Odds and Ends
- Chiranjeevi has entered politics in AP. He officially announced his entry in a press meet last Sunday and said that he will announce his party's name soon. He also said that he is quitting acting since both professions require full-time involvement. AP and Tamilnadu have had a lot in common as far as the cinema-politics connection goes. They had NTR; we had MGR; NTR started Telugu Desam and swept to power as CM; MGR split from the DMK to form the AIADMK and won the elections to become the CM. Wonder if this similarity will continue in the present day now that Chiranjeevi has taken the plunge. Rajni and Chiranjeevi are pretty close, I think, with respect to their popularity in their respective states. So I'm sure Rajni will be watching the reception afforded to Chiranjeevi quite keenly.
- Kuselan looks like it is going to be the latest addition to the short list of flops in the latter half of Rajni's career. Personally, I place the blame for the debacle on P.Vasu(for the atrocious direction that killed the spirit of the original), Vadivelu(for the vulgar and crude comedy track) and the PR department(for portraying the film as a Rajni film and marketing it as such). The theater owners, who paid rates equaling those for a regular Rajni film, are demanding refunds from the producers and distributors.
- Saw Kismat Konnection, Thodaa Pyaar Thodaa Magic and Singh is Kinng. After seeing a string of good, fresh and different movies like Taare Zameen Par, Jaane Tu Yaa Jaane Naa and Mithya, these three restored the balance and showed that Hindi cinema still produces feeble romances, dull comedies and logic-deficient, superstar vehicles.
Balaji's Thots... [Permalink]
Your Thots (26)
26 Comments:
rajini in politics..
pothum thalaiva.. inimae alva saapida mudiyathu
:-)
:-)
...I'm back after a long time off. Ye, totally agree with the Chiru/Rajni matter. But indications say that Sarath Kumar is using Chiru's ambitions as a piggyback for his own party.
And for Tamil cinema, I bright time hopefully is around the corner with Dhaam Dhoom, Saroja, Jayamkondaan and Naan Aval Adhu looking promising :)
Not sure why vadivelu has to be blamed. He has done whatever crap Mr.Vasu has scripted for him.
Just like Vadivelu takes the cake for his efforts in movies like Winner or Chandramukhi, he probably will have to take the share of blame in this debacle. But Kuselan, unlike Baba, has tarnished Rajni's image too because of the statements, apology err condolence etc. Hopefully thalaivar rebounds well with Sultan and Robot.
I am not sure if Rajni would take Chiru to judge his chances. Vijayakanth in Tamilnadu has already done a Chiru and is doing reasonably well. I do not think Rajni would ever enter politics. It is perhaps a bit late. He can always support / side a candidate as he sometimes does.
BB,
Naan than appove sonnene P.Vasu Spielberg oda thambi nnu :)
He should have been packed from TamilNadu right after Chinna Thambi was released. Only Tamils celebrate him as a director :)
why do you watch hindi movies, doesnt it hurt your ears
Saw Kismat Konnection, Thodaa Pyaar Thodaa Magic and Singh is Kinng.
The latter is definitely the worst of the lot!
I don't think the current superstars are as lucky as NTR/MGR were.During NTR's time,there was no strong oppsition to Congress in A.P.,hence NTR managed to cash in on the then prevailing anti-Congress wave.While MGR managed to replace Congress as pricnipal opponent of DMK as the then T.N.Congress leaders were not really strong.
Hi Balaji,
P.Vasu is the main culprit, but y ru pointing finger at Vadivelu. Many movies with double meaning have been shown to be successful. It's not the jokes ( coz it's not a comedy movie), it's the flow of the movie.
How can you blame the PR. If it is not a Rajini's movie, then it's whose? Rajini should be blamed too, dun tell me aft acting in about 150 + films, he doesn't know what type of movies to choose.
Actors like Vijay are blamed when their movies suck, but not when it's Rajini's.
Balaji,
We know you're a Rajni fan but it doesn't make sense to avoid blaming Rajni. Forget Vasu, Vadivelu and PR dept. Rajini cannot be sold as Rajini is a Fact unlike MGR. He should have learnt his lessons from Failures of Anbulla Rajnikanth, Raghavendra and Baba.
People like Rajnikanth only as some Superman and not him/his personal convictions.
It was solely his fault to have accepted a script, probably he would've felt after Sivaji's success even his Sh*t would sell but he fell for his huge Ego.
Rajni on his part should have been firm that he would only do a walk in role in "kuselan" instead of coming in more than 1/2 of the movie...But most of the blame goes to P.vasu for making a horrendous movie, totally unwatchable..yiks..it's high time, he retires to save us and tamil cinema from any more 'disasters' coming from him!!
