The Revenge of Rajnikanth

Well just because you are journalist, you cannot write stuff which are baseless! How do u even say Rajinikanth doesnt possess talent? Have you watched his earlier movies where he stole the show of the menacing Kamal hassan, where he was getting applauses and appreciation on every frame he appeared this was even before he became a superstar infact even before he became a hero....Rajini's got an impeccable style of his own his style of dialogue delivery is unmatched by any comtemporaries who claim themselves to be Dons, Superstars and Badshaahs of Hindi cinema. Yeah Rajinikanth looks average but the manliness which is present in his face can only be wished for by many in India you call it "reassuring Dravidian ugliness" well correct ur vision and senses coz I call it "Manliness". Finally, yes Rajinikanth is mocking us on the screen for the matter of fact people from all around the globe accept the mocks and infact they would like to live in the imaginary world he creates...Only he can create such magic on screen even the most stupidest act would still be appreciated with enthusiasm by the masses reason, it's simple, it's Rajinikanth - The ever green darling of masses and king of style!

Dear Manu Joseph,

Your "analysis", as much as you hate the word, seems to be devoid of a proper "understanding" and contemplation of Rajnikanth and his not so apparent skills.
There is a serious misunderstanding of Rajnikanth's talent on your part as you seem oblivious to the early days of his movie career. The sheer range of characters that he portrayed as an artist would surprise you to say the least. Considering your interpretation of "talent", You will be surprised to know that Rajnikanth made his mark in Tamizh, "Art" cinema (and one of the first to do so), with none other than the legendary Balachander himself. So essentially, to consider him as an escapist in his present Avatar is a fallacy. In short, he is an actor and if you still are reading this, you should probably treat yourself to B/W tamizh movies where he is cast with/opposite Kamal Hassan and you should in all your reasonableness see, who is the better actor. Also, if possible, develop a better perception of beauty and ugliness. Again I should emphasize your lack of knowledge of Tamizh cinema, and perhaps if you care to comment on the subject more often, I suggest you read "tamil Cinema: The cultural poilitics of India's other film industry"

Wishing you the best

A Aravind Bharathi

Well said Mr. Aravind Bharathi. This is the most dumbwitted article that I have read on Rajnikanth !!!

Dear Manu Joseph,

Find a sharp stick and shove it in your right ear. If it comes out through the left, you know what your problem is.

thanks

An Ugly Dravidian

Respected All knowing writer who spent 20 years in Madras, i have been an avid reader of
i do agree in parts, like the increasing fake rajni fans who think it is cool. But i dont see why should bring in the Aryan-Dravidian debate into everything, " Dravidian ugliness, and of the deep cinematic insanity of Tamilians"
That's not true of only the south, we make better films than the ones akshay kumar and his buddies churn out every weekend, those again being rip-offs of classic comedies in the language as you say once spoken by Rekha(duh!)
I do not know if it is my cerebral incapability to understand or the lack of clarity in the article, maybe its the 'sarcasm and double sarcasm' you employ.

Basically, Rajnikanth is one who has broken conventions and makes film for his entire fans and that is one of the requirements of a star, there are few clones of Rajni here too but are not given the same respect as the Super Star himself.
The Rajni-Kamal debate again is again a question of choice, both have chosen their own paths and cannot be compared, in fact we people are blessed with such variety that we can choose different kinds of cinema, as opposed to the entire stupidity of Bollywood which makes films about people who do not even live here with every film shot at either US or the UK or both complete with similar Punjabi tunes and absence of any kind of storyline albeit infidelity, screwball comedies and large NRI weddings, oh i almost forgot diseases dug out from remote medical txt books so that some actors wish can be showcased.
To a certain extent Tamil Cinema still stays rooted to the age old principle of telling a story, maybe Rajnikanth is an exception like his predecessor MGR whose ability to draw people from all quarters is as secret as the secret formula of Coca-Cola and 20 years have not taught you anything about Madras.
And its your aryan english intellectual TV channels that are cashing in on the release of Endhiran not the superstar himself.
If only you had something better to write
As Rajni himself would have put it
"Jujubi"
and good luck in trying to teach your mother the cigarette trick!
Cheers

And thus the South Indian(+) market for Manu's polemic popcorn has revealed itself. Don't get me wrong, I love the comments on this one. Hat Tip, Aravind, Feroze, Ugly Dravidian ;)

And Manu, I really enjoyed the article for your seemingly coherent stringing together of 'things you could get away with saying'. No really, some parts of it totally make sense, but that could be because nothing in this world really makes sense.

