Of real and reel life

" I consider it as a great privilege to have worked with the last four chief ministers of Tamil Nadu" - Manorama, South Indian actor and the Guiness record holder for the highest number of films

LK Advani points out in his autobiography 'My Country, My Life' that religion is the soul of India. Well cinema would come a close second. This is true for the whole of India but the passions which cinema arouses south of the Godavari would definitely be more than its northern counterpart.

A lot of my friends from the north have expressed surprise at the maniacal following of film stars in South India, the demi god status accorded to them and at the seemingly invisible boundary that seperates reel world and the real murky world of politics. This has always been the case especially in TN and Andhra and to some extent in Karnataka (Kerala as usual is an anamoly). TN has been governed for the last three decades solely by cinema artists. Now what is that makes Kodmbakkam the stepping stone for politics.

There can be a lot of reasons- the strong roots of the Tamil language, a extremely professional cinema industry, strong theatre culture all resulted in kollywood having a voice and conscience of its own which most states dont enjoy even now. But the single most important factor is how cinema was used to propogate the Dravidian movement. Much before Amitabh Bachan's legend as an 'Angry young man' grew, Maruthur Gopala Ramachandran Menon had stormed the hearts and the box offices in a never before witnessed fashion. With roles that projected him as the saviour of the down trodden and the vanquisher of the evil, he singlehandedly charmed an entire state which voted him to power three consecutive times and would still have if he had stayed alive. An impressive achievment for a man born in ceylon and a malayali by birth.

The appetite had been whetted and the search for the next superstar began. It arrived in the form of Shivaji Rao Gaekwad popularly called Rajnikanth. But wheras MGR did roles sugar coated in goodness, Rajnikanth started off as the quintessential bad guy with negative roles and a equally volataile off screen existence. The transformation to a superstar was slow but definite and without actually propogating any poiltical messages in his films Rajini has arguably managed to match MGR's popularity. His movies call for impropmtu celebrations in all households. My grandmom has gone to the theatre 3 times in the last 5 yrs and no points for guessing the names of the movies.

Vijaykanth,Napolean, Sarthkumar all have plunged into politics claiming themselves as the succesor to MGR but only Rajini has the potential to match the matinee idol. He turned down Narashima Rao's request to lead the TN Congress Party in 1996 and his movies since then have played down his entry to politics without ruling it out completely.

Last weel he surprisingly surfaced at the Hoggenakel project protests and whipped up a frenzy. Others spoke more eloquently but no one created the impact he had, an eerie parallel to MGR who has never a great orator in the mould of Karunandhi but definitely more effective. Will Rajini be able to resist power.Only time will tell but history has given a clear verdict.