THE WRITE IS WRONG

All those crores& and they couldn t buy themselves a script.

JUNE 17 2007 ONE OF THE EARLIEST Tamil lessons I had in school was this story titled Naagan Seidha Narcheyal. It was about this boy Naagan who was walking home from school one evening past a bridge when he noticed that the railway tracks were broken. Worse a train was barreling down his stray in the distance. He thought for a minute then took his red shirt off and waved it in the air. The engine driver saw the flag and stopped the train. All was well and Naagan was celebrated as a local hero. All these years this story had slipped from my mind and it came rushing back while I was watching Sivaji for the film features a similar chain of events except that Naagan is now Thamizhchelvi (Shreya) and the shirt is now a red dhavani. But that isn t half as interesting as what the disaster entails. This isn t about everyman passengers plunging down to their deaths from a bridge; it s about the Super Star himself (as Sivaji) who s gotten a foot stuck between the tracks and is facing sure death till Thamizhchelvi saves him with her quick thinking. You see what I m getting at don t you? When I heard about Shankar and Rajinikanth coming together I expected all kinds of never-before surprises but not for a second did I think I d see the day when the biggest hero of our times would need to be rescued by his heroine.

This is Rajini for crying out loud! We d happily buy the scene with cheers and wolf-whistles even if he merely held out a hand with an upturned palm and the train slowed down in meek submission so what is this business about him needing to be saved? Where s the heroism ? that all-important consideration of Kollywood in this? Yes this is probably the most logical way out of the situation having her stop the train but whoever looks for logic in a masala movie? All we ware is that within the universe of the movie a certain logic prevails which is why we don t bat an eyelid in a Rajini movie when he sends fifteen goons into orbit with a single thrust of a fist. When we the audience are more than willing to suspend our disbelief why bind yourself down with could-this-really-happen scenarios? And yet there s an alarming lack of logic in places it s really needed when Sivaji turns to addressing social issues like black money. (The hero is an NRI who wants to do good for the poor. The rich and the corrupt won t let him. So he becomes a vigilante to achieve his ambition. End of functional story.) These are usually the strongest parts of a Shankar film but here they are horribly written and the execution is worse. Is it because they thought the average Rajini fan wouldn t be able to comprehend a more involved plot? If so that s a terribly condescending view of masala movie viewers who ve made hits out of tightly-scripted masalas like Ghilli and Dhol. (There s something to be said for the fact that the films that sprang instantly to my mind are both by Dharani.) Even in the case of Rajini s own movies no one can accuse Baasha or Padayappa (my favourite from the post-Annamalai Rajini oeuvre) of least-common-denominator pandering. These films combined a strong sense of the star s style with a stronger narrative that gripped you regardless of whether you were seated in the balcony or the front row.