Anyone who thinks Rajnikant can act or is handsome must get his head and eyes checked. Why the fuck is everyone pointing to his early black and white movies as evidence of his acting ability. Did colour take away his acting and replace it with flying cigarettes. He was someone who played negative roles with exactly four expressions even then. There is a reason why Salman Khan is now being said to be Bollywood's Rajnikant. Because he too cant go beyond four expressions and has to take recourse to stupid gimmicks which passes off for style. But he is a better looking chap, I'll grant you patronising middle class pseudo intellectuals that. You are the same lot who thought Govinda was a disgusting dancer in yellow pants and then quickly made him your darling when he got that critical mass of popularity which has nothing to do with your class but makes it unfashionable to not like him and soon enough made him a buffoon again when his consituency dropped him. If TunTun became a superstar tomorrow, you lot will parrot that she is as beautiful as Priyanka Padukone

In the 20 years that you were in Chennai, did you happen to watch any of these movies - Johnny, Mullum Malarum, Thillu Mullu, Thambiku entha ooru , Thalapathi etc. etc.. I can go on. Do you know that each movie I noted above belongs to a different genre? You have the guts to call him un-talented. Watch the scene where he cries on his mother's lap on seeing her the first time and then tell me this. You think Rajni does not deserve his place. If anything we Rajni fans don't deserve an actor like him. He had to deliberately avoid taking up projects that would have done more justification to his talent. And you think Rajni is ugly? Tell me that after watching Rajni-Sridevi pair in Pokkiri Raja. And finally for you information, Rajni has never hidden his baldness. Have you noticed how he appears in public functions? Tell me one public figure who is humbler than Rajni? But wait a minute do you know what humble means?
You think we are faking to be Rajni fans? Then what are you doing? Faking this piece of intellectual mast***ation to be analysis?

Manu, you say, "It seems absurd to me that a very simple expression in my column ('reassuring Dravidian ugliness') has been misunderstood by so many readers. The expression merely describes a common elitist analysis of Rajni's fame -- that he is so endearing to the masses because he looks like them. To misinterpret those three words as my verdict on Dravidian looks is silly and unfair."

Well, it's either your verdict, or hugely sloppy writing. You're analyzing Ranji. You're saying that there's a theory (yours, presumably, since you build up this imaginary elitist critic - who, I must say, seems to be a lot like you) he's endearing because he looks like 'the masses'. In other words, the masses look reassuringly ugly. If you don't want to be misinterpreted, then don't write in ways that can! It's that simple.

However, there's a much deeper problem with this article. Here you go:
Manu Joseph is a hack. He's part of the ironically hip, contrarian crowd who labours under his own intellectual superiority. In reality, he's a smug bastard, sadly, without even the external trappings of intelligence. Not to mention a receding hairline, which he tries to compensate for by trying his hardest to get his eyebrow to sit on top of his head.

But, to quote Ravi Shastri, I just get the feeling that when he's being this smug, he's mocking us. After all, he does have a new book out. And who would know of Manu Joseph until he did some subtle pot-stirring? I feel he is telling us, you built a world that was so hard on me, a world that needed talent to survive, a world that said it needed good, well-reasoned, sensible commentary to survive. In vengeance, I reveal the truth. Now watch me arch my eyebrow and smile my smug-bastard smile at you, as the comments come rolling in.

You have brought doom upon yourself.

Dear Mr. Chakraborty,

If the article was intended to be about Cinema, Rajnikanth or Chipmunks, it must have not treaded on the territory it so blatantly treaded on. Some of us here don't have an inkling of Manu's race and are not actually interested. The tone of some of the comments is certainly offending and ideally should not be here on this discussion. But alas, when one is posting something on a public forum he/she should be prepared for retaliation. Still, its a free country and as much as you might hate it, every one including Mr. Manu is entitled his 'cyber-space' and freedom to write his mind.

Regards

A Aravind

Dear A Aravind Bharathi & Surya,

The language here is most definitely not the language of people passionate about cinema. I concede that yours is a legitimate opinion told in civil language. But most here are seething with hatred and that has definitely nothing to do with cinema. We can of course talk about Govinda and we can talk about what acting is; on method acting and those who do it spontaneously or those who look at inner motivations of the character (If you see a movie called Marathon Man, two legendary actors Dustin Hoffman and Laureance Olivier have each acted with separate techniques irritating the hell out of each other but pulling off a sensational movie). We can then also talk about what precisely is Rajnikant's acting, beyond what you call 'degree of expressionism' and 'subtle artistry' which to me is an entirely subjective thing because even a saas bahu TV serial actress uses expressionism and subtlety at their own level.
There is however a simpler way of judging an actor's merit and that is by comparing him to other actors when they have played exactly the same character in a different language. And there I would point you to Mohanlal in Manichiitratal, based on whose character Rajnikant acted in Chandramukhi. Akshay Kumar played the role in Hindi. Three actors, Same role. Now you can evaluate. Anyone who has seen the three movies will tell you that Mohanlal was a galaxy ahead in what you call degree of expressionism and subtle artistry.
So also, Rajnikant happens to have acted in a large number of remakes of Amitabh Bachchan cult classics like Deewar and Trishul. I saw one today afternoon called Ilaka. Here too the degree of expressionism and subtle artistry which you set so much store by, is miles ahead in the case of Amitabh, who himself has been very average on most of his later roles.
Whether we 'Dravidians' (and I happen to be one) accept it or not, Rajnikant's stardom has nothing to do with acting. No superstar's following is related to acting. Otherwise Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher would be superstars.
To answer your question on Tun Tun, she used to be an extremely fat Hindi film heroine of the 60s and 70s and Priyanka Padukaone is a cross of Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone, a subtle nuance that I put in and which obviously was lost.

