Enthiran - Now, this movie is pure genius. It is very clear that Shankar was never told about the law of diminishing marginal utility. The movie is based on "You think one Rajnikanth is good, two are better, what about this?". Shankar essentially looked at Kamalhasan's Dasavatharam and said "I see your 10 and raise you 1300". I am hoping Kamal did not blink.
Now, people would have told you how the plot is inane, that the chemistry between Aishwarya Rai and Rajnikanth more than matches India's contribution to the world of numbers - zero. But, remember, a Rajnikanth movie is not about all that, the last Rajnikanth movie with a plot was Thalapathi, and that was stolen from the dude Vyasa. And heroines are usually mere props for defining that thala is the thala of all the thalas in the whole world. Anyone who is not ok with this can go take a walk, and that is that.
Now, if only these overreacting, elitist, hyper-analyzing, jealous north-Indian film critics were not there, we would picked up an Oscar or two by now. The film critics just dont get it. They think a review is about appearing pseudo-intellectual. A film review about a Rajnikanth-starrer is straightforward - say it is the best ever and get on with it.
Now, there is just this one crib I have about the movie and the reviews. Before I get into that, let me give some background. I am bona-fide South Indian - dark, Rajni-loving, hindi-bashing, supertam with a hint of paunch to get closer to 100% certification. As is mandatory for all Tamilians, I did my tamiltriotic duty and watched the movie at the first opportunity. I also promptly did the 'totally worth a watch' and "Thala is awesome". I would have even gone on to the now obligatory 'the Hindi guys can never create quality cinema like this' in 1-2 weeks. But, this time it was different. I was brushed aside by this amazing love in in Tamil. It was like the state had been taken over by the TV channels (this is partly true) and they were organizing a wedding show co-directed by Karan Johar and Sooraj Bharjatya. There was just so much love.
And this has got me very pained. Why did I not get an invite for the love in? Who assumed that I would not have been able to trump K.Balachander's paen to Shankar? Am I any less Tam than these others? Don't I believe that Sadagopan Ramesh did not go on to play 100 tests purely because he is Tam?
I was just not in the loop. Whoever is giving out the messages, please drop me an email next time around. I would not want to miss the opportunity to participate in any attempt at creating a self-fulfilling prophecy (I wake up every morning and chant - "I am really good" 108 times). The whole country is anyway in on this one now - replace the I am good with "India is great" and you could be on the media by end of the week. I would hate to be a non-conformist. I do not want to miss out. Because as I said, I am awesome.
