My Name is Rajnikanth!!

The last 2 weeks of my mind share (or should I say heart share) has been dominated by Rajnikanth. Ya ..ya the superstar himself. Well chill…he doesn’t know me….I know him very well though :P


Watched one of his recent movies called KUSELAN. The name is from Indian mythology. Kuselan or Sudama is the name of Lord Krishna’s close childhood friend. With the passage of time, Krishna becomes King of Dwaraka while Sudama leads a life of poverty and distress in a small village. While Sudama/Kuselan is ashamed of his progress in life vis-a-vis Krishna and hence stays away from even trying to contact him; when he finally does, Lord Krishna remembers him fondly and in the memory of true friendship provides him wealth and comforts of his life.


The movie is based on this old mythological tale. Rajni plays himself while Pasupathi plays his childhood mate who is now a barber. Shy as his friend is to get back to his now celebrity friend, he lives a life of penury. Rajni lands up in his village for a 40 day shooting but Pasupathi is unable to meet Rajni in the midst of all the security and thronging local public desperate to catch a glimpse of the superstar.


Coincidentally, the school where Pasupathi’s children study wants to invite Rajni for their annual day function and knowing Pasupathi’s relationship with Rajni, expect him to ensure the star’s participation. The barber fails here again. Rajni accepts the invitation on his own and attends the function. His speech at the function is the highlight of the film where he remembers this old friend from the same school and recollects how what he is today is only because of that friend and his sacrifice of money to make Rajni pursue a film training course.


I was very touched and moved by this film; the underlying message and theme of the film. FRIENDSHIP!! A leaf out of Rajni’s real life. A friend from his days in Bangalore invested in paying the fee for Rajni’s course at the Chennai Film Institute. The lines in the film where he addresses the school annual function were written by Rajni himself. Probably a pouring out of feelings that were in him for years and something he has been conscious of.


I also picked up the biography of Rajnikanth (the title same as that of this post) just to get a closer look at this phenomenon. I have always been fascinated by him, a fan of his since childhood; better said, intrigued by his charisma and inner persona.


Well, he even came in my dreams; a sign of a high level of mind share that I started off this post mentioning about!!!