Dude your crappy article is making rounds in twitter now. more and more people are going to hate you. Sad. Wish you had little more brains and cleared those entrance exams.

Ur article is a piece of shit, not even worth a comment. Let me not debase myself by writing in here anymore.

I am sorry for the earlier comment. I am a dumbfuck

i think this guy jus needs some sort of publicity.. all d best !!!

Some people are so jealous that they fail to see what is entertainment and what is not.
lol. go hang yourself and dont watch Rajini movies.

Kinda easy to get reactions when you write something aimed solely to incense people. Your analysis would have been objective if you left out words like clown, or Dravidian ugliness. A few of those words gave away the plot of what you were trying to do.

Journalism is a right..but u have taken it to an extreme level.If u have guts put this article in a known fourm like facebook or twitter...u will surely get change ur job soon to going to write ABCDEF......u are hell of a scared pussy...publish this same artricle in tamilnadu....u will have it..have guts go nahead..pussy MANO PUSSY MANO MPUSSY MANO

Bravo Manu, BRAVO!

I know the kind of Ugly-Dravidian-embracing-pseudo-intellectuals you write of. They would rather listen to the ramblings of a Rajinikanth who suggests auto-drivers give a free ride to a pregnant woman (what the what?!) or that a smart man succeeds by overcoming his fate (LAME!). And the absurdity is heightened by the fact that he usually says all this after nailing a triple axel somersault while catching a bullet with his teeth. Hahaha fool, who does think he is? Some movie star who thinks he can always play fictional larger-than-life characters...like a Arnold Schwarzenegger? Well F-off, cos' Arnold had muscles, which means that it was entirely believable that he could take on invisible aliens or fly fighter planes into Key West and blow up bridges while spouting cheesy one-liners.

But thank your respective Gods that we still can boast of mavericks like the magnificent Aamir Khan who takes his message, pads on a few pounds of subtlety, and bashes it in your face, so we realize that murdering corrupt politicians is what's been holding back the youth of India. Or no wait, that the Indian education system is effed up. I mean, that truth blew my mind so much that it's still wiping off gray matter from its mouth. And all this, while remaining "un-debased" as he grits his teeth and makes that supreme sacrifice of bravely failing to look like a 20yr college kid, just so these monumental truths could pack an extra punch as it made contact with my solar plexus. At least that's why I think I puke after watching his movies.
Bottom-line, my fellow non-pseudo-intellectual friends, Rajinikanth is the only actor in India who has earned his right to be ridiculed. And if that means forwarding more Chuck Norris facts Ctrl-R-All-ed with 'Rajinikanth', then hell yeah, that's what us non-pseudo intellectuals will do. And clueless incendiary articles. That helps too.

BTW, whats with the Tamil Brahmins endearing themselves to Kamal Haasan? Fake appreciation for Rajni you say. Trying to connect two unrelated issues to make sense? Do your reading, and get facts right. I can pick on your Christianity and connect it with your condescending writing. It would make more sense than this crap that you've written.

There are so many presumptions in your article. On what basis do you suggest that Aryans are a superior race? The idea you draw from your initial "analysis", is that good looks may qualify for someone to be a good actor. Pray, are such reasons in any way rational?

Rajnikanth's mass appeal hasn't come about because of his vengeance against intelligence as you suggest. His attitude on the screen, and his 'improbable powers' are essentially factors that provide the drive for people to realize that they can be super-heroes. It is really Nietzsche's philosophy of Superman, that he tries to exemplify through these acts. It is this idea that people rejoice over.

Through these larger than life frames, he serves to showcase and re-assure us of a fundamental moral statement : That good will always truimph over evil, come what may. I am surprised that you see this as a debasement. Quite the contrary!

I must however agree that there is a section of the intelligencia that has a fake adoration for him. However that does not automatically suggest that his mass appeal is simply about "following the black sheep".

