Kaththi – A Dope of Entertainment and Advocacy

When you buy a ticket for Vijay-starrer, it means a roller coaster ride of comedy, emotions, romance and of course, action. Kaththi does not make any exception to this and fulfills the demands of the Izhaiya Thalapathi fans. The movie is executed in the best possible way for such an entertainer, much better than Thalaiva.

Kaththi has message, not logic; it has entertainment, not banal stuff; it has performances not artisanship...overall, it is a Diwali present to be enjoyed without much hesitation. Most importantly, it has characters who I could find around myself unlike the Bollywood garbage where all characters live in some foreign countries and try to act like any other Hollywood actor had done in his latest flick. In Kaththi, as in all Tamil movies, individuals are not fiber or foam personalities, they are persons in flesh and bones who would react to the situation as anybody living 10-15 kilometers from me would. It is Indian way of living, no doubt about it.

The storyline is as old as it could get. One is forced to think - had Dadasaheb Phalke not made a mythological movie, he would have settled for something similar. A fugitive  criminal taking up the cause of his look alike in forced circumstances spans the narrative of the 166-minute movie, direected by A. Murugodass. In Thuppaki, he infused dose of Patriotism. In Kaththi, he ventures into the realm of activism. There was no need to hint at the communist ideology of the main character. But the director might have thought that only communists are activists or all activists are communists.

The activist and the criminal both advocate the case of the poor farmers who get a shoddy treatment by police, administration and corporate. The villain, played by Neil Nitin Mukesh, heads a cola company whose swanky office is seen numerous times. For some strange reason, the director has not named the company and even the court mentions it as MNC – nothing else.

The movie raises an important question – who has the right on the underground water? On one side there are farmers and on another multinational giants who are all bent on bending the rules and exploiting the resources, throwing law to the wind. In a unique style, the protagonist recounts a plethora of statistics and there is even a faint mention of Vijay Mallya. Kaththi or Kathiresan, played by Vjiay, says in front of media persons, “A beer producer borrows Rs 5000 crores and fails to repay it. Neither he nor any bank official commits suicide. But a farmer taking loan of Rs 5000 commits suicide.”

What adds interest to the plot and narration is super performance by Vijay. He steals the show all the way in both roles, and in one of the roles, literally. His voice modulation in Jeeva’s character is specially notable. He has even managed to utter few lines in Bengali in the start of the movie.

However, the movie has taken a beating on comedy front. Even though the plot has places where audience cannot but laugh or smile, at least, but it could have been better. A bit of Santhanam or Vadivelu would have been preferable.

Samantha does what all actresses are meant to do – be ready at the spur of the moment to entice, enliven and ensnare the main actor for dance and song sequences.

Personally, Kaththi is the fourth entertainer of the year for me which proved value for my money. The first three movies being ‘Rama Madhav’, ‘Poster Boys’ and ‘Punha Gondhal Punha Mujara’.

