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Superstar is Forging a New Avatar; Rajinikanth Reloaded is Here!

As Rajinikanth turns 68, here’s a lowdown on a reloaded Thalaiva!

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‘My birthday is coming’, said Rajinikanth while speaking at the PETTA audio launch. And then he giggled like a little boy.

Rajinikanth is 68 years old, as of December 12, 2018. He's been a superstar for over THIRTY YEARS now. Remember that song from Raja Chinna Roja?

'Super Star Yarunnu Ketta, Chinna Kuzhanthaiyum Sollum'
(if you ask who's the Super star, even a little kid will tell you)

That's from 1989.

And yet, the man hasn't stopped re-inventing himself. This is my take on how Rajinikanth's choice of films from the year 2000, has been an effort to drop the stardom, and reload a newer version of himself.

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How Big is Rajinikanth?

By 1999, Rajinikanth's fan base had created over 80,000 fan clubs, his films were a major draw in Japan, with Muthu, STILL running in some theatres. There are a few Japanese pilgrims who visit Chennai every year for an FDFS Rajinikanth film release.

Rajinikanth DID enter politics twenty years ago. He met the then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao for more than just courtesy in 1995. He asked for a meeting with Jayalalithaa, to talk about how his fan clubs were facing harrassment. He was denied a meeting, and so began The feud.

The DMK came to power in 1996, simply because Rajinikanth asked his fans, informally, to vote for the said party, purely out of angst against Jayalalitha.

And then he suddenly realised it wasn’t his cup of tea, and he went on to make Arunachalam and Padayappa, and grew even bigger.
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The Winning Formula

When we think of a Rajinikanth film, here's what comes to mind;

A Hero Entry scene, with a rousing opening song in S P Balasubramaniam's voice!
An arch nemesis who makes Bond villains look like kindergarteners with snot oozing from their noses.
A moral crisis that shatters the superstar and shakes his foundations.
A flashback that reveals all.
Climax fight.
And of course...the Punch Dialogue!

What started with Murattu Kalai in 1980 continued with Annamalai, Yejamaan, Uzhaippali, Baasha, Muthu, Arunachalam and....Padayappa, which ran for almost a year, all through 1999. This was THE formula, with Thalaivar as the ingredient that binds it all together.

He broke the brand in 2000, with his directoral debut Baba, which bombed at the box office. Legendarily, Rajinikanth reimbursed the distributors for their losses, selling off a part of his property in the process.

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The Beginning of a New Version

Baba was the beginning of a newer version. There was no make-up on the man's face. He then made Chandramukhi, a remake of the Malayalam classic Manichithrathazhu in 2005, which was a blockbuster. The make-up was back, but he gave up the iconic cigarette, and replaced it with chewing gum.

With Shankar's Sivaji in 2007, Thalaivar dropped his style and mannerisms. The film didn't have any punch dialogues. And the opening song was more of an ode to Tamil culture than to Rajinikanth. It did well, but...it wasn't a Rajinikanth film.

And then came Endhiran, or Robot in 2010.  It was all Shankar, until Chitti the Robot turns evil, which is when we get to see the Rajini of the 80s. Again, no punch dialogue. No hero entry, no opening song, no flashback. And no morally grey arch nemesis.
It was a blockbuster.

After the mega motion graphics fiasco Kochadayan and the hasty rehash Lingaa, Rajinikanth did it again. He decided to act his age.

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Rajinikanth 2.0!

2015's Kabali was a bad film, storywise, screenplay wise, direction wise. But it introduced a totally new Rajinikanth to the world; one with grey hair, BUT the same vigour. And the same...STYLE. The formula was back, but with something new.

Pa Ranjith's Kaala too had a bit of the old Rajinikanth movies to offer. The style quotient was definitely higher, and Rajinikanth got to showcase his attitude from the 80s; that of an angry young man; all over again. That the film was too heavy to be a masala flick, is for another rant.

2.0 raked in moola, thanks again, purely to Chitti reloaded, in my opinion, who brought in some swag, some comedy and levity to an otherwise tedious public interest message that fell off the internet last year.

So, after playing ‘Rajinikanth’ from 1991 right up until 2005. Rajinikanth played a robot, a scientist, a philanthropist, two robots, a mafia don and a Godfather, all in the span of eight years.

The man is on to something, and whatever it is, it's going to be talked about, and will never cease to entertain. His political re-entry? That needs a tighter script for now.

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Topics:  Rajinikanth 

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