Lastly, the Rajni-kamal debate is perhaps one of those most intensely topics discussed in Tamil Nadu. However, I must emphasize that they work on entirely different genres! It is quite a matter of opinion and perspectives you adopt when you choose one over the other.

Thalaivar then, hasn't simply been given the Superstar status for nothing at all. He lives up to it!

"There was something intellectual in calibrating the folly of the dark masses and renaming it ‘phenomenon’." ... Seriously??? You're so openly racist that even Mel Gibson would looks like a jew-supporting-liberal in front of you. Its amazing how people like you still have jobs as writers in journals.

Really dumb article.Please do not ask me "Why did you read?I never asked you to.".That would be dumb too.On second thought,you can actually ask me that because it would perfectly match your article and yourself in the inherent dumbness and Baldness.

Well analyzed piece. In South India, superstars take on cult status and any word of criticism or even a fair commentary on them leads to rabid supporters frothing in the mouth and wreaking violence. When we wonder what makes terrorists so determined and motivated and steadfast in hatred, you need not look further. The comment section here is a good explanation of such behavior.

How to write a Manu Jospeh article:

1. Pick up some one who is famous, respected and loved. (This is important. Why would anyone care to read what you write unless its about someone with a following)

2. Make sweeping judgments, saying why there is no reason to know, respect or love that person. (If you are talking about, let's say Morgan Freeman or Angelina Jolie, say why he or she has absolutely no talent, why they should not be in the acting profession in first place, why they look so ugly).

3. Then divide the admirers into two groups (If it's Morgan Freeman, may be divide the fans into black guys and white guys; if it's angelina jolie say divide the fans into men and women, or americans and rest of the world)

4. Attribute reasons to why the two sets love MF or AJ, despite their ugliness and lack of talent. Make sure you give different reasons. To preempt anyone saying AJ is beautiful or MF is talented, make sure that they are all fake, and deep within they know that MF, Denzel Washington or whomsoever is ugly.

5. Finally, end by saying that this shouldnt stop you from seeing any of their movies. (Or if you are talking about Tennis, this should not stop you from watching Wimbledon or US Open despite Federer's or Nadal's lack of talent and grace)

Dear Manu,
I am an ardent fan of Rajni. This is the first article of yours I read and I absolutely don't have any credits to comment on your work. Still, here goes nothing.
But I wish you would have thought for one moment before publishing this article, how could millions of his fans be wrong, how could all that box office record of his movies be wrong and so on.
And what I don't understand is why you would consider his looks, acting capacity, choice of his movies should be any reason to not to endear him to the masses.

The following review by Sudish Kamath[1] is why I believe I watch thalaivar's movies. What I can't do as a common man, he does it on screen. And when he does it, there are lots of people to believe it, just like me. To me, he is that guy whom I can look upto. He is not a superstar for no reason.
[1] http://sudhishkamath.blogspot.com/2007/06/sivaji-review-of-reviews.html

Thanks,
~Suren

Manu,

The success of Rajinikanth doesn't baffle me at all. People need their Gods and their heroes and so they create them. As simple as that. Rajinikanth is a working man, he does his job, he makes his money. Its the people who have made him the superhero that he is, because that is what they need.

You are obviously not a racist and it is unfortunate that the irony in your tone is being misinterpreted. Regardless, you'd do well to choose your words more wisely. Your message (I, for one actually agree with a lot of what you are saying) is getting lost in your smugness.

For some objectivity, I suggest that you read the work of Sudhish Kamath. And do everything you can to not sound like him. Because you are getting close.

With best wishes,

I challenge you as a man. Try saying whatever you've written at a public place in Chennai. Let's see if you're able to finish your first sentence.

>>There is no reason why Rajnikanth exists, there is no reason why he did not retire as a Marathi bus conductor, and no reason why he instead became the superstar
- this is like saying there is no reason Jesus got resurrected, no reason why he instead is still worshipped.

>>There is nothing in him or in Tamilians that explains his fame. He is the very end of analysis. Some things happen for no reason. And it is no coincidence that the people who really love him are people who do not know that there is a form of employment called analysis.
- so assuring that Christianity is the largest followed religion, mostly in developed nations, assuring that "the people who really love him are people who do not know that there is a form of employment called analysis" but still advanced by all means...