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Sivaji-the spoiled status

Thank God, 'Sivaji the boss' is here. The total success of this film has lost its relevance for me and now, one has to resign himself to the fact that the movie has hit the halls. Till now we were only treated to the news of various hurdles coming in the way of this magnum opus of Tamil cinema. In the way, there was so much hype built up by media and Rajini fans that it was hard to forget the film for even a moment. So much so that some news channels had gone overboard to portray this film as the only offering from down south.
Now that the `Sivaji the boss' has just started to make waves in theatres, is it not time to ponder whether this film should have been given a fair treatment in terms of the publicity? First of all, the thing that played all over in the hype-trail of Sivaji was the amount Rajini fetched for this film. Some have quoted this amount to the tune of 16 Crores (160 million) Indian Rupees while others have went ahead to predict the amount to be some 20 Crores. Not dwelling much on this subject, one can only say that how can an actor’s remuneration be an attraction of the film. The expense occurred in the making of a film is not a sure guarantee of the quality for the film. This fact was more than evident in the case of Devdas (2002) starring Shahrukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai. That Sanjay Leela Bhansali, director of the film managed to get away with a success was a case apart. But the fact remains as it is.
As many ardent fans of Tamil movies and Rajinikant himself know, this is not the first time that Rajini has got this much big amount for his presence in film. He has constantly seen his price soaring to sky after the `once-in-a-lifetime’ success of his `Baasha’ in Tamil. The movie catapulted him to the new heights of superstardom and since then he has never looked back. He is since long been the numero uno of the Tamil movie industry. He commands and receives such prices, because distributors and producers believe in him alike. But that amount created ripples in North and people were awestruck with it. How can someone other than Amitabh Bachchan or Shahrukh Khan get this much money? Surely, Director Shankar and AVM Studios, the producers of the `Sivaji the Boss’ must have gone mad, was the common refrain. But that refrain gave way to a remote curiosity, by which the angle of viewing has got twisted.
A Rajini film is a complete entertainer. We have seen this in films like Muthu, Baasha, Padaiyappa and many more. One has to keep in mind while waiting or watching Sivaji. But now people throng and muse themselves, “Hey, let’s see this film. Come, let’s see why this guy has been paid so much for this film?” The reputation of director Shankar, a man known for his extravagant but socially relevant films like Gentleman, Indian (Hindustani), Kadhalan (Hum se Hai Mukabala) and Mudhalvan (Nayak), have been washed away by a wave named Rajinikant, whose own reputation as an actor has been faded away by the new image of highest paid actor in India.
With this background, can one expect a helthy discussion on Rajini’s performance, storyline of the film or music or any other aspect. Rarely one sees a hoopla hijacking a film’s credentials so overwhelmingly. With this background, one only hopes that Rajini’s status as an actor, and not as a highest paid actor be established through Shivaji.
(At the moment this post is written, Sivaji has arrived with a bang and with some rave reviews. In Pune, from where I am writing, the film is scheduled to arrive on 22nd June 2007. It means one has to wait one more week to see Rajini in action. Till then, we have to be satisfied with reading the reviews of the film.)

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Indian movies growing out of all woods

The film industry in India could not have better than this. After witnessing its most successful year in the recent past in terms of box-office collections, the industry is poised to grow even more. And this is not an abstract anticipation of any Bollywoodwallah, it is a studied inference of an American institute.
The PTI recently reported about a report by the Creative and Innovative Economy Centre (CIEC) of George Washington University Law School, wherein the centre has estimated that Indian film industry will grow by more than 15 per cent in the coming year. The reasons attributed are growing number of multiplexes and the availability of digital technology.
What this report did not elaborate, and which I specifically observed some three months ago, that this trend of growth is more evident in Bollywood but it equally, or more precisely more forcefully exist in the regional film industries. The statistical data of these scattered centres of film making does not come up at once and hence it is relegated to the unhidden corners of respective trade papers.
The Bollywood, that now produces Hindi films for mainly urban and overseas audience is considered worth 25, 000 Crores, according to Industry sources. Coming next to it is Kollywood or Tamil film industry which had a turnover of around 23, 155 Crores at the end of year 2005. This year’s data is yet to come by. The second biggest film industry in South India, that is Telugu film industry has a turnover to the tune of 23, 044 Crores.
Even the once near-dead or non-existent industries are gaining or regaining ground in the unprecedented ways. The Marathi film industry was staring at its death just five years ago. But the Shwaas changed it all. The film released in 2004 won a Golden Lotus Award from the President and that provided a much-needed impetus to the Maharashtrian producers. That’s why this year saw as many as 75 films in Marathi language were passed for the release by the Central Certification Board of India, called Censor Board, compared to the two or three on an average in the 90s.
The Bhojpuri films till recently remained in the shadow of the Hindi films. But as the Bollywood turn more and more urban; these films emerged strong with flavor of local themes and talent providing ingredients. Even Bollywood Superstar Amitabh Bachchan has thought it imperative to act in a Bhojpuri film, which was quite unthinkable in the past.
So given this trend, it is hardly surprising that world is anticipating a big growth from Bollywood. The question is, will it take cognizance of the growth of other film industries in India.

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