Rajinimania

I am not a fan of Rajinikanth. I decided to write this blog after seeing the hype around the release of his new movie 'Sivaji - The Boss'.

Facts about Rajinikanth:

Original Name: Shivaji Rao Gaekwad

Current Profession: Movie Actor
Film industry: Tamil (India)

Movies acted: 170 (100 in Tamil alone)

Next project: Sultan - the warrior (animated movie to be directed by his daughter)

Salary for last Movie: About $9,000,000

Status: Super Star - Tamil Film Industry

Registered fan clubs: 69,000 (as per claims in Indian TV channels)

Alumnus of: Madras Film Institute (Batch of 1974)

Previous Profession: Bus Conductor - BMTC, Bangalore

Rajinikanth a.k.a Shivaji Rao Gaekwad is the reigning 'Super Star' of Tamil Film Industry. He's the highest earning actor in India and probably the second highest earning actor in Asia after Jakie Chan from Hong Kong. His latest movie 'Sivaji - the Boss', released on June 15 is running to packed houses. The movie is released in Tamil Nadu, Andhrapradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Bombay, Pune, New Delhi (All in India), Srilanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Middle East, USA & UK. The movie will be shortly releasing in Japan. The movie was produced at a cost of $13,000,000 using the best technical talents in the Tamil Film industry by AVM Productions, the oldest and the largest film production house in the Tamil Film Industry.

Rajinikanth made is film debut in 1975 as a supporting actor. He then acted in negative roles for sometime before getting opportunities to act as a hero. While in his earlier films he got a chance to display his acting skills, he's more famous for his style and on-screen mannerism. He got the title of 'Super Star' in 1987. Since that time only three of his movies have failed to make a profit in the box office. Most of his movies are formula movies targeted at youngsters filled with 'punch dialogues' and logic defying stunts. The amount of adulation that his fans have for him would put any Hollywood actor to shame.

Whether we like him as a actor or not, his rags-to-riches true story is an inspirational one. Rajinikanth a Marati by birth, lost his parents when he was a kid and was brought up by his elder brother. As an youth he worked as a bus conductor with BMTC in Bangalore. With the help and support of his friends he joined the Madras Film Institute, Chennai. In a career spanning 32 years he has become the most successful actor in the whole of South India commanding the appreciation and respect of film personalities across India.

Heroes and Fans (Part 2)

There is no limit on the amount of influence that our heroes can have over our lives or the extent of adulation that we would have towards them. Not to mention about the activities that we would do as a result of this adulation and influence. People might cry while watching the concert of their famous rock star/band (e.g.Beatles), might cry when their famous sportsperson/ team looses (e.g.Steffi Graf, Brazil's soccer team). And if its India or Pakistan, fans might throw water bottles on the opposition players if their national cricket team is about to loose their match.

Why do rational people become irrational when it comes to their heroes? Indian Cricket Team lost its world cup (1996) semifinal match against Sri Lanka by default because angry Indian fans at Eden Gardens Stadium, Calcutta started throwing water bottles on the fielding Srilankan side. This is probably the first and only instance where a match was awarded to a team by default - what a national shame! Every now and then we find supporters of one political party clashing with supporters of a different political party, fans of one football club clashing with fans of opposition football club etc. Fans might stop a match, burn books, effigies, posters of their fallen heroes. Why do people resort to such activities?

Heroes and Fans (Part 1)

Most of us are ordinary human beings. Not many people celebrate us or our activities and achievements. We go about doing our day to day activities with ease and sometimes with a great sense of satisfaction. The trouble is there are a million other people who are similar to us, do similar activities with the same favorable results. Therefore there is no one to notice or appreciate our actions other than our family or close friends. As minutes become hours, hours become days and days become years we continue with the same or similar line of activities. We get bored... bored to the core and enervated!

And that's when we look for entertainment and inspiration. Entertainment of relax and inspiration to carry on with our day to day activities with a certain amount of enthusiasm and confidence. Entertainment can take various forms - sports, movies, music, theatre, books, painting etc. As we try various sources of entertainment, we develop a liking to certain form of entertainment. Some people prefer music over sports, others prefer movies over books and so on. Not to mention that each form of entertainment would have hundreds or thousands categories.

As we continue to follow one form of entertainment over a period of time, we develop a liking to certain active players in that form of entertainment. Over time this liking develops into an adulation. These active players in a particular entertainment field become our heroes and we their fans. Not to forget that we can have heroes in fields outside the entertainment arena itself (our family, school, national politics etc.). And from this moment onwards, the activities of our heroes will start influencing our life in some way or the other. Some of us might follow their lead and enter the same field like our heroes (choosing writing as a career because we like Michael Chricton for example), others might follow their style of dressing, still others might become very serious advocates of the cause with which their heroes are associated with (e.g. Live Strong - wrist band)