A New Look Amma?
One wonders whether a new look Jayalalitha will emerge since her last public appearance at Sundatti village on May 19 when she danced with the local tribals, the Badagas. Word from the Ooty retreat is that she is undergoingAyurvedic rejuvenation therapy, taking long walks around her sprawling estate and also nurturing a garden. Has she gotten more spiritual since she turned 60? Oris she just taking a breath after the flurry of press statements criticizing Karunanidhi and his governance and taking on the CM's son Azhagiri accusing him of "terrorizing"Madurai? Perhaps she is now planning to put Karunanidhi on the mat on the law and order situation in the context of the psycho killer on the loose inChennai?
Psycho Killer
Incidentally, while the public and police was distracted with the terrorist footprint in Tamil Nadu, even if bombs did not go off here, five more watchmen have been killed in the last10 days in different areas including East Coast Road. The earlier spate of nine murders happened in and around the Vadapalani area. While a serial killer who attacked women in toddy compounds over three years has been nabbed in Hyderabad, the police here are still clueless. The latest theory is that there's a gang of seven psycho-killers who have "graduated" from being rowdies to murderers. But all the victims were poor, if not homeless. Go figure!
Script Is King
The proof of a film is in the footfalls in movie theatres notwithstanding the hype that precedes its opening. And on this count, both Kuselan which was marketed as a Rajnikanth film and Dasavatharam, which was hyped up because Kamal Haasan played10 roles (a wag asked, "Why did'nt he play the part of the heroines too?") have failed. The script is the king in a film and inDasavatharam, Kamal was so busy essaying his different roles, the script took a back seat. And inKuselan, which was a super-hit in its Malayalam version with a mere cameo by Mamooty, Rajni's extended role did not do the trick. Nor did his dialogue where he tries to explain his flirtation with politics. For a man who delivered loaded political dialogue in most of his films-- which implied his response to the political dispensation at the relevant time-- in Kuselan, Rajni makes it clear that he merely spouted lines written in the script.
So, in addition to apologising abjectly to Karnataka on the Hoganekkal project (where hehad advocated "kicking" those creating trouble) and buying anger and jealously from the Tamil film industry-- as can be read in the statements from Sharat Kumar and Satyaraj -- and from many of his fans in TamilNadu--Rajnikant seems to have delivered a dud. Of course, there are loyal fans who say the film failed because it was not a "typical" Rajni films, but that comes from the goodwill he has earned.Here's a small sampler of that. A Salsa and western dance trainer told me, "The dancers who are hired for a Rajnikant film get double the money they earn in other films. He sees to it." He's one actor who earns in crores but generously doles it out to his crew and junior artists which makes him a true blue Superstar in their eyes. Don't mind it!
Have you checked your Inbox lately?
Speaking of scripts, Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi confessed to me, "I love to write stories and beg my husband to read them." A candid confession from someone who is the CM's granddaughter-in-law. She is married to Stalin's son Udhayanidhi, who is a producer. Must say this couple wears their links to the "first family of TN" lightly and not in your face like some of Udhayanidhi's Madurai-based cousins.