: There is a fool called Gnani; I don’t know what he does but he shows up at award functions every now and then. According to him, Muthu was a hit because of Meena’s popularity, so at least one person (who people give a mic) thinks that Meena was THAT big a phenomenon.
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Gautham
August 30, 2017
BR: Thinking about it, Baasha’s probably a terrific demarcation line, with its legacy as a cultural totempole, where one’s required to have an opinion of it and the seemingly obvious option of not needing to possess an opinion is rendered not so obvious. The economics of later movies seem to be built around this assumption.
It is also an inflection point, I think, in terms of the fourth wall. Up until then, it was probably something that required ‘breaking’ but I assume most directors operate now on the assumption that it doesn’t exist. I remember reading/seeing Gautham Menon using Simbu’s ability to look into the camera and address the audience directly as an example of his acting prowess. In Annamalai, Rajinikanth and Janagaraj together portrayed Annamalai’s simultaneous anger and disbelief when being thrown out. I remember more than a few occasions in recent movies where a single actor alternates between emotions (Pudhupettai, for one?). In Anniyan, physical transformation due to DID was used akin to uploading work out videos on Instagram (before someone mentions Split, I think the usage there was metaphorical).
I understand why a moviemaker might follow such a path (less graft, greater reward). Its also understandable why others in the industry might partake in promoting a movie/actor.
What I don’t understand is why the audience keeps responding. Is the market really that inelastic/are identities that homogeneous ? The only explanation i can think of is that these “mass” actors have reached Trump-like proportions and the audience derives pleasure either through reflected glory or schadenfreude. Or that the movie world is the reality and we are all just a layer of meta-reality.
As for skin tone, I think its just a rough substitute or correlate (derived from the western world maybe ?) for economic status similar to language (Kamal’s Tamil and English). Ajith’s tough early life (real or PR spin) more than compensates for it, IMO.
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Gautham
August 31, 2017
Forgot to add, as an aside, have always wondered how someone like, say Polanski, would have fared in the Tamil industry with our ability to conflate personal life with an onscreen persona.
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Madan
August 31, 2017
“Ajith’s tough early life (real or PR spin) more than compensates for it, IMO.” – This is something I don’t really understand (so it must be something peculiar to the Tamil scene, maybe Telugu as well). Because references to Rajinikanth’s earlier job as a bus conductor are also often made. But Salman Khan is from a privileged background and so is Aamir Khan and that didn’t get in the way of their being superstars. I guess in Bollywood the charisma (real or perceived) of the star is more important than the back story of the actor. I have seen first hand how people, including my driver, rushed to get Sanjay Dutt’s autograph when he was walking out of the airport. The driver was a Bengali and his eyes got even rounder in excitement as he exclaimed, “Sonjoy Dott, Sonjoy Dott!” He must have thought I was crazy that I was so indifferent to the scene.
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Iswarya
August 31, 2017
Gautham: Sexual predators are seldom brought to book in India. Especially if they have influence and money. Cases like Dileep’s are extremely recent. So, if the Polanski equivalent had happened here (anytime before the last 3-5 years), it would have never come to the notice of the public. 😐
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Vidhya M
August 31, 2017
@HonestRaj : Lol 🙂 Yeah my comment does seem funny even to me, when I read it after my morning cuppa coffee. But for someone whose last Ajith movie was Mangatha and before that, Villain – it kinda surprised me why I chose to write that defensive comment?!
Perhaps that’s the kind of sway – man-made / natural that certain stars have on common people. (I was 13 when Amaravati released… So even a Kumudham could give me enlightenment then)
If you see the craze for this Bigg Boss sensation Oviya, it becomes clear that such phenomena keep happening from time-to-time. Whether the straightforward, cute, hot, amazing dancer Oviya is able to sustain this image (like Ajith did) is something for us to wait and watch!
