Comments on: According to Sivakasi…

By: Manoj

Manoj — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 06:27:35 +0000

(zero/vijay: Sorry about the sloppy moderation. My Spam plugin is kind of retarded.)

aNTi: Give me a heads-up for the next Vijay bashing convention. :)

Vijay: I read on Sify that the collections for Sivakasi are dropping drastically after Deepavali. Wonder what happened?! And yeah, that director freeze-framing himself for the credits was hilarious. What a nut-job!

Zero: I agree. Even I use the Johnny/Mullum Malarum shield to defend Rajini’s acting, but only IF I think I can get away with it. ;)

milehigh: I guess after all this time, we might as well get used to the star-turns-politician syndrome in TamilNadu. Well maybe with a minor change - star-son-turns-politician. I’ll have the “Chimpu 2025″ banners ready when you check back in 20 yrs.

By: milehigh

milehigh — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 18:27:16 +0000

We oughta check back here in another twenty years, we probably will find Vijay in the Chief Minister’s chair. I have seen only two movies of his but he has the ‘Makkalai Kaaka Naan Irukken’ vibe going strongly. A couple of dialogues putting women in their place is only going to strengthen his position.

But then again, his statements are only part of the problem - there is the Khushboo controversy going on. I see that Suhasini Mani Ratnam is now being bashed around for standing by Khushboo.

It is all around us - I can only be thankful for the sane elements like the people here on this site who mock these jokers mercilessly.

By: Zero

Zero — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 13:27:54 +0000

Manoj: Considering Iâ€™m a fan of Rajini, an actor who has mouthed similar dialogues in the past, I understand there is a tinge of hypocrisy in singling out just Vijay.
Something, similar to what you have said here, confounds me. When I see the ones who moved ahead to watch “good” cinema after being Rajini fans tend to explain why he was/is still a good/great artist heeding to commercial aspects (may be in a sense of insecure thought) rather than allowing themselves to be blatantly unreasoning in their admiration for Rajini. Agreed, he acted in many movies from the KB stable and in a couple of Mahendran movies (3 to be precise). That can’t pass him off as having been/being as a good/great artist within the domains of “good” cinema. Really funny when some ppl even add his “Sri Raghavendra” to the list.
Note: I am not talking about your take here (which I find is understandable); Though I would like to hear an elaborate take from another Rajini fan.

By: aNTi

aNTi — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 12:49:25 +0000

Manoj: Considering Iâ€™m a fan of Rajini, an actor who has mouthed similar dialogues in the past, I understand there is a tinge of hypocrisy in singling out just Vijay. ……………..So when everything else about him fails to impress, his asinine dialogues are the only things that stand out.

YES YES YES! Atlast someone agrees with my view abt Vijay’s latest movies, which is why they make me laugh as opposed to raising goose pimples with watching older Thalaivar movies…

By: vijay

vijay — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 15:52:12 +0000

I agree with Manoj and others. No one expects any messages in Saamy or Chandramukhi either. But Vijay has brought down even the entertainment standards by several notches. And from what I have heard many of his fans are Rajni’s. Thats sad. Rajni was a guy who started off as a fantastic character actor and later on developed his own style, mannerisms and screen presence. Vijay is a pathetic wannabe. Even Simbu who started off as one, has gained maturity and moved on. I wished the audiences were more discernible. In a way Jayalalitha cracking down on piracy has probably affected Tamil cinema, for it makes the cinema-starved audiences go to a movie like Sivakasi.

In the late 80s/early 90s Ramarajan had his own set of fans in Madurai and other small centers where his movies would run for a long time. Vijay, who should have been at that level if not lesser is being glorified even in Chennai for inexplicable reasons.

And here is the interview with the hapless director Perarasu. He must have been one of those lightboy-turned-director types who got lucky
http://sify.com/movies/tamil/interview.php?cid=2408

Why do you insist on writing the lyrics of the songs in your films?
A: I am not a poet or a self styled Tamil vidwan but I know the common usages like water packets, thair sadam in colloquial Tamil which my target audience understands.

And he is the new “Manmohan Desai” after Thirupachi and Sivakasi?!!!

With people like these God save Tamil cinema.

By: Manoj

Manoj — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 15:22:46 +0000

Muthuvel/aNti: Considering I’m a fan of Rajini, an actor who has mouthed similar dialogues in the past, I understand there is a tinge of hypocrisy in singling out just Vijay. But it was something in the way this guy said it. ippidi oorukkellaam odambe kaatunaennu vechukko - I don’t remember Rajini being crude like that (I could be wrong about this), even though that doesn’t make his dialogues any more justifiable. But then, I like Rajini for a dozen other things, not just because he created a caricature of the CM and bashed her in every other movie. Vijay, on the other hand, is just a retarded clone. Or like (Stochastica) Karthik calls him - a glorified extra. So when everything else about him fails to impress, his asinine dialogues are the only things that stand out.

DoZ: I never made it past a certain point in 7G Rainbow Colony - for me, the bad acting reigned over sexism & a decent plot.:) As for equality of sexes, I remember what my sister said once - Forget Gandhi’s ‘women strolling the streets at midnight’, if I could get to work in a bus without having to ward off pervs using my umbrella & handbag, that’ll be a start. For the record, she always thought the push-button umbrella was a girl’s best friend. Man shoves, Girl pushes button, and let’s say if aimed correctly, he’ll soon make a visit to the Urologist.

Bee: I’ll update the post with a English translation soon, so you can feel outraged too. :)

By: bee

bee — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 13:58:28 +0000

Bleh. Your non tamizh blogreaders get no love i say!

By: Bala (Karthik)

Bala (Karthik) — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 06:41:09 +0000

aNTi,
It’s not so much about messages as its about ART. Agreed, if you want messages, check your EMail. What passes off as entertainment is what we are talking about. Everybody goes for entertainment [even Adoor Gopalakrishnan] but what is entertainment for one maybe something else for the other.

By: DoZ

DoZ — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 06:21:43 +0000

Hey, I happen to live with a hard core Rajini fan who believes that the reason Ramya was good in Padyappa is because Rajini “let” her be good. I should’ve recognized the signs that I’ve lost all touch with the homeland when 7 G Rainbow Colony was a hit. I’ll entertain myself with fare such as Woman of the Year and Adam’s Rib - fairy tales where equality of the sexes & good fun are shown as a possibility…

By: aNTi

aNTi — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 22:06:06 +0000

Manoj: I understand why you are pissed. But my funda is this, watch the movie but dont look for a message. If I follow that to the last letter, I’d enjoy this movie and every single movie that Kollywood makes. But every other movie watcher is not like that. I am ofcourse not talking about anyone who posted here, but the masses who try to ape every single word that someone utters on screen.
True, I mouth Rajini dialoques at every possible moment, but if I see a beautiful gal, I am gonna look at her and try to charm her, which is quite against Thalaivar policy. So, my funda is to watch the movie, laugh at every instance possible. That way a movie is like a brain gargler to clear my mind of all disturbances so that i can concentrate on stuff. Ofcourse this function is reserved for (most) Tam movies alone. OTOH, I try to concentrate on certain Tam movies and English movies.