dhana99

Three years back Tamil Cinema industry saw its biggest pre-release hype for a movie in its history. Superstar Rajnikanth’s Baba was to hit the silverscreen. The style-king was returning to the theatres again after a hiatus. Everyone expected Baba to do a Baasha, a phenomenal-hit, which was a remake of Amitabh’s Hum.

And according to whispering campaigns and gravepine that are integral parts of the Tamil film industry, Baba’s presumed success was to be followed by a padayatra by the superstar en route to capture the glory of Fort St. George – The seat of power, where Amma alias Dr J Jayalalithaa was firmly on saddle. Rajni, his countless nameless fans believed, was destined to take on the political might of Jayalalitha on the Dravida turf.

So everything associated with the run-up to Baba was larger-than life. The cola majors and all and sundry in business jumped on to the Baba bandwagon. There was Baba mechandise. There were gigantic cuttings, hoardings and promotional gimmicks. The mood was upbeat. Buoyant.

There was controversy also with the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) coming out against the superstar for misleading the youth through the silver screen (Read smoking and drinking in movies!). The open call by PMK to boycott Baba, many thought, would inadvertently give more publicity to Baba and thereby ensure its box-office success. It didn’t. Baba bombed in the box-office.

It was more than a box-office office set back for Rajni, for Baba was to pitchfork him to the political arena. Rajni went incommunicado. This was in 2002.

Three years later, carefully avoiding any hype-associated with his omnipotent movies releases, Rajni again hit the silver screen with Sivaji productions’ 50th movie, Chandramukhi.

Perhaps, for the first time in his career after being labeled superstar, a Rajni movie was dubbed a do-or-die effort of the star. Perform or perish was the unheard but loud message doing the rounds.

Like the innumerable superhuman characters which have catapulted him to box-office glory and unflinching loyalty of fans even in far-off places like the US and Japan, Rajni performed his magic once again. Chandramukhi rewrote box-office initials and is tipped to be a mega hit. The superstar is back. In style.

Chandramukhi is remake of Kannada Movie Apta Mitra, which in turn is a lift of Malayalam movie Manichitratazhu, starring Mohan Lal and Shobhana. Shobana walked away with the national award for the best actress for Manichitratazhu.

It is all about a supposedly haunted house, which is bought by a couple played by the late Shivaji Ganeshan’s son Prabhu and Jyothika. Prabhu incidentally is also the producer of the movie along with his brother Ramkumar.

The haunted house has a legend in the form of danseuse Chandramukhi. The cruel king forces the voluptuous Chandramukhi to be his mistress. Chandramukhi continues her affair with her lover. The jealous king beheads her lover and burns Chandramukhi alive.

So when the couple starts living in the supposedly haunted house all sort of strange, mysterious things happen. It takes the super psychiatrist in Rajni, a pal of Prabhu, to fix the surreal happenings, triggered by the split personality of Jyothika who associates herself with the slain Chandramukhi to create turmoil in the house-hold.

In between there is a slice of comedy, a superhuman stunt through which Rajni is introduced, a bit of romance where the superstar sings and dances to the tune of his love interest Nayantara, who is hardly his daughter’s age.

Chandramukhi is a pale imitation of Manichitratazhu, though the promoters claim it is only inspired. Critics say it is a lift. Agreed.

What Jyothika has done in Chandramukhi would have been rated as a third-rate performance if a comparison with Shobana is brought to the fore. Agreed.

So why then is Chandramukhi raking in the money? Because more than anything, director P Vasu has got the mix right. The right mix which is highly essential for a Rajnikanth movie. Now whether you like it or not, Rajnikanth remains the biggest crowd puller and the lone mass hero in Tamil. So the Rajni tag will give you a platform to make a super hit. There were days when a producer need to just announce that he has got Rajni’s date to have financier’s and distributors flocking. That still remains.

But it doesn’t assure you a hit any more.

If you don’t have the right ingredients even a Rajni film can be a flop, as Baba taught the producers, directors and Rajni himself.

The confused spirituality of Baba, akin to Rajni himself, backfired in the box-office. The masses did not want preaching stuff and monks proclaiming the birth of an unusual, extraordinary kid et al. They disliked the poor blend of spirituality and confusing signals of a political foray by Rajni . What they wanted was a superhuman performance by an ordinary man. It was clearly missing in Baba, Everyone aspires to be and wants to be a superhero. That is why Rajni is Tamil’s biggest star.

Chandramukhi has the right mix as far as Tamil viewers are concerned. It has the Superstar, who dons the role of a superhuman doctor. The doctor can also read all the characters’ minds. Literally. It has some good music by Vidyasagar. (Remember A R Rahman’s house was reportedly stoned by Rajni fans, who thought he failed to provide the much needed `vigour’ for a superstar movie in Baba.) It has some hilarious scenes with the supporting actors chipping in. It has two glam dolls in Nayantara and Jyothika. Now that is what is called the right mix. It also was a right approach to marketing with the toned down official hype associated with Rajni films, coupled with the carefully orchestrated frenzy of his fan clubs. Everyone seems to have learnt a lesson from Baba.

As Chandramukhi scripts a box-office success story, the spectre of piracy has come back to haunt the Tamil industry. Pirated CDs of Chandramukhi, as well as Kamal Hassan’s Mumbai Express and Vijay’s Sachien are easily available. Every day reports appear about CDs being seized and raids being conducted. This will definitely wean away a major chunk of viewers from going to the cinemas. It requires a Rajni-like superhuman effort from someone to check this menace, which is bleeding the cinema industry.