Manu Dude....I told you in the very first comment to this article that you should chill and take it easy. India is at point of time where Aryan/Dravidian/Tamil etc. doesn't matter. I think I am an aryan (not sure though) I dont know what my wife it (Aryan or Dravidian....). I dont dare ask her what she is :-)...dont have a clue what my kids will be...dont bring this idiotic dravadian/Aryan references. When Rahul Dravid scores you dont say that the "ugly Dravidian" scored a ton, do you?or when Virendra Sehwag takes a catch you say the "handsome Aryan" took the catch :-). Dont bring up all this man. Get over with it. As 'Jiah Khan' would have said-take light :-).

hi,
that is an amazing piece of writing, even though you must have known the kind of reaction you would get, still you went ahead and wrote it.
I salute you for that.
If i ever catch you somewhere in real life, be assured, I will kill you.
Hope you have a safe life.
Arun

Dear Writer,
I Think for you 30k INR salary, this is too much too write or comment on a person who has came up in cine world from bottom to top of world. Being a journalist first respect his professional work and write articles for a cause. Dont waste your time by writing cheap articles on any person, who has done better than you. Every part of the world has their own hero. Agree it. Your hero cannot perform here well and vice-versa. Try to highlight the confidence he has on him to attract audience, with his average look. Better you go for other useless job. You are not fit for Journalist unless you have the hear to appreciate, than to keep discriminating any person who is above than you. All the best for your next job :-)

Dear author
you seem to be looking for cheap PR!

How many movies of Rajini have you seen?!

"Manu Joseph became a journalist because he didn’t have to crack any objective-type entrance exam to be one". IT SHOWS!!

Don't kid yourserlf!

Dude,
You just spend 20 yrs in Madras. And seen our Superstar only those 20 years.
Have you ever seen Films like Mulum malarum, Thillu Mullu, 6 il irunthu 60 vaarai, Bhuvana oru kelvi kuri.. Please watch those.

Who ever, what ever, tell or write or shout abt Super star
For All of us
Thalaivar thalaivar tha... :) Superstar Superstar tha...
One Sun one Moon.. One Superstar 
We have a proverb in tamil "Suriyana paathu Nai kulacha naiku tha vaai vaalikum"

"prettier men" - how straight is that??

This is one of the worst ever article i have read in recent times. It is surely written with intolerable raising popularity of Rajinikanth and Tamil Cinema. And "reassuring Dravidian ugliness" - what a comment??? have u forgotten the beauties like sridevi and hema malini, vidya balan from south india??? India's Best Actor - Kamal Hassan, Best Music Director - AR Rehman, Best Director - Mani Ratnam, Best Choreographer - Prabhu Deva, Asia's Highest Paid Actor - Rajinikanth etc etc all are from South India and so called Dravidian society. If u mean to say rajinikanth as a Clown what about the ugly (feminine) looking so called heartthrobs in Hindi cinema??

unless u know bout him, u cant enjoy his acting... tamil cinema is a commercial cinema, most common ppl luv action movies(commercial), rajni is one such actor... who else can act for so many yrs n stil be loved so much?? he's ppl's god, cum to my city to witness it.. diwali comes only when his movie releases.. actresses who acted wit him in older movies now act as his mothers in present movies... he's d only superstar wit more than 22000 fan clubs worldwide n counting... any more shit against him'll make me abuse....

I've never seen a Rajani movie in its entirety but I've caught enough snatches to realise he's more a comic entertainer than a great actor. When you are playing to the great unwashed gallery (so to speak) dignified emoting does take second place to funky histrionics. That said, I still don't understand why the man is so wildly popular -- but hey, even Justin Bieber has his fans, so why not Rajani?

What's more mystifying is the rabid reactions of his purported fans. Whatever happened to free speech and differences of opinion? In an irony-challenged nation such as ours, is it now mandatory to always praise Rajanikanth without the right to critique his acting or poke fun at his laughable mannerisms? Sad. If only we could learn to laugh at ourselves a little more readily!! Ah, but if wishes were horses, Rajani would probably rein them all in with one hand and toss them into the Adayar.

Keep up the good work, Manu. I'm an ugly Dravidian myself and I don't see anything wrong in the phrase. It suits the context just fine.

Dude,
You are desperate to become famous and want attention. Its not going to take you anywhere. Better mend your ways before you get your ass whipped.

Why are we distracted? The film Robot has Aishwarya Rai in it.
Does anything else really matter?
Or are we endlessly going to talk of how arbit this good looks thing is and how notions of looks were set up Western typecasters for us colonised fools to fall for?

Excellent piece, but his name is Rajinikanth and not Rajnikanth :-)

Dear Harish

"we Indians still cannot..." "Indian readers are a pathetic lot".
speak for yourself. dont take it upon yourself to represent the rest of us Indian readers. we are not looking for representation from some guy who thinks hes the next Ebert
The use of terms like Dravidian lends unnecessary racist tones to what would be otherwise an ordinary, if terribly written, article. The only Aryans left in the subcontinent are a tribe living in a remote area of Pakistan.
I really doubt that people who are Rajni fans are faking it. Its not exactly like saying you watch Truffaut movies when you actually dont like them or some such. There is nothing to gain from being a fake Rajni fan.
As for the difference between being a good actor and doing good roles, well that is certainly not cast in stone. you are entitled to your opinion, but i doubt even someone like Ebert would sound so preachy. But seriously, do you have any professional experience wrt movies? No? Yeah, thats what i thought . Drop the airs of intellectual superiority.

