Kabali - the experience

So yes, it is done. The movie has been watched and it is time to spill the guts/pour the heart out here. But before I start, here are some disclosures in no particular order.

      1. I’ve only been a casual Rajini fan (at best), throughout my life. I have never watched any Rajini movie within the first 2 weeks of its release. Except for Endhiran which I watched the day it released. In Singapore. So that doesn’t count.

2    2. I have never watched any of P Ranjith’s other movies. I don’t have a feel for his style, if there exists one.

3    3. I have mere passing knowledge of the situation of Tamils in Malaysia by virtue of having lived in nearby Singapore for a few years and having worked with a few Malaysian Indians.

Warning: Full of spoilers.

The story line has three threads. The plight of Tamil-origin people in Malaysia, a turf war between rival gangs and a man seeking out his long lost family. Rarely have such three strong elements been made available to provide the perfect setting to deliver a masterpiece that would have not only made the fans happy but also enhanced the fading star’s larger than life image. But walking out of the theater, I felt transported back to the night of the 1996 ICC WC semi-final when I watched the favorites flounder on the biggest night on the biggest stage. There was an equal mix of disappointment and sadness not just for the Rajini fan but also the Tamil cinema fan. When you realize that the entire teaser was entirely sourced from within the first 15 minutes of the movie, you know you have been done in.

The first question that springs to mind is what did Ranjith want to convey? Was this a clear political movie with a strong pro-Dalit message? No. That would have called for a more nuanced handling of the plight of the Tamils in Malaysia rather than the cursory, episodic portrayals seen here topped off with jarring one liners with political innuendoes inserted here and there. Was this then a full-fledged mafia movie about an ageing don ascending to his rightful place on the throne? Hell no. This was a mish mash of poorly choreographed fight scenes thrown in pretty much at random. Did he want to at least explore the tender side of a once-violent don in search of familial love? Again, this aspect was not fully exploited and came across as under cooked.

Ranjith, I suppose, wanted to convey a strong pro-Dalit message using Rajini as a vehicle. He couldn’t have set the story as happening in Tamilnadu for the obvious reason that Rajini’s fan base cuts across all castes. So he had to move it to Malaysia to be politically correct. But he dare not talk anything against the current political dispensation there (or the Bhumiputra policy) without setting off a political fire storm. So to avoid that, he travels in time rather conveniently to pick up issues with the the white man. Lo and behold, here is a neat little political plot that upsets none! And he dressed it up with some don drama and a dash of family sentiments. And in the middle of all this juggling, he remembered that this also has to be a Rajini movie after all and hastily tried to throw some core elements in almost as an afterthought. The result is a limp movie that tries to be many things at once but caters to no one’s needs in the end.

A Rajini movie is like an intense religious ceremony and its director the chief priest overseeing the preparations. His familiarity with the plentiful traditions, handed down the ages, is a pre-requisite. And the traditions are to be adhered to at a minimum or organically enhanced, at best. Questioning them or attempting to overturn them is blasphemy But the novice director in his rather careless handling of the script (and the mega star) has betrayed his lack of pedigree resulting in a movie that has little to show for the pre-release hype.

The biggest drawback was the screenplay that was as helpful as a soggy, soiled diaper around a playful baby’s waist. A taut screenplay can partly shoulder the burden of a weak script. But unfortunately this was a double whammy that left many passages of the movie dragging. An electrifying opening and introduction segment was sorely missing. After showing him inside the prison cell, I was left confused: is this it or is there going to be an actual intro? This confusion seems to persist throughout the movie and together with a flimsy story line, leaves many questions unanswered. For instance, how did Rajini transform from a local leader to a gangster and a don? How did he make the money to bank roll his lifestyle especially if he avoids drug trade and flesh trade?

The cast was the second weakest link. With all due respect, who (the f***) is John Vijay? Forcing us to accept him as Rajini’s friend from youth is a slap on our intelligence. The guy looks like an idiot in that wig and is driving Rajini around in a bike. Ranjith, allow me to break this down for you: Rajini does NOT ride pillion. Ever. Period. Moving on, let’s look at memorable villains of the past – Raghuvaran, Ramya Krishnan, Manivannan, Vijayashanthi. In that impressive lineup, this guy from Taiwan is a bad joke. A superhero requires a super villain and he/she was sorely missing from the script. Dhansika as the daughter was a bitter pill to swallow especially when Radhika Apte, playing her aged mom, looks like her class mate from MOP Vaishnava college. Radhika was about the only real actor in the movie. The reunion segment was easily the best in the movie and the “maya nadhi” song showed glimpses of what Rajini the actor is capable of and what we have missed all along. The music is also a big letdown. neruppu da was catchy and maya nadhi, soulful. But the background score was loud and noisy and didn’t liven up things.

The production quality was particularly bad. Whose idea was it to not even grey the aged Radhika's hair? While Rajini had aged, she looks like his elder daughter. Wigs, particularly for the flashback segment looked clumsy. And the set for the climax scene looked like something out of a “Shaktimaan” episode. If a third of the money and focus spent on promotion and marketing had been diverted to the making, this could have come out much more stylish and classier.