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Ravi K
August 31, 2017
Madan wrote: “…references to Rajinikanth’s earlier job as a bus conductor are also often made. But Salman Khan is from a privileged background and so is Aamir Khan and that didn’t get in the way of their being superstars. I guess in Bollywood the charisma (real or perceived) of the star is more important than the back story of the actor.”
What about Vijay, Simbu, and Dhanush? They’re all sons of successful directors. Yet they, especially Vijay, enjoy a “man of the people” kind of image, which could not be further from the truth.
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NA NA
August 31, 2017
@Vidhya M, thanks for bringing Oviya phenomenon into picture, Over the last few weeks, many in my cousins and friends circle, my team at office, our house maid everyone was an Oviyan (how they call themselves). They laughed when she laughed, got upset when she cried, cursed her supposed tormentors. I was really puzzled how did she manage to do this ? And this across economic, social, educational strata. have seen Tamil Nadu build temple for Kushbhu before ? How to explain this ?
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billa
August 31, 2017
BR, did you watch Arjun Reddy? If the subtitled version is available please watch it. I haven’t been this desperate for a review from you. A movie of such proportions needs a review from someone like you.
P.S : Sorry, for asking this here, but couldn’t think of any other means to request you.
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Madan
August 31, 2017
“What about Vijay, Simbu, and Dhanush? They’re all sons of successful directors.” – Yes, I am aware of that. My point wasn’t that only guys with a humble backstory like Ajith become superstars in Tamil cinema. Rather, that the backstory is supposed to be a factor in making someone a superstar. In Bollywood, that an actor struggled before breaking through as a hero is not mentioned as a persuasive argument as to why he deserves our fandom, whereas this is an argument that seems to be trotted out a lot in Tamil cinema. I have heard people stress how humble Rajini is (based on the story of his argument with IR about remuneration, I am not sure how humble he is but moving on..) as if that is so important. Maybe it also ties in to the greater idol worship of superstars in TN, followed by their successful foray into politics. Bollywood actors have had much less success in politics and maybe part of that is because they are, for all their adulation, still only regarded as performers playing a part.
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Honest Raj (formerly Venkatesh)
August 31, 2017
Vidhya M: Whenever people bring up her name, I get reminded of Anbumani’s anguish. 😀
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Gautham
September 1, 2017
Madan: Haha, I never understood that sort of adulation myself. But, I think there are parallels between the Hindi and Tamil industries. Shah Rukh Khan and Roshan play up their early struggles often. Salman Khan and “Sonjoy Dott”, especially when they err, are portrayed as simpletons with a heart of gold. Aamir Khan, like Kamal, is probably admired rather owned and celebrated. The point you made about your driver led me to think about the common man in Chennai/TN. They seem wary, maybe even cynical, of celebrities. The lack of reflection at the box office, thus, is even more confounding. PS: Jennifer Lawrence’s popularity too, partly, could be attributed to similar sentiments
Iswarya: That sounded like a dark and grim twist straight out of a Polanski movie. You are probably right though, sadly, that that’s the most likely scenario. I was wondering, if he had been brought to trial hypothetically, would we have tried to sanitise and explain away the crime or would we have crucified his movies.
Developments around the Dileep case though have been heartening, irregardless of his guilt. The actress’ courage (I think it’s ridiculous that she can’t be named) has been exemplary and it hopefully helps other victims in being able to report and bring to book similar crimes, which as you mentioned, vastly go unreported.
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GODZ
September 1, 2017
BR: What can one do when faced with this?
IMO, It’s easy to be judgemental immediately and call the guy as a mad man or this fanboyism whether it’s Vijay, Ajith or Rajni as some kind of madness. But this is a just a reflection of the natural evolution of a society when a certain segment, group or groups of people are oppressed for decades or even centuries in the name of religion, caste, Money etc. It’s through these Actors, their fan clubs or fan group, they see some level of equality with the rest of society. What these groups offer them is an identity where they cannot be ignored and where they see themselves equal with others. So unless the society stops this oppression, People specifically from the “mass segment” of society, will continue to seek these actors through fan clubs or group for that sense of identity and equality.
