No dupes. No mattresses to cushion a fall. This is Rajinikanth himself, in the wilderness. (In other words: What does the tiger tell Rajini? You’ve earned your stripes!)
Spoilers ahead…
At the beginning of the Discovery Channel show, Into The Wild With Bear Grylls And Superstar Rajinikanth, the anchor says he’s going to take celebrities, well, into the wild, and “reveal the real person behind the icon”. Wait! What? You mean Rajinikanth is not the person about whom the following quip was made? “Once Spider-man, Superman and Batman visited Rajnikanth’s house together. It was Teacher’s Day.” The episode opens like a Superstar movie. There’s the “intro” shot, an overhead view of the man driving a bright-red All Terrain Vehicle. CUT TO… birds taking flight, a monkey jumping from branch to branch. CUT TO… the vehicle coming to a halt and the man dismounting. (Yes, the foot hits the ground in a close-up.) CUT TO…. the sunglasses coming off. CUT TO… a swish of the hand, and… the ATV disappears. Try that, Spider-man, Superman and Batman!
Read the rest of this article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/superstar-rajinikanth-into-the-wild-with-bear-grylls-attempts-to-show-a-human-side-of-the-on-screen-superhero-discovery-channel
Continued at the link above.
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Baradwaj Rangan 
Aman Basha
March 23, 2020
When you’re way up at the top, there seems to be no other way than to go down. Though it’s still unfortunate that the fall is happening to a man who still has that charisma , presence and style and yet is losing out on his legions of fans because of politics and only politics.
Though regarding politics, I still think the honest, socially conscious man Rajini intends to support in the election isn’t with a Kamal in his flag but a certain other Kamal. If only this combination were seen on screen than the political stage, it would’ve been a last stand to remember. Something like Saudagar or the Man who shot liberty valance with Rajini and Kamal as rivals, though its probably impossible to combine their unique paths.
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brangan
March 23, 2020
Aman Basha: What makes you say that he is “is losing out on his legions of fans because of politics and only politics”? Doesn’t he still have a following that fights for him on social media, etc?
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Aman Basha
March 23, 2020
I’m not a Tamilian but then you must have noticed that post his political entry none of his movies have reached expectations and reg. Rajni the factor that always made him the top was his market in other languages, Telugu and Hindi especially. The dubbed versions have been outright flops from with the exception of maybe 2.0 which still couldn’t get the cash counters ringing. The politics affected Kaala with the movie only seeming like political statements at times, and the frequent controversies he’s getting dragged into are definitely diminishing the goodwill and popularity he has. His movies have always had issues, some have flopped too but then his stardom was still strong now it seems to be weakening and his politics is frequently being made fun of in all corners
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Aman Basha
March 23, 2020
Rajni, Shah Rukh and Star Wars all face the same problems: overexposure, conflicted audience expectations, diminishing box office returns. The audience is losing interest in them and all these callbacks to the past are more off putting than whistle worthy
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Amit Joki
March 23, 2020
yet is losing out on his legions of fans because of politics and only politics.
Citations needed. There was only disappointment when he said he wouldn’t be the CM candidate, but apart from that, I’ve seen nothing which suggests his fandom is on the wane.
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Aman Basha
March 23, 2020
@amitjoki I was emphasizing more on the diminishing BO returns. Box office is the primary yardstick of stardom not fans fighting on social media and the box office does show that his movies simply aren’t working as they used to. The Pa. Ranjith films were disappointments, for its 500 crore budget 2.0 made only 800 crore or so, Petta may have been a success but was beaten by Viswasam, distributors staged a protest due to Darbar. There’s constant controversies over Him and an anti Rajni wave is on the rise. The die hard fans may be behind him but a lot of audience isn’t interested in a Rajni padam as they were pre his announcement on Dec 31 2017.
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Heisenberg
March 23, 2020
yet is losing out on his legions of fans because of politics and only politics.
Let me see if I can explain it my understanding. When it comes to Rajinikanth, he has a universal fanbase in TN. I am not talking about the hardcore fanatics who defend anything he says like Thuglaq arivalis. In movie goers it’s hard to find people who dislike Rajini, especially post 90s. Yes, his movies have flopped but he has his legendary status as invincible Thalaivar and any silly dance can become his signature style. And ofcourse his off-screen persona, image as simple man, his rise from being bus conductor, comeback after becoming seriously ill have all made him as the legend of our times.
That was the case at least until he officially announced on Dec 31 2017 that he’s entering politics. From then on his silence on major issues have been criticized widely and when he indeed takes a stand, it has been criticized even more for either being vague or misinformed. This has undeniably made a big dent to the image he carefully safeguarded all these years.
To sum it up, he still has fanatics who are offended that twitter took down his misinformed video and upload it from 100s of accounts. But people like me who have liked Rajinikanth (not many of his recent movies), now can only see him as typical Indian uncle who believes in Whatsapp fwds.
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krishikari
March 23, 2020
Oh my god, he looks amazing! I did not expect this, just saw the clip and now I want to see the whole episode.
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Madan
March 23, 2020
I am really not sure if politics is the issue or simply that Rajni got desperate when films began to deliver underwhelming returns and moved away from his trusted one film max a year (if not one in two-three years) rule. He has saturated the market with way too many films. Darbar came way too soon after Petta and there was absolutely no buzz this time. This has nothing to do with his politics but everything to do with the fact that Petta itself was okie-dokie and when another film came so soon, the audience made the more rational choice of waiting for word of mouth reviews to decide. And eventually decided not to watch at all.
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KS
March 24, 2020
@aman basha:
It may be true that public adoration of the superstar has taken a hit since his political ambitions have taken shape. But thats a vacuous and uninformative statement. Cinema fandom and political/ideological support are obviously different. As an actor, people are unanimous in cheering him on. I can love both Rajini and Kamal when it comes to cinema, I don’t have to choose sides. But when it comes to political matters, everybody has a side and equivocation is pointless. Unless you sit around eating mixture.
So whatever stand he takes, its inevitable that he’ll lose a chunk of his support. Fans who love him on screen but have opposite political stands. That by itself doesn’t mean much. Blaming his stand or statements (or lack thereof) for this is inaccurate. He doesn’t need to be universally accepted as a politician (nor can/should he be), he just needs to win over a majority. He may fail, but its too early to write him off. After all, he’s a crafty guy who’s stayed at the top of his game for decades now, in a fickle and hyper-competitive industry. Surely he knows what he’s up against.
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