That leaves Rajini as the one redeeming feature – standing tall while surrounded by a sea of mediocrity. He tries to carry the entire movie on his frail shoulders but looks hamstrung by the cast, crew and the script. Age, which had begun to show for a few years now, has started seriously encroaching into the persona. The charisma is still there and so is the stylish screen presence but the voice has grown feeble and the body frail. Scenes he could once have chewed up and spat out seem less convincing. And in the hands of a less capable director, he runs the risk of being reduced to a caricature.

Rajini the larger than life super star is at the inevitable crossroads that every ageing star faces. A body of work that he can be proud of lies behind. And still adoring fans surround him. From here on, it is all about the legacy that he chooses to leave behind. He must remind himself that history takes a kinder view of those who leave on a high. Time is not his ally anymore and it is critical that he chooses his script and directors with utmost care. Dalliances with the inexperienced is an adventure that he can ill afford and his fans simply deserve better fare. Else, Padayappa may well become the last real Rajini movie ever made.

Kabali - the noon before

Typing this up a few hours before watching Kabali. It would be a lie to say that I’m not excited. After weeks of watching the trailer/teaser, listening to the songs and staying clear of leaks (alleged opening/intro clip sitting unviewed on whatsapp), scrolling past reviews and opinions of all sorts, even my kid – born after Endhiran came out, to give you some context – is walking around mouthing the dialogs and humming the songs.

I would say that the pre-release promotions for Kabali have been an order of magnitude bigger than any other Rajini movie; bordering on manufactured mass hysteria. Yes, it is good business sense to whip up some excitement even if it is a Rajini movie given the money that gets put in. But this one has gone overboard. The expectations are now set high; time to see if and how the movie lives up to it.

Will blog about the Kabali experience soon! 

Why this kolaveri da?

An unarmed girl hacked to death in broad daylight by a spurned lover stalker. Peeling off one more layer, let’s look a bit at the individuals involved. The victim was employed in a leading software company. The stalker was an engineering drop out with little else going for him besides this one sided amorous pursuit. Her crime? Spurning the advances of a sociopath.

It is a fine line that separates fantasy from reality. And it is a scary thought that the youth of today – not all of them, of course –so easily go astray and cross that line with no thought about the consequences. I’m trying to make sense of what his intentions were in following her. Did he really fancy his chances with her? Assuming for argument’s sake that she had reciprocated his feelings for her, did he ever ponder what then? Remember, she was at the threshold of a career and by all reports, he was already an absolute failure.

From the news reports, it looks that his friends have stoked his desires and he may have been encouraged to pursue her by his peers. The fact that she had not reported him to her dad – for fear of being curtailed I’d imagine rather than out of any romantic interests – have apparently emboldened him. And finally when she had called a spade a spade, he loses the plot and takes it upon himself to teach her a lesson that goes horribly wrong.

Anger from rejection is a natural human emotion. But channelizing that anger to improve oneself is so passé. Teaching a lesson on the other hand – a la Rajinikant the shrew tamer – is cool! I hate to oversimplify this situation and lay the entire blame at the doorstep of Tamil cinema. But it is hard to overlook the role of movies in incidents like these. Do movies reflect society or does society imbibe from cinema is a debate for another day. But it is fair to assume that cinema today has a strong influence on the youth.

Let’s face it. The hero from a humble background winning the hands of the princess is a horse that has been flogged down the ages on celluloid. In earlier times, the hero was unfailingly depicted as a fundamentally good person that rose from the lower rungs of the society and rebelled against the ruling class. The love was (of course) incidental and merely a vehicle to question class distinctions and bring about societal change. The romance, more often than not initiated from the girl's side, was boringly clean and always ended in sweet union. In other words, even a kid knew it was a story. No sane person could identify themselves with any of the onscreen characters. 

Let’s take a look at how the role of the hero has evolved. There was the period that glorified suicides spawned by "love failure". Or giving oneself liver sclerosis when spurned. But today, when movie makers vie with one another to portray "reality", the need to portray positive values has become one of the first victims. Besides the humble background, today's cine male has nothing in common with the ones from the black and white era. He has a highly inflated sense of entitlement and pretty much nothing else. He is a flawed rebel without a cause, qualifications, values or even the looks for that matter. An academic failure? No problem. Completely incompatible with the girl culturally and economically? No problem again. The narrative is one that gives him the entitlement to any girl’s love interest only because he desired so, no matter what. After all, “engala maari pasangala paatha odaney pidikkadhu. Paakka paakka dhaan pidikkum”, right? (Loose translation: we are an acquired taste.)

In this synthetic reality where his shortcomings are his qualifications and greed is a virtue, the lady’s rejection then becomes a classist slap on the face of an entire section of society. Choosing a more compatible guy is casteism masquerading as choice! In other words, the girl (or her family) knows nothing, should have no preferences of her own whatsoever and her choices simply don’t matter. The knight in shining armor – warts and all – shath set everything in order with his love en route to a happily lived ever after. The flawed man’s misplaced desires are here and here to stay.

Cinema has always been guilty of airbrushing reality to reel in audiences but now the consequences are becoming more lethal. Combine that with the sorry fact that strong values are not instilled into youth at every opportunity (family, schools, colleges), girls and their families unjustly bear the burden of a few men getting high on flawed narratives and running amok when hit by reality.

I hate Kamal Hassan the actor and nowadays even the individual. But I remember and like one of his earlier interviews where he advises the audiences to watch a movie strictly for entertainment and brush off its influences as soon as one steps out of the theater. Sounds so right.