Rajni...is he really that good?

Hi All,

I have been off this space for quite some time now. It’s the usual suspect which is to blame...work. During my absence from blogosphere, Mr Rajni seems to have scorched the box office with this latest release Endhiran(Robot in Hindi & Telugu). Mr Rajni and Endhiran seem to be ubiquitous... the internet, TV, newspaper and everywhere else. We have fans going out of the way to welcome the favourite star’s movie to the big screens, we have the media that has gone on an overdrive to promote the movie and when there is so much hype how could the internet be any far behind.


I don’t really want to go into the merits or demerits of such fanatic fan following and media coverage for an ageing ‘super star’ and his movies which can be best described as contorted sci-fi action films sprinkled with female subordination and a good dose of Indian masala. In this post, I am more concerned about the demi - god status that has been accorded to Rajni and why he might not deserve that. Now let me just present the facts as they are and explain why I (and probably many others) feel this way about Mr Rajni.


Let’s accept it; Mr Rajni is not the best of actors. Rajni is high on style but not equally loaded on substance. His dialogue delivery is still poor and his diction is downright bad, this after spending more than 3 decades in the Tamil film industry! His comedy tracks are rather monotonous, revolving around slithering snakes and wandering ghosts. His versatility too is in question. For the past decade or so, Mr Rajni could only been seen acting in one genre, commercial mass movies. Minus his style and Mr Rajni is nobody. Rajni will soon find himself getting a good run for his money with loads of teenagers, who are just as good in delivering style, entering the movie scene these days.


Now let’s get down to Mr Rajni as an individual. Be it regional loyalties or his secular identity, Rajni always seems to be in a state of confusion and inaction. Rajni keeps harping about how he will forever be grateful to Tamil Nadu and her people for his current status and fame but has nothing much on record to prove his gratefulness other than the odd charities run by him and his fans. With his influence and clout, Rajni could easily been a harbinger of change to the society he is living in but choose to take the beaten path by appealing to the crass and mediocre. His films usually have ‘arrogant female characters’ whom he ‘tames’ and eventually manages to make them fall at his feet. Mr Rajni has only recently moved away from pandering to male chauvinists after sensing the poor reception to such silly & childish tendencies.


They say charity begins at home but that’s not the case with Rajni. Mr Rajni’s most controversial brush with women’s rights came when infamously proclaimed that ‘more the girls stay in the house, the better while it is the reverse for the boys’. The last time I checked, Mr Rajni had two extremely successful and enterprising daughters who obviously could not have ‘stayed at home’ as their father seems to prescribe for the rest of the population. Now, let me be clear here. Rajni is free to bring up his daughters the way he likes it but at the same time he has to preach what he practices.


It is a no brainer that Rajni has thousands, if not lakhs, of fans belonging to the minority community. But he mercilessly broke their hearts when he visited and received the ‘blessings’ [read political patronage] from the leader of a political outfit which has often openly professed its hatred to select communities and rejected the idea of India as a secular society. Again, Mr Rajni is free to visit whoever he wants but he cannot act as an angel and at the same time have dinner with the devil.


Let me provide clarification here before I sign off. I am NOT a Rajni basher. I have relished watching many of his movies. I liked and even loved his style and I do accept he that he is among top rung of actors in South Indian cinema. But Rajni certainly doesn’t deserve this much attention and fanfare and certainly cannot be regarded as the best actor of our times. Yes he may be one of the best but nowhere close to being the best, either professionally or personally.

P.S. Now all the above might and probably will apply to many actors in India. But I have intentionally narrowed down the scope to Rajnikanth, the ‘super star’...:)