P.S: I heard fair and lovely helps. they now have a fair and handsome cream too,So best of luck with that.

Ha ha ha... that's a good article, I should say. Touched the truth at a lot of places. But you could have elaborated much more. Instead of abruptly ending the article. Sort of like a Rajni movie... great build up, and then the usual expected climax.

@Humperdinck (Well, well!)

Oops… sorry if that hurt. Wasn’t really meant for you, you see (tee hee!). In any case you still have not got the point of the whole article. So relax. It happens.

And by the way, did you by any chance use “we”?

Heh heh...

Cheers!

Pl everyone here, keep this thread of discussion polite. No need for bad words etc.
Everyone is losing the point what M Joseph is making, which is... uh.. which is? Mr Joseph, kindly repeat (something that north Indian idiots are always laughing at Rajnikanth because his reassuring Darvidian ugliness makes everyone feel they are handsome as hell, but actually he is a phenomenon no one will understand because no one knows why he is such a big idol for people of south india?).

Dude,
U spelled Rajinikanth wrong.
Way to go, loser!
Btw Im a brahmin and i hate Kamal Hasan.

Cheers,
Priya

The fact that u are not able to crack any of those objective exams is in fact the universe speaking to u. Go get a god damn job that is fit for u like a ... nah no job.

And seriously are really considering a career in journalism? And is there no editor to this goddamn site. Get a grip guys on the left top corner have some shame wen u approve such articles.

i'm mad and please excuse me

I think it is time you realise the value Rajni symbolises to each Tamil fan before you get your mind cranking up crazy thoughts like this post. I am not sure of your pedigree as a writer but for phenomenon Rajni you probably are immature and need to just shut up and experience it to make the fact evident in your brain...

So much guided by prejudice. Dear journalist can you justify yourself writing such an article with no homework done.
Your article seems like a kid explaining what US is after watching American Pie series

Though i am die hard fan of kamalhaasan . I like those styles and the dialogue deliveries of rajinikanth (SUPERSTAR). U r a jounalist AMi right ? .. if so then y cant u understand peoples heart .. u cant understand RAJINIKANT sorry (Ugly dravidian).. thats okie .. its too heavy for u to understand a SUPERSTAR .. at least u can understand peoples heart Y all of them liking rajinikanthnu???? ...

What happened mr.manu joseph ... u dont have any other work to do as a jounalist ah ... just making comedy .. I think u can become as a SUPERSTAR because u got all those qualities chellam .. I cant believe in u tat u lived in chennai for 20 years .. thats not possible .. just one come to theatre and say that "RAjini is out of fame nu "... if go out alive then i ll accept u as a gr8 journalist ....

fellow commentors dont worrry about the author of this article .. i think he is nuts and we have crack his nuts ....

The only thing in agree with what the author has written is, "Manu Joseph became a journalist because he didn’t have to crack any objective-type entrance exam to be one."

He is journalist because he can do nothing better than talk... talk crap rather...
He clearly can only use good words, but doesn't know what to say!

Respect Rajnikanth, for what he has achieved. Unlike all the criticism that you managed that man has actually achieved something worthwhile!

Get a life dude!

hmm...looks like Mr. Manu Joseph has got all the recognition he wanted.....what a clever malayali, isn't he?

I guess sales for "Serious Men" needed a boost. Good job.

"Tamil is merely a regional language once spoken by Rekha." This from a writer who claims to have been brought up in Chennai. I guess the lure of clever sentence only reveals your ignorance of a great language. (And no, I am no DMK ideologue.)

At a time when an Indian is writing so poorly about Rajini, here is what an appreciative white man has to say:

http://www.slate.com/id/2267820/pagenum/all/#p2

Absolute non sense....

Wow,this has to be the worst anti-rajini article I've ever read in a long time.Mr.Joseph your knowledge of TN and its culture is zilch.All this 'dravidian ugliness' statement only shows your ugliness.

I am not saying you have to like Rajini.Hate him all you want,critcise his acting.But,no one has given you the bloody right to be condescending and discriminatory like you have been in this article.

And to the admins of this website-shame on you.You are allowing a person to write such trash without editing it so that he can stir up some controversy and enjoy his five seconds of fame,

Rajini is real superstar man....