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praneshp
September 1, 2017
@Honest Raj: Criminal to not link the video
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Balu
September 1, 2017
@Madan: I see this as an interesting case of cinema influencing reality. Largely Tamil commercial movies still follow the template of the hero being the underdog, the downtrodden or just poor and achieving monumental in the climax(even if that simply means getting a rich pretty girl in the end 😉 ). While Hindi movies did have that template in the past, i barely see any such hindi movies these days. So, considering that the Tamil heroes make it a point to have a humble background in movies, it makes sense that if there is such a parallel in their real life, it gets vastly exaggerated and celebrated.
If you think about it, it does provide a sense of realism to even unrealistic masala movies. After all Rajni has proved in real life that a conductor can become Tamil Nadu’s biggest super star. So, paalkaran becoming a rich industrialist or a guy with just 1 rupee taking down a whole empire doesn’t seem unbelievable.
On a side-note all the super rich tamil actors from Rajnikanth to Dhanush wear very simple t-shirt/kurta/jeans literally to every stage show. May be they are afraid that wearing designer wear would alienate their fan base !!
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brangan
September 1, 2017
GODZ: I was not being judgmental. I was pointing out that, in the face of such devotion, it’s impossible to expect ‘rational’ behaviour when you criticise their star/god.
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Honest Raj (formerly Venkatesh)
September 1, 2017
praneshp: Ha ha. Actually, when I came to know about it, I thought he was being sarcastic.
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Naveen
September 1, 2017
Balu, most of the top stars here own fancy cars. Rajaini, however, seems to have his old Premier Padmini for senti sakes. he would have other fancy cars too.
regarding attire, most of the south stars, with exception to Rana or Prabas or Aarya or Nivin Pauly, cannot carry a pathani suit or sherwani or rick kurta well, givien their poor physique. teans/t-shirt will fit everybody
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Srinivas R
September 1, 2017
GODZ – you may have point about fanboyism being a source of identity and pride, but ultimately it’s just an illusion right? I mean the highest achievement of the rabid fan boys would be taking a photo with their demi god. The oppression or his social status doesn’t change because of fanboyism. In fact this might be a way for the privileged to keep this guys subjugated by simply throwing a few random biscuit pieces. Moreover such devotion is not unique to the economically or socially oppressed. I have seen well educated professionals losing it when it comes to criticism of their favorite stars
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Madan
September 1, 2017
“Shah Rukh Khan and Roshan play up their early struggles often. ” – They do but I don’t see the fans themselves mention it all that much. Maybe they did at a certain point of time but it’s long forgotten. Kind of like how we are still aware that Tendulkar didn’t come from a privileged background but don’t discuss it because his appeal long since transcended the underdog sympathy that a rags-to-riches tale evokes.
And the common man is pretty cynical here too, especially so with politics. I guess when they see a star, they go into an escapist mode (just like the films) and forget about all their cynicism and live the moment. Particularly for the poor, it’s precious succour in a hard life. The driver I mentioned had a small farm in Assam and lived a simple but self sufficient life there. But he came to Mumbai once and was fascinated by the glittering city lights and decided to stay back. Little realising what living conditions for the poor are in the city…or maybe he did realise and persisted regardless.
“May be they are afraid that wearing designer wear would alienate their fan base !!” – Interesting point! Could well be. Even among the music directors, I cannot off hand recall any Tamil composer who dressed up as ridiculously/flamboyantly as Bappi Da. The show aspect of show business is probably more emphasised in Bollywood.
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GODZ
September 1, 2017
Srinivas – Of course It’s an Illusion But a Dangerous one. Take Ajith. Personally, I am not a fan. I like him. But you can never see an actor with such attitude in u life. I literally mean it. You can take any actor in the world from Dwayne Johnson to Amitabh. They all have active very active social media handle. The point is not the social media but the respect they have for their fans. Even Rajnikanth meets his fans Once in a while. But Ajith, Forget social media, Forget interviews, A simple “Thanks”?(The Recent Statement is not a Thanks). Even Oviya had the courtesy to Thank her Fans “directly”. But Ajith?
