Long Live Rajni Saar
I guess I must have completely lost my mind or become delusional yesterday. For some strange reason I was watching the telecast of the movie 'Mother 98' starring the evergreen Rekha. I must say the director, Sawan Kumar, has worked very hard to make a pathetic movie, using such vahiyat PJ’s, that it actually makes me think that my PJ’s are intelligent.
The movie shows that Rekha messes around with three yesteryear heroes – Jeetendra, Randhir Kapoor and Rakesh Roshan in order to finance her fathers medical cost. All her efforts do not succeed to save her ailing father but definitely succeed in getting her pregnant. Than on the advice of some social service lady she convinces each of her suitors that ‘he’ is the father of the child and asks them to send her a cheque every month to be able to take care of the child. She than escapes to Mauritius and registers her name there as Mrs. Brittannia. On being questioned on why she chose such an absurd name she says:
Rekha: “I was at the principals’ table trying to get an admission for my daughter. I was asked her fathers name. I don’t know who the real father was and saw a packet of Britannia Marie gold biscuits in front of me. So I adopted that name!!!”
She even justifies that by saying, there was a ‘Thumbs Up’ bottle next to it, and I couldn’t say my name was Mrs. Thumbs Up!!!!!!
At that point I was convinced that there was something seriously wrong with me and took the inevitable step of switching off the TV and going to bed. However, I kept wondering how much the poor movie goer has to suffer thanks to such deplorable movies. Another example that immediately comes to mind is the movie ‘Apne’, where the audience need to bear the brunt of Dharamendra and his two sons in the same movie!! Even the advertisement of the movie is unforgettable where a little boy opens the door to his father and exclaims –
“Mummy Mummy, dekho Papa Apne ki DVD laye hain. Chalo, sab lok milke dekhte hain”
Somehow my thoughts took me back to the one and only Tamil movie I had seen at a theatre, with my roomies last year, ‘Sivaji – The Boss’ starring the ever so young and dynamic ‘Rajni Sir’. Even at the ripe age of 60, he successfully manages to enthral the audience with his awesome acting, dance and action that would leave the best karate and kung-fu fighters behind.
Our dear ‘curd-e-tarian’ friend had called us to enquire if he should pick up a couple of free tickets that his company was providing to all its employees. SAP had booked three shows at the theatre for its employees, following the footsteps of other IT giants like Infosys, Wipro and Accenture who had booked all 4 shows for 3 consecutive days to appease their large workforce. We convinced him to pick not 2 but 7 tickets in total, simply because such irresistible offers don’t come often in one’s lifetime. 6 of us arrived at the Innovative theatre in Marthalli and sold one ‘free’ ticket to sponsor our samosas and cold drinks, unknowing that all Rajni fans get free snacks and drinks inside the cinema hall.
The movie began with the display of ‘Superstar RAJNIKANT’ spread across the screen in font size 600, to the thunderous claps and whistles of the spectators who had surrounded us. This was followed by the display of the movie name in the lower right corner in font 10. Not often does one get to see such scenarios that clearly depict that it the ‘Star’ you have come to see, not the movie.
The first scene shows the ‘Great One’ behind bars and than proceeds to recap to the events that lead him to that position. The story, which I actually liked, revolves around a US based millionaire ‘Sivaji’ who returns home to Chennai with a noble desire to build a hospital and school for the poor. He is, however, caught up in the complicated world of corruption. His resolve to fight the sin sees him loosing all his wealth and fame and leaves him with just a Re 1 coin. He than decides to abolish his goody image and fight fire with fire. He uses force to black mail all the politicians and beat them at their own game. He goes back to the US and gets huge funding from well-to-do NRI’s and opens schools and hospitals starting in little villages. His new Robinhood image draws the hatred of his biggest enemy who plots to have him arrested and than murdered. The ‘Great One’ however pre-empts this move and plans his own death, only to return as the bold and bald MGR. MGR is the highly influential builder who is no match to the villain and finally pushes him to his death from the terrace of his college, thus proving that sinners will always go to hell, no matter how influential they are on earth.
The story becomes secondary to the awesome screen presence of ‘Rajni Sir’. Not a single moment passes without the applause of the people. The opening song with Nayanthara also features some big bellied Tamilian male dancers who have happily tattooed Rajni’s face on their surface area of their stomachs. The remaining songs with the beautiful heroine Shriya Saran are a must see for every citizen of this planet.
Here are some scenes which are just unthinkable for normal humans and can only suite the charisma that is Rajnikant.
The movie shows that Rekha messes around with three yesteryear heroes – Jeetendra, Randhir Kapoor and Rakesh Roshan in order to finance her fathers medical cost. All her efforts do not succeed to save her ailing father but definitely succeed in getting her pregnant. Than on the advice of some social service lady she convinces each of her suitors that ‘he’ is the father of the child and asks them to send her a cheque every month to be able to take care of the child. She than escapes to Mauritius and registers her name there as Mrs. Brittannia. On being questioned on why she chose such an absurd name she says:
Rekha: “I was at the principals’ table trying to get an admission for my daughter. I was asked her fathers name. I don’t know who the real father was and saw a packet of Britannia Marie gold biscuits in front of me. So I adopted that name!!!”
