Sivakasi: Here comes the Prince

At the 125th day celebrations of Saami, Superstar almost gave his crown to Vikram, who gently turned it down saying: "Oru Suriyan. Oru Chandran. Oru Superstar." (There can only be one sun, one moon and one Superstar.) There is only one throne and the others would have to work hard to win their own chair, he said.

On the same stage, a much younger actor often referred to as Ilaya Thalapathy, smiled on quietly, knowing fully well that the throne was just there: two seats away.

To encourage him further, Superstar Rajnikant had told the crowd that Kavithalaya's next 'Thirumalai' would see Vijay in a new avatar. Trust Superstar's words to come good. And how.

'Thirumalai' indeed was the second-coming of the young actor.

Vijay hasn't looked back ever since.

'Thirumalai,' 'Gilli,' 'Madurae,' 'Tirupaachi,' 'Sachien' and now with 'Sivakasi,' the prince has arrived, to stake his claim to the throne. Vijay's probably even checked Superstar's shoe size and cut his toe-nails.

You know an actor has arrived when even an average film like 'Sachien' that releases along with 'Chandramukhi,' runs (or even if u assume made to run) for 200 days.

You know the DNA when a first-day-first-show generates mass hysteria, when fans turn fanatical and transform a movie theatre into a dance floor.

If you've watched Superstar movies, you know the pattern: a few male chauvinistic "how-a-girl-must-behave" lines, goofy comic interludes that involve kicking the sidekicks, oodles of style sprinkled all over the song and dance, a couple of gravity-defying fight sequences that can give Matrix a complex, colourful costumes, punches and punchlines, all leading up to the inevitable flashback and the revelation of the conflict and the rise of the hero back to the position of power which was once his.

But what drills home the `successor' imprint deep into the subconscious is the clever manipulation of Superstar symbols and cues in the film.

Sample:

--Sivakasi rides into a wedding hall as the `Maama Un Ponna Kudu' song plays during a wedding.

--Sivakasi gets an MGR look-alike followed by a Superstar look-alike to dance to `Pothuvaaga Yenmanasu Thangam' only to join the jig with the Superstar look-alike on stage. You have to see the audience reaction in the halls to believe it. It's a rage.

--The dance with the `Superstar Jodi' Nayantara who plays herself (for the `Kodambakkam area' song) to give the crowd enough reason to come back for yet another show.

--Constant tributes to Superstar dialogues ("Unmaiya sonnen"), punchlines and style statements, but all of them said in his own style.

The challenging, avenging hero is a re-invention of the angry young man of the seventies. While Bollywood has changed, influenced by the winds of globalisation, good old Dravidian people feel the need to worship their village idol. They simply need a hero to worship. They had a MGR. Many years later, they found a Rajnikant. And they were starved for a new one. And here he is, thanks to the very formula that created the matinee idol -- the angry young man.

Director Perarasu seems to have mastered the 'savaal' (challenge) formula re-invented by Dharani.

The formula for the screenplay is simple: Righteous hero of the masses comes in the way of the all-powerful villain, challenges to bring him down to the streets, uses a combination of brains and brawn (the screenplay is reduced to a game of chess in the second half where the hero check-mates villain) peppered with masala, sentiment and fast koothu song in the end.

People in the districts, frustrated by their real life villains (village headman, corrupt politicians, rowdies) still go to the movie-halls for the gratification of their fantasies: Watching a demi-god kick evil butt. They want to see hero keep 'Aapu' for villain (Sorry, translation of 'Aapu' impossible!)

Vikram did that in Dhil, Dhool and Saamy, his biggest hits till date. But wisely, knowing that age was not on his side, he moulded himself into a Kamal Hassan instead of Superstar. Besides, he knew that his strength was acting.

While Vijay has successfully sold himself as the Superstar `successor' to the B and C centres, it will be tougher for him to convince the urban audiences given the crude, crass chauvinistic sensibility employed in his cinema.

Superstar has a charisma which completely makes you forget the sexist slant in his lines. So while they may forgive Superstar, they may not be as kind with Vijay. The prince really has to watch what he says.

A little refinement of the language, doing away with sexist statements and fine-tuning his own set of signature style skills and he should be king.

At 31, the `Ilaya Thalapathy' has time on his side.

Besides, the man once called Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, soon to be known as `Sivaji' — the king, the boss — is still around.

P.S: And for the losers who say Vijay doesn't act like Vikram does, I will only the same thing which I say in support of Superstar Rajni, when they say Kamal acts better: "Superstar doesn't need to act. People watch him anyway."
With an existing fan club base of 20 lakh people paying an average of 75 rupees per ticket, he assures producers minimum returns of Rs. 15 crores. The rights for his next project 'Aadhi' got sold out even before shooting started. And his film-after-next 'Puli' got sold out on the very next day after the pooja. Apart from Superstar, nobody else commands such respect at the box-office. Vijay critics can now go eat worms!