US, Rajni, Style and my Roomie
"Pera ketavudane chumma athiruthula......". The dialogue comes from "Shivaji", Rajnikanth's latest movie... The Man, The Dialog, The Style ....
SHIVAJI released in US on the same day as in India. My roomie is a big 'Rajni' fan and was anxiously waiting for the movie release ... As soon as he heard that it was getting released in LA, he made all the plans to watch the movie. So, eight of us decided to watch the movie in a theatre (near telegraph rd) where the movie was being screened by a private group. The plan was set into action and tickets were booked online at the price of $16 each ... The whole of that week, my roomie was in elated spirits.
The movie released in india and rave reviews were thrown around the web. My roomie read this and became more elated. Apart from this, one of our colleagues staying in detroit watched the movie on 'First day - First Show'(in detroit) and told my roomie that the movie was excellent. That was the last thing required ...
Saturday arrived and my roomie was in full spirits from early morning ... i got up as usual (arnd 12) .. the movie was to be screened at 6:30 and my roomie was of the opinion that we should arrive at the theatre by 4 .... lest the crowd take over the best seats in the house ... he got a bunch of newspapers and cut them into small pieces (to throw it around like flowers)... This was the time, when i finally came out of my silence and asked him, whether he is sane(one mad fellow asking another).
We arrived near the theatre at arnd 4:30 (after getting lost). And my roomie was astounded to find no one near the theatre (i was laughing at this point). He was still not ready to give-up and went in search of some whistles. We got a few whistles and pee-pee (i dunno the english word for it) and arrived back at the theatre back at 6:00. We realized, we had made a mistake ... we had never examined the side of the theater .... there was a big crowd waiting for the tickets. I was dumb-founded!!!
luckily, the line had not grown tooo big ... we had arrived at the nick of the time. After some jostling around, we finally got the tickets and entered the cinema hall ... the theatre was not the best one ... it was a moderate one. We found eight seats together in the right hand corner of the theater and made ourselves comfortable. The theater was filled in a few mins. The movie started and boy-o-boy, did i hear the crowd .... i never expected such a behavior (in US) from the crowd ... but, a lot of them turned out to be ppl like my roomie ... cheering, shouting slogans, whistling ... well, in such a circumstance, how can i sit quite (hihihi) ... i did my bit of whistling and shouting ... To my roomie's disappointment, the crowd was more of family type and hence it was not enthusiastic for a long time.
The movie went on for about three n half hours ... it was an entertainer ... I was truly impressed by the style and entertainment factor of the movie ... although, the story was virtually absent and most of the things defied Logic.
We came out of the movie with mixed reactions ... i was ready to give it 3/5 ... my roomie was utterly disappointed ... his words "introduction chennagirlila ri. thalayvar movie andre, introduction sakathagirbeku" kept repeating every now and then. One of the other guyz started questioning the logic of the movie ... i kept quiet thru most of the discussions ... my opinion was straight "it was ok .. good ... but, no logic". We arrived home, with my roomie being in low spirits.
The week went on and the weekend witnessed our 'detroit colleague' arriving in LA. Now, there were two rajni fans together .... and, they planned to watch Shivaji again. I did not agree to accompany them, initially. But later, i felt, i should. So, told my roomie and he booked the tickets ... we were four this time. For the night 10 o clock show.
I did not expect the theater to be filled up again and was i to be proven wrong. The theater was fully crowded ... We arrived early and got seats in the back. I thought, i would fall asleep this time ... When the movie started, i witnessed a far more racous crowd than the one previous week .... this time, my whistle was in full flow.
I watched the whole movie with the same keeness as i had, the first time ... and, finally realized a few things.
For one man to command such fandom, even outside india and at the age of 58 .. it is phenomenal. His style is out-standing ... like my friend nanda said "the meaning of the word Style is redefined". The way he projects himself in the whole movie is simply superb and anyone would think twice to accept that he is 58 years of age .... my kudos to the Master Giant of indian cinema.
And as an added treat, the movie's director 'Shankar' had arrived in our theater ... was my roomie impressed!!! He got his photos taken with Shankar .. and, i am sure that he will treasure it throughout his life ...
I came back home with a nice feeling (from the movie) .. ohhhh ... i had raised the bar and now, i award the movie 4/5 stars ... A first class Entertainer!!! Leave your brains in the closet and Njoi the movie.
- raghu