We have to look at the background of those educated professionals. But I am sure most of them will stop to the point of their keyboard or buying that FDFS. But the people I was mentioning, They are the ones Who will be ready to do anything. Remember RamRahim.. 🙂
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GODZ
September 2, 2017
Srini R – Also This very topic requires extensive research, Analysis and debate even more than Woman’s Right. You, Me, Readers of the blog, BR and millions of People are already victims of this Fanboyism and generations to come too. Can you believe it?
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Gautham
September 2, 2017
Madan: Your driver, through you, has again led me down another line of thought. I think Bollywood possesses an advantage that regional cinema doesn’t, in that Mumbai’s greatest common factor is probably its aspirational nature. A regional identity’s – and its cinema’s – strongest influence might be its roots. It need not even be a conscious decision. The availability heuristic might dictate direction (with someone like your driver being a visible influence) during, say, scripting or promotion. Even if the audience in Mumbai feels the content doesn’t reflect them, non-Mumbaikars might feel it agrees with their perception of the city and its people. It might also be why a Bollywood film set overseas is probably a smaller risk (without considering the diaspora).
Tangential thought – Women-centric Bollywood movies too, should be more palatable and saleable ?
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ThouShaltNot
September 2, 2017
The rational movement, the self-respect movement etc. berated religion and rituals and took their high priests to task. Religion is the opium of the masses, they deemed (the high priests were the “drug” peddlers). Movies (as a medium) would deliver them from these evils and send out new messages, they figured. Not to be. Religion has changed. The temples have changed (cinema halls). The Gods have changed. The rituals are more or less the same. The new Gods are even more intensely loved. The doyens of these movements are turning in their graves.
An outsider’s report on the T.N.movie craze (we know all this, still love it for the kick).
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ThouShaltNot
September 2, 2017
The movie fanatic doesn’t have to self-flagellate, mutilate or otherwise abuse their body to propitiate their Gods. Sometimes, just their soul is laid siege (I’m talking of the unbalanced mind, not those who calibrate their adoration). There is an old movie, Cinema Paiththiyam, in which movie obsession itself was handled as theme. It was a remake of the Hindi movie Guddi. In the movie, Jayachitra is in thrall of matinee idol Jai Shankar. She is consumed by thoughts of Jai. In her mind, the blurring of reel and real is complete. It takes concerned family members collaborating with well-meaning matinee idols to eventually drill sense into this lady. There is a song in the movie which encapsulates the illusory world she creates and inhabits. “En ullam azhagaana velli thirai” turns movie viewing experience inside out. In Kavignar’s imagination, Jayachitra’s body (in turn our bodies) is akin to a cinema hall and her mind is akin to the silver screen on which she projects her fantasy of choice. Here, Jai by her side, she takes turns beseeching, gloating, and sexualizing as she pleases. Kamal, who is out on a date with Jayachitra, mistakenly assumes that she is singing to him (for once, he is not the object of a lady’s affection 🙂 )
We may walk out of the theater when a movie ends, but the forever fantasy movie (with myriad flights of fancy and illusory spin-offs) takes off thence. Kavignar clarifies our minds (and its malaise) with lovely imagination.
