VISITOR COLUMN

"The silent guardian...A watchful protector...The dark knight!'' Words that are more than enough to send adrenaline levels to pump up for those who watched Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy. Even after 75 plus years since Batman’s inception by Bob Kane, the characters stayed alive amongst the masses through comic strips and animated TV series. Now that Nolan has redefined the art of superhero filmmaking through his trilogy de grande, let’s pry on what would be the case when our own superstars get casted as characters at Gotham City.
 

1. SIVAJI GANESAN as HARVEY DENT/TWO FACE

You should, well, be baffled on seeing the striking similarities between Mr.Ganesan in “Deiva Magan” and Aaron Eckert in “The Dark Knight”. Perhaps both are Academy Award nominated movies, our own Nadigar Thilagam portrayed on what was the first Two Face of Indian Cinema with one half of his face with heavy scar burns. The pain, the angst, the hatred all came in pouring from the textbook of emotions which made him in my possible substitute for Two Face. And well, do we need explanation for how a city bigwig Harvey Dent should look? Chevalier can pull it off like a boss.

2. PRAKASH RAJ as COMMISSIONER GORDON:

K-Town's Mr. Versatile certainly looks like a perfect substitute for reprising the cult portrayal by Gary Oldman. Prakash can look tender, caring while 'wrapping around a young boy's shoulders' and at the same time, is capable of pulling off the cold faced thirst to pin down the criminals, including the unconquerable Joker. You won’t be surprised if he comes up with one of his trademark one-liners referring Batman “Chellam ! Seriyaana nerathula vandhuta di !” (Yo darling, came at the right time !)

3.NAGESH as ALFRED PENNYWORTH:

Loyal,caring,supportive,humour sensed, ageless butler. Sir Nagesh, the greatest comedian our industry has produced, will fit to a T as Batman’s servant. One scene which came into my mind was the sequence in VasoolRaja MBBS where he breaks down to tears on hearing that his son has lied him about his wellbeing , well comparable to Michael Caine’s “I’ve betrayed you Master Wayne ! ” in the pre climax shot of TDKR. Oh wait, not the next Michael Caine but the first Nagesh, because... “Adhaan Nagesh!”

4.SATHYARAJ as LUCUS FOX:

The man who owns an extreme screen presence looks to be the top contender for Morgan Freeman’s role in Tamil. Coming up with a tall build, he stays calm, underplays and once he’s given the chance by Bruce Wayne to track Joker, goes out all the way to make his performance talk.

5.RAGHUVARAN as RA’s AL GUL:

“Criminals thrive in the indulgence of societies!” Arguably the most pivotal character in the Trilogy, who creates Batman and comes on infinite times to destroy Gotham city. Liam Neasson’s immortal pathfinder role looks a perfect fit for Raghuvaran, who can take away the honours with his dark voice and never seen before body language which he improvises for big time roles like in Mudhalvan and Baasha . Imagine him saying “Naan sonnen la..Enna yaaralum azhikka mudiyaadhu nu” ,puffing a cigarette on his own. Come back alive sir !

6.DHANUSH as SCARECROW:

Dhanush’s constant portrayal of a mentally ill, bipolar disorder victim allowed him to show the two opposite sides of humanity-one who can look lean and mean Dr.Jonathan Crane and much threatening Scarecrow to frighten you out of your senses.

7.KAMAL HAASAN as BANE:

The legend has proved already that he can have a zeal ahead of the filmmakers in Hollywood, inspiring Quentin Tarantino to go for animated gore scenes in “Kill Bill” through Aalavandaan and adapting Robert Ludlum’s Bourne novels as “Vetri Vizha” much before Matt Damon entered the movie field. Kamal’s macho,bestial,monstrous demonic portrayal of an abandoned psychopath in “Aalavandaan” is well in sync with the giant human monster Bane years before Nolan’s adaptation. And here, you don’t need special mentions about his histrionics, do you ?

8.AJITH KUMAR as BRUCE WAYNE/BATMAN:

Here we come, to the pivotal part of the trilogy-The Batman himself. Ajith’s dark and sober persona off screen-the ‘n’ number of falls and rises he went through in real life makes him, the top contender for the title role, edging slightly ahead of Ilayathalapathy Vijay, who almost made it into the list. And the interesting aspect is that the punchlines written from Bruce Wayne’s perspective reflect his real life career either – “Why do we fall ? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up !” or “Its not that you are underneath. Its what that defines you.” It won’t be difficult for a Formula 3 racer to ride the Batmobile Tumbler either.

9.RAJNIKANTH as JOKER:

The biggest badass of all ! Thinks of nothing but chaos... No list is complete without The Superstar and I’ve reserved the best for him in this countdown. Rajni’s sheer charisma that made even the most menacing form of villainy look enjoyable-be it Vettayan in “Chandramuki” or Chitti version 2.0 in “Enthiran”. The latter featured a scene where Thalaivar tries to vent out his tyranny to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, well comparable to Joker’s “You wanna know how I got these scars?” to Rachel Dawes. Heath Ledger as Joker and Rajni as Chitti had their own extreme ways of showing sarcasm with a cunning laugh of their own. “Legends do it unique” goes the old saying.