Kabali da was the most spoken topic last week. This is just my 2 cents on all the buzz around Kabali and Super Star.
Disclaimer: I am not reviewing the movie here. I am yet to watch it. I am not inferring anything based on the online reviews as well.
I always had a problem with categorizing any piece of art as entertainment(not including humor in this category) only. Cinema,to me, is an art of expressing in a visual medium. Having said that, I cannot accept any commercial movies. For long, people of Tamil Nadu have been carried away with the stardom that movies create, so much so that we vest them with a responsibility as high as the chief minister of the state.
Has visual media evolved?
The general answer to this questions is, YES! But how much of this evolution was under control and how much of this evolution are we comfortable with?
One of our dinner table conversations was about the way the visual media has changed over a decade. We came across the 90’s advertisement compilation on YouTube and that led us to some really classic videos of 80s-90s. One common thing during those days was, most of the visual records (be it a commercial advertisement or just a scene from a movie) have been subtle, simple and yet a living room material. Chances of my toddler NOT stumbling upon adult content in her day to day visual medium is nearly 0.
Visual media has the power of making the audience think. Unfortunately, most of them would get us thinking about relationship, couple goals, violence, and goons. Take a look at the Google search for must watch Tamil movies. You can see a pattern in the list. They have a subtle information/idea/thought or at the least enjoyable humor (not the ones that make you cringe). The percentage of new movies that make to the list is pathetically low.
TV commercials again have suffered a painful evolution. Few examples to site, BINGO Mad angles(Truly a MAD commercial) AXE, FOGG, Chennai Amritha etc., Why does any school/college need marketing to attract(lack of a proper word) students?!
But wait, there has been a lot of DIY videos, good tutorials, ease of access to art, information, and documentaries. They are the little portion of the bell curve that tend to lean towards the good evolution.
Should star be looked up to or looked down upon?
Answer: Neither! They are just doing their work and they are paid for the same.
There have been questions floating around under the context of, “Rajini does all this only in movies. What did he actually do in real life?”, “Tamil cinema has been idolizing stalking girls, that is the reason for Swati’s murder!!“. Question to people raising these questions - “From when did you start looking to cinema as a mode of preaching way of living?!”
So you are not a Thalaivar fan?!
Answer: No! I respect his acting skills. But there ends the story. To me, being a fan of some actor not just means watching all his movies umpteen times or screaming your heart out in the First Day First Show. I would like to associate myself with the art and not the actor! Not an iota of doubt in Rajini’s acting skills, but it somehow does not give me light bulb moments every time I watch his movie.
This is one of the reasons why I would like to associate myself with Kamalian school of movies. Blame my recent inclination towards Malayalam movies, I somehow have given up watching commercial movies. Tamil Movie industry has a lot to learn from the Malayalam movie industry. Start conveying something that will make the audience ponder about something after they are done with the movie. Enough of this glamour, heroism, emotional melodrama! There are a lot of subjects that are possible to be visualized with the current state of technology.
Rajini does convey how to lead a simple and spiritual life?
Agreed(Though I have second thoughts around if simple means being humble for the stardom he has?). I acknowledge the fact that he has a personal guru. But again when he tried to convey this using Baba, he did fail pathetically there. Why do we always have to associate spirituality with magical powers and not the clarity of thoughts?
After all these, why do people look to him as THE Super Star?
If he is given this status for his acting skills, I m quite sure that Senior Bachan and Kamal are equally good in acting.
If he is given this status for his mass entertainer genre of movies, MGR, Sivaji and in fact Gounder deserves such status.
If he is given this status for his humble nature, that makes any humble a superstar.
What was conferred as a title in his movie “Bhairavi” turned to be a social status. This concept of title has proliferated to the extent of conferring someone with “Puratchi thalaivar” who has nothing to do with revolution.
This is the sad plight of a society driven and ruled by entertainers and not revolutionary leaders or at the least learned leaders.