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Madan
September 2, 2017
“I think Bollywood possesses an advantage that regional cinema doesn’t, in that Mumbai’s greatest common factor is probably its aspirational nature.” – Agreed and this aspirational quality has also been looked at with a kind of “O RLY?” skepticism in some films. Page 3 (I know, Bhandarkar, but still…) or JBDY in a satirical mode and Gaman in a serious way. I haven’t seen City Lights, that could be along the lines of Gaman/Gharaunda. There are very Bombay passages in Deewar as well, like when Shashi Kapoor tells the winning candidate, “Main nahi uththa toh tujhe seat nahi milta” or something to that effect, a brilliant metaphor capturing our crowded trains as well as the rat race that we get sucked in just to stay at the same place in the city, again literally and figuratively. This narrative by itself liberates the filmmakers from regional considerations and also opens up other possibilities for them. See, I think this aspirational quality is equally relevant to the other big cities at least today (if not in the licence raj era) but maybe the regional prism gets in the way of approaching them from that light. Bollywood makes plenty of Bombay films but I don’t know that Kollywood makes so many Madras films, where the city and its peculiar dynamics stars as a lead character and not just a collection of scenic/squalid settings as applicable. To a limited extent, Myskkin tapped into this on Anjathey but (assuming I’ve got my Chennai geography right) more North Madras-centric. I can’t say for sure if my view of these Bombay films speaks for the outsiders or the insiders because I am a little in between. I came here in the late 80s as a tiny tot and we as in my family do look at Mumbai as the gift that has kept giving after a fairly miserable existence in Kolkata previously. So while I know the city intimately, I am more connected with the aspirational appeal of Mumbai than maybe a second or third generation Mumbaiite.
As for women-centric Bollywood movies, the situation does seem to have improved over the last few years. Though…with this year being phenomenally bad for Bolly, I don’t know what the future has in store for us. But Vidya Balan carrying Kahaani pts 1 and 2 on her shoulders and Kangana Ranaut doing likewise on Queen are the cliched but stellar examples of women-led/women-centric films doing well in Bollywood. Also English Vinglish. We have yet to see women-led blockbusters, I mean Dangal/Dabbang level. But even Hollywood doesn’t quite seem to manage that, at least barring J Law. Yes, if your point is that women are afforded more space in Bollywood than their Tamil (or rather North Indians acting in Tamil films with dubbing) counterparts, then I agree.
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MANK
September 2, 2017
MGR spoilt it for every actor that came after him. The moment they give their first shot, they start dreaming of sitting on chief minister throne. It doesn’t matter to them whether they have any political acumen or not.
So one aspect of that is the careful nurturing of fan clubs, which in most cases is both emotionally and financially supported by the star himself, especially in the South Indian states. The star always has his man Friday in charge of maintaining them. But Ajiths case is baffling. He seems to have no contact with his fan clubs. So what gives. Have they become a fully self reliant body completely detached from the actor and yet works tirelessly for the actor, it’s truly bizarre
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MANK
September 2, 2017
And a little off topic: kangana ranaut destroyed, I mean completely completely destroyed Hrithik in back to back interviews she gave to masand and Rajat Sharma. This has to be the most ferocious, most virulent take down of a major (male)movie star by another (female) movie star ever. You have to see how Hrithik is going to react to this, or if he is even capable of reacting to this at all.
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Madan
September 2, 2017
@ MANK: Thanks for the heads up. Who is right and who is wrong in this saga I do not know. But this lady’s sure got spunk. Surely Hrithik baba will/has to react to this. Will be interesting to see how he spins this.
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Gautham
September 2, 2017
Madan: Yes, every place is aspirational to varying degrees but for a hub, like Mumbai, it is the defining quality imo. The immigrant (and the flux) is subsumed into the city’s identity and the city into the individual’s (to differing extents like you have mentioned). The migrant elsewhere remains on the fringes of society and consciousness. A blue-collar worker is reduced to a North Indian or North-East Indian (or worse Bihari or Assamese regardless of where they might actually be from). The IT corridor supports a large Hindi speaking population. Are they represented in Tamil movies? (I wonder if they are talking about this in the Tharamani thread). Neither do they plan on staying on nor do the residents consider them part of their societal fabric.
As for women-centric movies, I am sorry that I have phrased that statement very poorly. What I wanted to suggest was that Bollywood has greater elbow room to explore such roles, alluding to the rat race you mentioned. Such movies so far have either been caricatured and cliched (Fashion, Pink, etc) or written around a traditional archetype, involving motherhood or marriage (Kahaani).
