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Sivaji - World Wide Reporting |
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June 21, 2007 |
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Sivaji - Revolutionizing
Indian Cinema :
“Chumma Adhirudhile" is the oft repeated punch
line in "Sivaji - The Boss". Indeed, the reverberations
of this massive production and its worldwide release might
just have shaken up the landscape of Indian cinema.
And not a moment too early.
I've been following movie fans from southern region of
India seething with indignation at "IIFA" awards
which shamelessly touts unity in diversity whilst considering
only Hindi movies as "Indian". But all they
could do was vent vitriolic vituperation over the relevant
online forums. The common man is quite powerless in ocean
of humanity called India.
Rajnikanth is anything but common. In combination with
Shankar and A.R. Rahman under the experienced banner of
AVM studios, Rajni might have laid a brand new pathway
(like the CGI ones in the film) which could be his greatest
legacy...yet.
Released in 25 countries and smashing records with panache,
Sivaji has made the world sit up and take notice of the
fact that Indian cinema is not just sugarcoated song and
dance routines made to the backdrop of glamorous characters
and richness which are a far cry from the "real"
India.
Well, isn't Indian cinema all about escapism?
Of course! But Sivaji portrays the different genre of
escapism, unabashedly catering to the classic Dravidian
adrenalin rush in the macho vicarious pleasure of rising
up against the system and aiming for the greater common
good. And that, the world and rest of India cannot but
notice is in stark contrast to setting new standards in
longer marriage-based themes or blindly aping the western
culture.
For Bollywood socio-political themes have remained parallel
low budget fare but for the occasional Mani Ratnam, RGV
or Amir Khan movies or the rare Munnabhai.
The apt frame of reference for big budget Bollywood remains
Broadway and for south Indian cinema, it is fantasy "Fahrenheit
911".
Sivaji is extending to more screens in north India based
on audience curiosity. One can only hope that this leads
to all major south Indian production houses earmarking
an extra crore to make sure that their work gets subtitled
and released at least in major centers all over India
without fail.
What Bollywood has failed to do so far is wed its humongous
access to money and markets to the real talent in that
industry. Probably due of the traditional dynasty worship
which seems to have led to the natural evolutionary dumbing
down that results from inbreeding! Yet time and again
the real talent has revealed itself in sparks in the small
budget, smaller releases or in the unforgivable tagging
along of gems like Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav, Nasseeruddin
Shah etc., onto the miserable ego-trips splashed around
as art.
"Sivaji" might not be the quality realism peppered
with fantasy (not the other way round as the world has
come to understand "Indian" cinema through the
Bollywood lens) that forms the mainstream cinema of south
India, it may not have the strength of script that demands
repeat viewing, it may not have dramatic sequences designed
to bring out the best in the actor but it definitely is
a path breaker, a path along which regular south Indian
cinema with all the above mentioned attributes can reach
a wider audience...let's start with "Dasavatharam"
!
~Arun Surendran
Email: mallusarun@gmail.com
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