NOVEMBER 25 — To a casual fan, the Indian movie industry is principally Bollywood: the Hindi movie capital in Bombay. There is actually a wider spectrum: Kollywood, the centre of the Tamil movie industry based in Kodambakkam, a district of Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu (population 72 million), and Tollywood, referring to the Telugu film industry centred in the Hyderabad neighbourhood of Film Nagar in the states of Andhra Pradesh (population 50 million) and Telanga (population 36 million).

The sheer adulation

As teenagers in 1960s Penang, we learned of the fearsome M.G. Ramachandran (MGR 1917-87) and Sivaji Ganesan (Sivaji 1928-01) gangs before we knew they were actually named after Tamil movie icons. It wasn’t strange for MGR or Sivaji gangs to taunt moviegoers of their rival’s features as they exit the cinema. 

MGR eventually formed his own political party and became a three-term chief minister of Tamil Nadu. He died while in office. His wife Janaki Ramachandran held the office for three weeks after his death pending a state election. 

Jayalalithaa Jayaram, another famous movie star (140 films and a protégée of MGR) was the 10th, 12th, 14th, 16th and is currently 18th chief minister of Tamil Nadu. 

Jayalalithaa’s fifth term started in May, after she was acquitted by the High Court over a disproportionate assets case. It was common talk that prior to her acquittal, her party-nominated chief minister (September 2014 to May 2015) was never once seen seated on the chief minister’s chair. He was always seated on the right corner side of the table, like a trusted aide would. Also known as Amma (mother), she first became chief minister in 1991.

Another big movie star was N.T. Rama Rao, or NTR (1923-96), of Telugu films. He was the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh for three terms and was renowned for his portrayals of the Hindu deities Krishna and Rama. 

To Rajini’s legions of fans, he is simply thalaiva (the leader). — Photo courtesy of Facebook/Kabali The Movie

Roles for life

The reigning All India Superstar is Rajinikanth or Rajini. The “All India” title is conferred on the star who has the highest box office gross in all the three “woods”. Amitabh Bachchan of Bollywood was the former holder. But to Rajini’s legions of fans, he is simply thalaiva (the leader).

His various exploits, and it would be hard to tell fact from legend, is like a perpetual live movie. This includes the time of his utter disenchantment with Indian National Congress for backing Jayalalithaa’s party, AIADMK.

He famously said: “Even God cannot save Tamil Nadu if AIADMK returns to power”, which was credited for Jayalalithaa’s loss in the 1996 state election.

While filming in Bangsar Utama, Kuala Lumpur, two weeks ago, hundreds of fans lined the road under the blazing sun, hoping to catch a glimpse of thalaiva. As he, too, had to wait for his scenes in the open, an aide brought him an umbrella.

He was seen waving the aide away. It has been speculated that he refused the umbrella because so many of his fans were without shade and, therefore, he couldn’t accept the special treatment. Perhaps it was staged, but it doesn’t matter — as thalaiva always cares.

His back-footed way of closing the car door and the way he flips cigarettes into the air and catch it in his mouth (by the filter end, naturally) adds to his “heroic” persona. 

Rajini was born in 1950 in Bangalore, Karnataka state (formerly Mysore) and worked as a general helper, carpenter and bus conductor. He was spotted while a full-time student at the Madras Film Institute. Many think his working class background is the key attribute to his mega success: one of our kind made good.

He was in Malaysia to film Kabali, in which he plays “the don” (a popular Indian cinema character). According to his schedule, he left last Saturday.

Rajini’s successful screen characters have always been that of a hero, fighting tremendous odds and standing up for the myriad of social injustices. In some movies, when he strayed, playing a good guy and didn’t knock off bad guys by the dozens; they were not box office hits.

Sylvester Stallone understands this more than anyone else. How many of his non-Rocky, non-Rambo and non-Expendables films can we recall? He’s made a total 60 films.

On the Rajini — Kamal Hasaan rivalry, even the most hardcore of Rajini’s fans readily acknowledge Kamal for his superior acting skills: just as Kamal’s fans accept Rajini’s reputation as beyond that of a movie star. But the demand for Rajini is many folds that of Kamal (born 1954 — the other Tamil movie icon). 

After the film roles, Rajini  has to continue playing the role of his life — as Rajini the thalaiva.

Earlier, there was the MGR-Sivaji rivalry. The intensity was such that if a Sivaji feature of 14 reels (the containers for films needed for 200-minute features) were brought to the cinema with three horses, it will be by three elephants for the MGR feature. MGR was their super hero while Sivaji was their super actor.

This rivalry tradition looks set to continue with Vijay (Sethupathi born 1978), as the hero versus Ajith Kumar (born 1971), as the actor.

Postscript

In drawing a parallel with our political theatre, Datuk Seri Samy Vellu, MIC president of 31 years and Cabinet member for 29 years, would be both the super hero (undisputed community hero) and a super actor (political icon) if it were in a movie industry environment. However, in 2008, the movie industry shifted from MIC.

Then, the period 2010 to mid-2015 is best described as an aberration. The new party president would have to rebuild MIC as the “movie capital” and pull back the moviegoers. The studio is now under his control and he has top billing (Cabinet minister).

Can he secure the adulation (to be the community hero)? Is Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam the new thalaiva?

* This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.