I was thinking along the lines of a lead, and I am just throwing things out, whose occupation – something conventional like an investment banker, environmental lawyer, teacher or the services rather than a model for instance – requires traversing of grey areas which grates against her morals or value-system. Would she pay the price to maintain parity or to get ahead? Even traditional dynamics could be interesting. What does she want to pass on to her children? Would she like to return them to their roots? This, I think, would appeal and be relatable to either gender. It might be a bit more difficult to pull off in regional cinema – the premises of the recent Nayanthara movies might be indicative – since it might seem less plausible. I am surprised, from both a content and business point of view, that someone like Zoya or Farhan Akthar hasn’t latched onto it.
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Madan
September 2, 2017
“Neither do they plan on staying on nor do the residents consider them part of their societal fabric.” – Great point and comparison to the Mumbai ethos. That it didn’t occur to me initially as a long time Mumbaiite shows that I have taken it for granted but yes, that way, Mumbai is the least identity conscious of the metros. Maybe Delhi is like that too but it is very status conscious which has its own problems and resultant demarcations between the residents.
” I am just throwing things out, whose occupation – something conventional like an investment banker, environmental lawyer, teacher or the services rather than a model for instance – requires traversing of grey areas which grates against her morals or value-system.” – Again, I have to bring up Madhur Bhandarkar who made his female protagonists in both Page 3 and Corporate wrestle with moral/ethical dilemmas. They both end up paying the price even though one decides to stand by her values and the other decides to ride the wave instead (so which way do you go?). It is so frustrating (that he makes his films so crudely) because the material was quite fertile. I still do commend him for daring to make those films during the heady India Shining days when it was not at all fashionable to do so. Corporate especially was roundly criticised for being too negative and judgmental and yet the nation as a whole was up in arms against the politician-industrialist nexus just five years later.
I think overall the message then is that sporadically filmmakers do try to push the envelope with female characters but maybe the feedback from the audience isn’t convincing enough yet for them to get bolder.
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Gautham
September 3, 2017
Madan: Agreed Bhandarkar seems to be attracted towards promising premises. I might be wrong and someone else might be able to explain this better but I think that the execution shows up one’s intentions and underlying philosophy. That’s probably why metaphors as used by, say, Kamal (adopting the stray dog in Anbe Sivam) and Mani Ratnam (bridges, trains, etc) work for me while other scenes of adoption or shots of bridges & trains – I can’t recall any examples – don’t. It’s also probably why, again as an example, Pink felt like an attempt to cash in on popular sentiment.
I am surprised because I think the envelope isn’t necessarily being pushed in such a case. It would just be a female lead playing a role which would be universally relatable to.
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Madan
September 4, 2017
” It’s also probably why, again as an example, Pink felt like an attempt to cash in on popular sentiment.” – Possibly but I would differ in that it still pushes the envelope vis a vis the mainstream/sexist perception of what women ought to be like (and the three girls are offered as a contrast to that, being independent). Even in Piku, the eponymous character is seen as not at all in a hurry to get married. I would say the success of these films (as well as Page 3 all those years back where again Madhavi was shown living all by herself in an unfamiliar city) does go a long way in making the audience comfortable with female characters that break out of the archetype (namely hero’s mother or hero’s lover). That is why, to me, the conclusion of Queen was important as well because in the end she not only dumps him but just decides to have fun. Not necessarily shunning relationships but not needy for them either. These middle budget films have helped Bolly grow up and their effect has gradually rubbed off on the big budget elephants as well. You don’t see stalker-hero films anymore in Bollywood because the so called (and much reviled) multiplex films have heightened consciousness of how women should be portrayed in cinema. Likewise where a gay character was introduced merely for caricature in Page 3, in Kapoor & Sons his sexual orientation was mainstream-ised symbolically by naming him Rahul. Again, Kapoor & Sons is a middle budget film. There was a discussion earlier too where people agreed that this middle budget slot is what is missing in Tamil cinema and constrains filmmakers. Small films just won’t get seen by a lot of people. But middle budget films make a good deal of money, maybe 2-3 times their budget if not more, and get decent reach even if not EVERYONE likes them. Everyone doesn’t like Salman films either. The only actor in Bollywood who still seems to have that unifying class-mass appeal is Aamir Khan.
