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| WILL
ENDHIRAN END THE ERA? |
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What
is huge and awesome is not cute and likeable,
most often! This is an unwritten rule
that has been seldom challenged. There
have been many big films over the decades;
larger than life themes, great action,
pertinent messages etc. They were all
admired and were successful. But, those
are perhaps not the ones which stand closest
to our heart and warm our feelings. We
may be great admirers of Nayagan, Hey
Ram, Virumaandi and Devar Magan. But,
it is the small and touching story of
Nallasivam that we like to see again and
again and again. You might have loved
Thalapathi, Basha, Moonru Mugam, Padaiyappa
and a whole lot of such films; but Thillu
Mullu would still hold a special place
in your heart. Amitabh Bachchan fans world
wide would talk about Sholay, deewar,
Shahenshah and Khudaa Gawah, but Yaraana
is still very special. And, there are
people who still remember Arnold for Kindergarten
Cop rather than Terminator.
There is a modern day saying, ‘You
admire people for their strengths, but
love them for their weaknesses’.
That is not to say that we have to start
loving movies with weak stories and performances.
But, when characters get closer to real
life, show frailties that we as people
have within us, then the connection towards
the character and consequently the movie
grows |
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stronger.
We have come through a few decades of cinema where
certain conventions have stopped our lead actors from
appearing as normal human characters in their movies
like – ‘a hero’s hairstyle cannot
get ruffled, let alone be beaten up by others’,
‘a hero must never cry, only show the flames
of revenge in his eyes’, ‘must never feel
jealous (and also appear supremely confident) even
when his girlfriend is chatting away with someone
else’ and ‘must never take help from anyone
else to finish off the villains’.
Such rules might look like rubbish now, especially
after the past two years have repeatedly shown that
there is no golden rule that has to be applied when
characterizing heroes. But, there is no room for complacency
because (as a few releases this year showed) the roots
of this tendency still hold strong in some parts of
the industry.
Endhiran might just spell the end of that era where
heroes had to be ‘Gods on screen’; it
might be the final nail in the coffin and who better
to hammer it in than Superstar himself. What is it
about Endhiran that might stop the ‘demigodism’
on screen? The way Rajinikanth and Shankar agreed
to portray the character of Vaseegaran.
We have lived through an era where all of Rajinikanth’s
characters, at least from the 90s had to embellished,
spruced, seasoned and minced with heroism, punch dialogues
and political overtones for his fans to rejoice. In
one big sweep, Shankar and Rajinikanth decided to
do away with all of that; no half measures here and
no room for doubt. The indications that this is going
to be a one of its kind (and a very different) Superstar
experience come right from the start of the film;
the most sedate Rajinikanth intro since one can remember.
Actually, it is not an intro at all; a calm and steady
camera approaching Rajinikanth from behind; no drum
rolls, no trumpets and most importantly ‘no
intro song’.
How will a scientist behave in real life? That too
a geeky, almost nerdy guy who spends months together
in the lab ignoring calls, mails, SMSs and visits
from his girlfriend. He is obviously not going to
be the ‘Price Charming’, nor is he going
to be super-confident about his wooing skills. And
this too is portrayed as such in the film, with Vaseegaran
feeling jealous and insecure each time his girlfriend
praises his robot, dances with him and calls him a
‘Superhero’. This scientist will also
not be an action hero who can take down even one man
at a time. And, true to this ‘geeky and nerdy’
perception of all scientists, Vaseegaran too has to
resort to a rather desperate trick (watch the movie)
to save his girlfriend from a ruffian. These things
make Enthiran relatable and likeable on a level and
one feels that beyond being a grand spectacle, it
might end up as a movie close to our hearts as well.
Vaseegaran, in spite of being played by the Superstar
is a character that is absolutely real, with all the
weaknesses and flaws that a normal human being would
have. To forego the biggest crowd pulling Superstar
elements like ‘heroism’ and punch dialogues’
in a 150 crore movie is a decision that requires great
courage. But, the courage has paid off. Superstar
and Shankar have shown that there is nothing called
an ‘image’ for an actor. If Superstar,
with 30 years of supreme stardom and fan following
can break the mould, then everyone can. Tamil cinema’s
era of the infallible hero may just have ended!
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| Tags
: Endhiran,
Rajinikanth,
Aishwarya
Rai,
Shankar,
SUN
Pictures,
AR
Rahman |
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