As the Kabali fever grips in South India, It’s time for me to write something about ‘Rajini’ and its ‘Mania’ surrounding the ‘Super Star’, Rajinikant, and his latest movie that is set for a release.
Note this date down in your diaries, ‘Friday, 22-07-2016’; on this day it is set to create a ‘movie Tsunami’ in theatres across South India. The whole thing has already reached its penultimate stage and it is less than 24 hours for the movie to release in 12,000 theatres. Everyone wants to watch it first day first show. The fans in South India are bursting with excitement and can’t wait to see his latest movie. Those who can’t get the tickets are going too far of lobbying politicians in desperation for getting hold of the tickets.
The movie has already made various headlines in the papers for the last couple of days. Some IT companies have declared a holiday to avoid mass absence in work places on the eve of Rajini’s movie release. Some airlines laid special flights decorated with movie posters and feature Rajini’s favourite food on the menu. While, some luxury hotels offer a complete package that allows the whole family to get entertained when watching the movie with special perks.
Is Kabali named after Kabaleswara? What makes Kabali is so special and distinctive? The movie title, Kabali, takes its name from Kapali, which is a short form of a deity Kapaleswara in Mylapur, Chennai. The movie story line got it’s inspiration from the story of a gangster who grew up in the suburbs of Mylapur, Chennai that shared the name Kapali. The letter ‘P’ is often replaced with ‘B’ in Tamilnadu similar to ‘V’ being replaced with ‘B’ in Bengal. Consequently the movie is named as Kabali instead of Kapali.
Kabali is another name for Lord Shiva and sticks to theme used in many Rajini’s films. Netrikkann, Siva, Annamalai, Arunachalam, Sivaji, Kochadaiiyaan and Lingaa.
In South India, it is no surprise that every child or an adult would know who Rajini is, and some affectionately call him the ‘Super Star’, others conferred the title ‘Talaiva’ or ‘Anna’.
Rajinikant or Rajini, is his adopted name in the movie industry, and the original name given to him by his parents was Shivaji Rao Gaekwad. Rajini was born in Maharashtra, a state in Central India, but he became famous in Tamilnadu’s movie industry. He is now the highest paid actor in Asia.
Rajini’s background itself is a typical movie style, where he once worked as a bus conductor with Bangalore Transport Service. With such a humble beginnings to movie stardom, he couldn’t have asked for more. The man himself is very modest, he take walks every evening to keep himself fit, practices meditation and yoga to reduce stress, and goes to Himalayas alone for a spiritual hideout to rejuvenate after every movie release. Rajini leads a very simple lifestyle. His age, numerous awards, failures and stardom never taken a toll on him and he always bounces back with a new style to prove himself to be a Super Star even at the age of 65 after starring in 170 films.
My wife, Lakshmi, who is a die hard fan of Rajini, a singer herself, lost into the trance of Kabali songs many times recently since it’s release. I personally think Lakshmi has a good taste for music and can generally predict whether a particular movie song would be a hit or flop. The songs of the movie ‘Maya Nadhi’ , ‘Vaanam Paarthen’ are her favourites songs, and I am hoping they will be hits.
Rajini has an unique style of acting. For example, throwing a cigar in the air to catch it with his lips, performing stunts like riding a motorcycle single handedly while fighting the villains, delivery of punch dialogues in style that makes cine audience go crazy, or portraying as a mass hero with lots of heroism and sentiment. Rajini mesmerises his audiences with the performances like a robot that has emotions, or indeed playing a gangster role in a drama film like Kabali. My favourite movie of Rajani is Dalapathi, a Telugu version of a Tamil movie and watched it a few times. He is incomparable due to his unique style and there can only be one mass mania in South Indian Movies, that is Super Star Rajini!
Rajini is not just a phenomenon in South India, but also countries like Japan, Malasia in South Asian where his popularity draws so many fans and seldom surprises many. Often the acting of Rajini speaks for itself and the audience doesn’t need to know the language to get enthralled by his stunning performances and get drenched in magical acting moments.
I would like to conclude my article with one of his iconic punchy dialogue idhu eppdi irukku (How is it?)! Post your comments on how you found this article and also how entertaining it is to watch the movie Kabali itself!