I wonder what author mean when he says “what they see with their north Indian eyes”, as in it’s not only north Indian who belong to different school of thought than to author’s and it’s not every north Indian.
When author says “Rajnikanth is another proof that not everything can be analysed”, I sense a thought less thought over and written in a state of ignorance.
Rajnikanth’s fame can be analysed and justifications can be drawn by stating examples of many actors who rose to fame in their era, from worldwide cinema.
When the author quotes Amir Khan –“He said that he would feel humiliated if he did that. Without the pretence of art, it was debasing for a fully grown man to make faces”-, I wonder what exactly is the point he is trying to make, as his statement seems perfectly natural for a celebrity, to tell to a journalist/photographer. It can be analysed and plumbed thoroughly, but if one consider it an ordinary statement there is nothing much to make fuss about.
I agree with author when he writes- “I feel he is telling us, you built a world that was so hard on me, a world that needed talent to survive, a world that said it was in the pursuit of intelligence and that a person like me had no place at the very top”-, but the last few lines.
I feel, no doubt the world was hard on him, it was the world that needed talent survive, It was the world which said it was in the pursuit of intelligence but it was only person like him, who had the place at the very top. One who has the natural intelligence of a good heart, and the gift of endearing himself to his business associates by being respectful, and who knows what Tamil audience want.

Gaurav Chauhan

I dont agree with you comments Mr.Manu.Your statements on Rajnikanth are very vague just like a hypothesis.

Lol....love to see you south-indians (yes, i am that ignorant northie) collectively squirming in the agony of Rajni's insult..
Feels like the author put his foot down on a basin of earthworms

Hey here is an idea for your next column.

You can write why Endhiran is the biggest flop of the century.

In case some one things it's a hit, you can say they are just being foolish, ugly and dravidian!

You have ur facts wrong. He was not a marathi bus conductor...He is a Marathi who was a bus conductor in Bangalore.

Dear Mr.Manu,

You are a good writer and you are talented than most of us ...Please don't use it to criticize something people love.lets just say some people are lucky enough to see the beauty in his movies and you are incapable of that.I am not a Rajani fan either but I am really jealous to see how these people love him soooo much.I am deeply offended by your article.
If only you can see...

JesK

Dear Sir,
I agree that Rajinikanth is dark, not well built, no hair, not very talented as kamal hasan, but still people have accepted him or crowned him as the superstar of Tamil filims. It doestnt mean that tamilians are fools or idiots. I think now the tamil movies are the best in terms of acting, storyline, lyrics, songs and BG music, art direction, cinematography and using the technology too. Dravidians are always kind in nature thats why people like Rajni who hails from karnataka became the Superstar here and also you are still alive after commeting as ugly and insane dravidians. Dravidians are always decent, well nurtured, good in heart(May not be good looking), well cultured, super brains (not like you K.... back stabbers) and what not? So, my dear friend, its better that you find a good psychiatrist to cure your insanity and write about others. Journalism is a noble and righteous profession. Do not spoil it by writing such nonsensical and non analytical comments about an Individual or a society or community just to get fame of your ownself. Some times it might not work, it works adversely. Write good things or creatively where there are so many things in this world to pin point for the betterment of the country or our Globe. Do not try cheap tricks like this, you might end up with a grand failure my boy.

SIMON

Just read the article and the entire comment thread. It is unfortunate that some real and needs-to-be-said-out-loud cultural observation by Manu Joseph (how we Indians respond to dark skinned people as against how we respond to fair-skinned people) has been drowned out in the offense-taking. Clearly the words "Aryan" and "Dravidian" are too loaded, perhaps Manu Joseph -- and the rest of us who want to talk about this silent racism that exists everywhere in our country -- should just use the words "Fair-Skinned" and "Dark-Skinned" instead? Maybe that will help us get our point across better?

So where is the intelligent open-minded crowd that Open's comments section usually finds itself attracting? Maybe, Manu Joseph, the intelligent ones stayed away this time because you didn't exactly cover yourself in glory with your homework (some reasonable movies that he has acted in in his early career), or with a couple of startlingly ignorant declarations: "There is no reason Rajini should exist" - why do you say that? of course there is. For the same reasons every commercial actor -- and most Hindu Gods especially prosperity-giving ones -- in our country exists.

MJ,

Well Written. You got the undercurrent right...brilliant. I am Tamil, fan of Rajinikanth (spelt with the 'i' and 'h'), spent 25y in Madras.
All the best on the book front.

After reading through all this, one cannot help feeling that the biggest clown among all is the writer himself. He says he can find no logical reason why people adore him and it is useless trying to find one. Agree. It is beyond his mediocre intellect.

The article is ridiculous. Manu Joseph's understanding of Tamil Cinema and the mindset of movie goers from Chennai can be written on the back of a stamp. The comparisons are hopeless. Such writers should never be encouraged.

Well said Bhanu. Thats Bulls eye!!!