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Nathan
September 4, 2017
I was pointing out that, in the face of such devotion, it’s impossible to expect ‘rational’ behaviour when you criticise their star/god.
I will wait for your piece fansplaining how Kamal Hassan’s new political Big Boss persona is yet another performance of sheer brilliance that can only be manufactured in that extraordinary factory residing in his brain. Writers write, the rest pull chariots.
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Gautham
September 6, 2017
Madan : I think you have a point regarding what’s considered pushing the envelope or what’s status quo. I was thinking along the lines of a Wall Street or Gosling’s role in La La Land. I thought that, while scenarios endemic to women would seep through, the essence would be relatable to men too.
I am not aware of that earlier discussion but I guess the lack of middle budget movies is reflective of the size of the market.
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Gautham
September 6, 2017
I think you have a point regarding what’s considered pushing the envelope or what’s status quo in that it differs for every other person *
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Kay
October 13, 2017
Someone took the time and efforts to calculate the probability of the dam scene happening in real life. 😂😂
View at Medium.com
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jaga_jaga
October 13, 2017
Kay that probability article was stupendous! It even took into account, the fact that Ajith is a super-hero, he can get away from the laws of Math/Physics. But the trained cops can’t. Having said it, I disagree with the conclusions. It sounded preachy for me. No matter how ludicrous and probability defying the scenes may be, it is the director’s “artistic freedom” to do it his/her way. Especially if that what is going to fuel the super-hero’s fans, and bring in all the bucks. He is just a smart, artsy and artistic businessman!
Also, it is of course our right too to make fun of it to any extent we want. Just as the director gets his/her artistic freedom, only fair that we get ours.
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Kay
October 14, 2017
But just out of curiosity, jaga_jaga, what is the probability of 7 bullets hitting the same point, in a moving car, from a distance of 500m? I think it’s about 0.008 assuming that there’s a 0.50 probability of hitting the target once. I’m thinking from a purely mathematical point of view. Not questioning the movie.
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Vivek narain
October 14, 2017
I hope I never live to see the day when the miserable quibbling hair splitters have won the earth, and there’s no more black and white, but everything’s just a dreary relative grey, and everyone has a right to his own heresies, and it’s more noble to be broad minded about your disgusting neighbours.
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Kay
October 14, 2017
Vivek narain: Could you please rephrase what you said in English for the benefit of us lesser mortals? 🙂
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jaga_jaga
October 14, 2017
Of course Kay, assuming the time interval between between two shots is so small that the probability doesn’t change each time, it is 0.507 ~ 0.08. Which is a much higher probability than what it takes for the others to miss shooting the hero (~ 10-15, as calculated in the blog).
So this blog is actually a revelation. The problem is never how, the super-heroes defy science. That can be ignored in comparison to how the rest of the cast defy science!
Also how dare you even think of questioning the movie. Merely mentioning the word Thala should rouse a thousand orgasms in you.
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Anu Warrier
October 14, 2017
@Kay – 🙂
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Vivek narain
October 16, 2017
All persons more than a mile high to leave the court, and the three kings have decided that John barley-corn must die so that others may live.
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Kay
October 16, 2017
Vivek: I think I deserved that. 😂😂 I’m not even gonna attempt to decipher the latest comment.
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Vivek narain
October 16, 2017
Kay, The first gag is from the the last page of Alice’s adventures in wonderland. The second barb is the famous life story of barley grain that is milled crushed and finally left to rot in the still to produce beer and whiskey, that people thrive on, it also alludes to crucifixion of Christ.
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