The two great idols

I am not a movie buff basically, but I do watch a lot of movies. Besides watching Rajini movies, I prefer watching a few selected movies again and again. One of them is Virumaandi. I happened to watch it recently and that made me write this article. Now, don’t raise your eyebrows. I am a die-hard Rajini fanatic, but I never dislike Kamal. He is indeed a rare phenomenon in the Indian Film Industry. With a bundle of talents in him, Kamal has the potential to take Indian cinema to the next level. Virumaandi is one movie, which showcases his all-round talents – direction, screenplay, singing and of course acting. The screenplay of this particular movie is so brilliant which is a best example of Kamal’s direction skills.

I don’t really understand one thing. Most of the IT nerds, topnotch guys who are Kamal’s fans take pride in criticizing Rajini’s movies as dumb. They think that they are the most intelligent audience in the world and sound like they have never seen any Tamil movie. Let me put this question to them – Just look back at Kamal’s career. Where did he come from? What kind of movies was he acting in the 80’s? He may now give flamboyant movies like Hey Ram, Anbe Sivam, etc., but what about movies like Sakalakalavallavan which was a blockbuster in the 80's? Both Rajini and Kamal were acting the same kind of movies. Kamal’s zeal for cinema drives him in trying out various things, risking the producer’s money. Anbe Sivam and Hey Ram are masterpieces, but they were utter flops. It becomes difficult for the common people to understand his movies, though they bear a significant message.

Rajini, on the other hand has always been the czar of the box office. Though Baba was a flop (as per Rajini’s standards), the loss was made up as the money was returned to the distributors by the superstar himself. This is a known story though.

Sivaji – The much expected movie which is already a super hit, is approaching its 100th day. Lot of people complaint about the logic of the story, but with Rajini and Shankar, both the super-hero and the super director, its no wonder that a “larger than life” story has come out in grand style. Labeled as India’s costliest movie ever, you cannot expect this movie to be so realistic and very story-oriented. Shankar’s stories have always been a fantasy. For brainy people who discuss about the missing logic in this movie, I would like to say one thing – We all know that the black money issue cannot be sorted out the way it has been portrayed in the movie, but at least we can be happy that it has happened on the silver screen! The movie was very much enjoyable and entertaining. Understandably, this is a huge business. Nearly 60 crores of investment has to be taken back and then the profits are to be made. Returns would only come if the movie is like this and not like Anbe Sivam. We all know that Kamal’s “Marudhanayagam” is a world-class effort, but who is ready to fund for it?

It’s always not wise to compare a Lion and a Tiger. Both Rajini and Kamal are here for different purposes. If Kamal takes his movies to Oscar nominations, Rajini’s movies set a fire in the box-office all over the world. I personally feel that both of them did not get the recognition they really deserve. Only the bollywood stars are seen as the representatives of Indian Cinema. In terms of fan-following or business, tamil cinema is infact far better than the bollywood, except that Bollywood movies are watched by almost all people across the country whereas tamil movies are being marked as regional movies. Otherwise, our idols - both Rajini and Kamal would've reached the pinnacle by now!

Kamal amazes...
Rajini inspires !!