" consciously written poor, illogical and irrational article. have not read a worst article than this in a while. I'm no Rajni fan but can acknowledge his acting abilities. "

Extremely well written. And I agree with it all. As a north-Indian who shifted to Madras recently, I can vouch for how well you've understood both sides.

P.S. I'm a Rajini fan and I don't know why! Wasting my time indeed.

Open should hire the man who has added a comment before mine. The man's got more than a valid point.

I too totally disagree with the author. No analysis? Rajini has probably done the best of analysis on roles, stories, people and critics like the author than anyone else in this country. Too bad you're not able to analyse this man, after being 20 years in chennai.

I should admit, you had me looking into the dictionary a couple of times. "Through condescension masquerading as awe" - did you mean 'portraying fake superiority'
or i think thats what you meant.

I think you will be better of with writing books. No wonder i don't read.

Sorry man, I would have to give this a thumbs down.

Good article. But the dravidian ugliness was not necessary. You should know by know dravidian can only be used for linguistic classification, not racial. As for having no talent and nothing much to look at , the same thing could be said of Amitab Bhachan. MGR, NTR, Chiranjeevi etc. No talent, no good looks, lousy build. Success through theatrics.

"And they decide that his fame is a consequence of his reassuring Dravidian ugliness, and of the deep cinematic insanity of Tamilians. This is rubbish."

Unbelievable!! So many people are picking on the author - when he has dismissed it as rubbish! Selective listening is a fetish with my fellow statesmen from TN. Not only that, there are hardly any Rajini fan who can accept a different opinion on their "thalaivar". Even if NDTV or some national media refers to Rajini as the "South Indian star" these guys spew venom on Kamal Hassan, SRK, Salman, Karan Johar or any unrelated actor they want to have a go at for such reference!! If these guys must learn one thing from Rajini - it is how to be a good sport.

Manu, in the same vein, I would like to add that - Rajini does have SOME talent - without which the man would not have been spotted by KB and done well for himself for 35yrs in Tamil films. Thats why he exists. As someone commented above, he cannot go beyond 4 expressions MAY BE true. AND your generalisation that Brahmins preferred Kamal is absolutely wrong - I know quite a load of Brahmin men and women who love Rajini to a maniacal level. Apart from these, I could not find any flaws in what you have written ( I do not want to waste my time giving it a second read)

One of the worst articles I have ever seen. Manu, you are good only for Radia Tapes. Rest all please keep it to yourself.

Manu Josef, I thought I should respect you for the X tapes cover stories and your stance in those TV shows on that issue, but I am not sure you deserve any respect after all. I read this article, but cannot understand why it was written. If you did not want to analyse, you perhaps let out some base feelings you have towards this great human being, just like Shobha De did once. I then thought may be Rajnikanth refused to sleep with her..
Beware of the danger of having to always sound different from the main stream thoughts - you might end up looking a clown yourself, like how you have done it now! Aryan-Dravidan conflict here!! When the new theories are established with proof about no such demarcation in Indian Culture or History. By the way, Rajnikanth is also Brahmin.
It takes some extent of greatness to understand great men. People with base feelings can't do that. I will not give you an equal status to Rajnikanth by saying how wrong you are. You are nobody compared to this great man of charity and high spiritual culture.

Find something worthwhile to feed your need to sound different

Whatever Mr. Joseph has mentioned in his article is true to the fullest. If anyone claims of the concerned artist here in the article has completed 30 plus years in film industry & he deserves to be respected, then there is no Logic in whatsoever respect they are claiming for. His debut was in 1975 with Apoorva Raagangal in Tamil in which he acted in a cameo role and till date he has not churned out even one award winning performance in any of the 5-6 languages he has acted in so far. If any of his movies are opening with much fanfare and becomes a box office hit, it is because of those typical fans of his who worship him for his gimmicks and mannerism which he has exhibited in almost all of his movies with the same thing churning out again and again, time and again. People who know Cinema, who Love Cinema or who live for Cinema cannot justify with his eccentric style of acting or with his abnormal style of pronouncing punch dialogues. Lesser known actors who have completed 15-16 years in this southern film industry as like Mr.Vikram has been able to act in movies like Sethu & Pithamaghan and has collected award to the limits of National Award for Best Actor. But, Mr. Rajnikanth....... as like the joke goes on... Mr.Rajni - Cant win awards for himself as long as he is catering for his spineless fan's fraternity. Truith is always bitter and we should always swim along with the tides and any such articles ridiculing Mr.Rajnikanth is to be accepted with an open heart and not as an insult to the Actor or his fans.

Rajini is a very good talented actor. He is been wasted in many garbage films. Have you seen his acting talents in the film "aaril irunthu arupathu varai"(from 6 to 60)? He has got talents man and he is the superstar.