Balaji-
Thanks to your review and soem other blogs, we never went to the theatre to watch Kuselan.
one more thing, ru suffering from PTSD? you don't seem to be a level headed person anymore. is it due to kuku movies (kuruvi & kuselan)?
anon, epovum alva saaptutu dhaane irukkom :)
prin, so many corners have passed this year. and yet we continue looking for the next one :)
vijay, he is paid so much that i assumed he has some input into his comedy track :)
bart, vijayakanth and probably sarath too. but i think chiru is more popular there than those actors are in TN. hence the rajni comparison. but yeah, I agree that it might be quite late for him to jump in :)
srivatsan, agree with u even more now that I've seen 'kuselan' :)
anon, not any more than our tamil movies :)
ganesh, actually i thot SiK was best among those 3. i could barely sit thro the other 2 :)
sahana, i did blame p.vasu first. as i said, i also assume vadivelu had some input to his track :)
the PR marketed it as a rajni movie like 'sivaji'. the audio and distribution rights went for more that what 'sivaji' went. and all the promos, etc. had only rajni. but rajni had only a guest role and he himself has been stressing that from day 1. that was my point. i can blame rajni if his movie sucks(like 'baba') but i didn't think this was his movie :)
anon, but rajni had said from the time of the launch that this was not 'his' movie. he said he was in only 25% of the movie and reports even said he was unhappy with the way it was marketed. he probably couldn't do much about it since it was produced by KB and we know how he treats his guru. and he did his part well and his climax speech has been praised in all reviews and highlighted as one of the few good things in the film. thats why i didn't place blame on him :)
skanda, totally agree :)
mitr, considering the rate at which ticket rates fell, i think that was the decision taken by most viewers too :)
anon, "...level-headed person 'anymore'"?? does this mean i seemed level-headed at some point? darn :)
sun tv should buy p.vasu and give him a decade long mega serial.
there are 2 benefits
1. no more grinder movies
2. vasu will atlast make the housewife to hate mega sssssh
his climax speech has been praised in all reviews and highlighted as one of the few good things in the film. thats why i didn't place blame on him :)
Balaji,
Going by such yardsticks we can absolve Kamal for some of his failures like Hey Ram, Anbe Sivam, Mahanadi or Mahendran for Udhiri Pookal.
But the point is a veteran like Rajni should know that his audiences will not like such a script and should've backed out.
Thalaivar can no more accept simple scripts like playing a Hermit in Himalayas to talk about divinity of Primitive lifestyle thought this script might be very close to his heart :)
..i guess balaji is oh-so-inncently pretending that he did not figure that selling the movie for 65+ crores as a rajni movie would have happened fully with rajni's consent. I can understand a guy like Balaji being Rajni fan but to be a fan of the man with all his cowardice, buy in his "varum bodhu varavaen" pretences is funny. Really, balaji,avlo dhaana nee? You are not doing justice to yourself, man. You are more intelligent than that, your reviews of other movies are proof of that.
Boss
I am angry only because the Dagalti TR (Karadi) ellam rajiniya thittudhennu thaan..........
He will come out soon from all these problems, successfully.
I have to agree with a number of opinions here. Rajini personally thanked Pyramid Saimeera for buying the movie and getting KB out of trouble. I personally do NOT think that the "sell" value was determined and kept oblivious to Rajini. Aside from that, if Rajini had really wanted to send a message to people in Karnataka he should have done it within a few days of his speech, not just before the movie landed in trouble. Rajini should have put his foot down when the movie was marketed as his movie. He should have made sure that his role was no more than what Mammoothy had in the malayalam original. Are you suggesting that Rajini does not have enough clout in the industry to put his foot down? He was greedy (either for his own sake or for his Guru, KB) and is paying the price for it. Believe me, I am ardent fan of Rajini but I do wear a common sense hat when it comes to issues outside the film and I think Rajini is taking the stick for his actions.
Lol on this thread, most people critisizing rajini are doing it under 'anonymous'... slightly strange? :p
it probably is balaji
-this is not balaji :)
anon, "director of a megaserial" - sounds like a perfect job for vasu :)
anon, considering all the remakes, everyone who saw 'kadha parayumbol' apparently thot it would work in their language. thats what rajni thot too. and it might've worked with a better director. which is why i blamed vasu.
btw, i don't think i've ever blamed kamal for failures of those movies u mentioned :)
anon, not saying it happened without his consent. just that the producer being his guru might've prevented him from doing all he wanted :)
gopi, i hope so too :)
anon, "getting kb out of trouble" - thats what I've tried to say too. that might've made him keep quiet inspite of his own opinion on the issue. and i've said b4 that he sent the msg when they created trouble and that was just before the movie released :)
anon, wish i had that kind of time :)
So I'm sure Rajni will be watching the reception afforded to Chiranjeevi quite keenly.
rajini raisgargalukku alumbu athigam thaan...
balaji,
rajini will launch a party.. the next day he will meet the press and say he didn't start a party.
at times, i feel he will join the league of karthik, sarath in politics and not mgr and others...
Interesting read:
http://specials.rediff.com/news/2008/aug/28sl1.htm
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