She even justifies that by saying, there was a ‘Thumbs Up’ bottle next to it, and I couldn’t say my name was Mrs. Thumbs Up!!!!!!
At that point I was convinced that there was something seriously wrong with me and took the inevitable step of switching off the TV and going to bed. However, I kept wondering how much the poor movie goer has to suffer thanks to such deplorable movies. Another example that immediately comes to mind is the movie ‘Apne’, where the audience need to bear the brunt of Dharamendra and his two sons in the same movie!! Even the advertisement of the movie is unforgettable where a little boy opens the door to his father and exclaims –
“Mummy Mummy, dekho Papa Apne ki DVD laye hain. Chalo, sab lok milke dekhte hain”
Somehow my thoughts took me back to the one and only Tamil movie I had seen at a theatre, with my roomies last year, ‘Sivaji – The Boss’ starring the ever so young and dynamic ‘Rajni Sir’. Even at the ripe age of 60, he successfully manages to enthral the audience with his awesome acting, dance and action that would leave the best karate and kung-fu fighters behind.
Our dear ‘curd-e-tarian’ friend had called us to enquire if he should pick up a couple of free tickets that his company was providing to all its employees. SAP had booked three shows at the theatre for its employees, following the footsteps of other IT giants like Infosys, Wipro and Accenture who had booked all 4 shows for 3 consecutive days to appease their large workforce. We convinced him to pick not 2 but 7 tickets in total, simply because such irresistible offers don’t come often in one’s lifetime. 6 of us arrived at the Innovative theatre in Marthalli and sold one ‘free’ ticket to sponsor our samosas and cold drinks, unknowing that all Rajni fans get free snacks and drinks inside the cinema hall.
The movie began with the display of ‘Superstar RAJNIKANT’ spread across the screen in font size 600, to the thunderous claps and whistles of the spectators who had surrounded us. This was followed by the display of the movie name in the lower right corner in font 10. Not often does one get to see such scenarios that clearly depict that it the ‘Star’ you have come to see, not the movie.
The first scene shows the ‘Great One’ behind bars and than proceeds to recap to the events that lead him to that position. The story, which I actually liked, revolves around a US based millionaire ‘Sivaji’ who returns home to Chennai with a noble desire to build a hospital and school for the poor. He is, however, caught up in the complicated world of corruption. His resolve to fight the sin sees him loosing all his wealth and fame and leaves him with just a Re 1 coin. He than decides to abolish his goody image and fight fire with fire. He uses force to black mail all the politicians and beat them at their own game. He goes back to the US and gets huge funding from well-to-do NRI’s and opens schools and hospitals starting in little villages. His new Robinhood image draws the hatred of his biggest enemy who plots to have him arrested and than murdered. The ‘Great One’ however pre-empts this move and plans his own death, only to return as the bold and bald MGR. MGR is the highly influential builder who is no match to the villain and finally pushes him to his death from the terrace of his college, thus proving that sinners will always go to hell, no matter how influential they are on earth.
The story becomes secondary to the awesome screen presence of ‘Rajni Sir’. Not a single moment passes without the applause of the people. The opening song with Nayanthara also features some big bellied Tamilian male dancers who have happily tattooed Rajni’s face on their surface area of their stomachs. The remaining songs with the beautiful heroine Shriya Saran are a must see for every citizen of this planet.
Here are some scenes which are just unthinkable for normal humans and can only suite the charisma that is Rajnikant.
1. Rajni takes a bath in a bath tub mixed with ‘Fair&Lovely’ cream, Multani mitti and bleaching powder when Shriya tells him that he needs to be fairer to marry her.
2. Rajni also has the skill to make a heavily loaded Mahindra Bolero fly in the air after being damaged by the bad guys and manages to land it better than any Kingfisher pilot lands his flight.
3. Then there is the unforgettable toss of the Re 1 coin. Only Rajni can toss a coin with his right hand, HORIZONTALLY, catch it to his left with the same hand and toss it back to his right and catch it again. The entire thing takes a few nanoseconds and his left hand doesn’t even twitch in that duration. The Vertical toss that follows lands the coin in any one pocket of his choice.
Oh yeah….almost forgot to mention here that the entire movie is in Tamil, which I don’t understand a word of….yet, the movie is enacted in such a way that you understand everything that is happening on the screen.
All in all it was an amazing experience and I would give anything to watch the movie again, especially over movies like ‘Mother 98’ and ‘Apne’. I would even go ahead and recommend all you unfortunate souls who haven’t yet seen the movie to grab your copy and join me in saluting the one and only superhero.
LONG LIVE RAJNI SAAR
Oh yeah….almost forgot to mention here that the entire movie is in Tamil, which I don’t understand a word of….yet, the movie is enacted in such a way that you understand everything that is happening on the screen.
All in all it was an amazing experience and I would give anything to watch the movie again, especially over movies like ‘Mother 98’ and ‘Apne’. I would even go ahead and recommend all you unfortunate souls who haven’t yet seen the movie to grab your copy and join me in saluting the one and only superhero.
LONG LIVE RAJNI SAAR
Comments
Good post dude, but, at the end it should have been Rajni Saar, and not Sir.
BTW, you forgot to mention that I and Hedge tried to sell off all the tickets and go to Leela for lunch. It was only curd-e-tarian's intervention that prevented us from doing that deed.