 "Rajni versus Chiru? Both fail")
In a virtual world, Rajnikanth can do many things—make Twitter follow him, swallow bullets and spit them out, or even get a girl’s virginity back. While he is busy with the impossible, he is falling short of the firepower that brought him his stardom. The firepower to pull crowds to his superhit movies; make them laugh, cry and dance. He had performed this miracle way too often in the past. So much so, that everyone seemed to have taken it for granted.
His latest venture Lingaa is an exception from the general expectation. It came too soon. Before this, there was a technical experiment called Kochhadiyaan which tried to convert him into a storybook hero (on screen). That had failed too.
Some things never last. On the top of this list, is stardom. It could be long enough to survive a lifetime for a few, a very select few. Many outlive their ‘good old days’.Superstars from the South are much luckier. Their movie goers seem to have a good memory. However, after the shine has waned, many stars will have to retire to being part of their memory. There will always be a day when they will have to lose their 60-feet garlanded cutouts.
Though there are no jokes on his invincibility doing the rounds on the Internet, Chiranjeevi enjoys as much stardom in Teluguland(s). He sketched the role of a tough police officer and a golden hearted ruffian, on the silver screen. He is also known to take his image much more seriously, and hence might have foreseen the crisis of vanishing popularity.
When age refused to help him keep up with the song-and-dance routine, he smoothly shifted to politics. Ever since, the ride has been very rough. He hopped parties and ideologies, was confused in dealing with the state-division crisis, spoke self-consciously in the assembly and the Parliament. In the last few years, from a hero who put the fear of God into his enemies with his thunderous dialogues, Chiru was reduced to a state worse than the comic sidekicks of his movies, as he painfully pleaded booing crowds to order.
Rajni’s decision to stay away from politics was applauded much, especially after Chiru’s crash. The actor himself admitted this publicly. “I was tricked into entering politics as I thought Rajni would do so. Maybe, I will get back to acting just like him,” he said. By the looks of it, staying put in cinema hasn’t helped Rajni either.
Both these actors came from humble backgrounds and became emperors of cinema. But like Presidencies in many countries, there is a time limit on how long one can stay in power. While it is very tough to reach there, it is much tougher to stay at the peak.
Is there a third way out? To be neutral? Neither act nor engage in many possible embarrassing forms of public life? Emerge from personal life only for social functions and movie awards, and campaign for non-controversial causes? I guess not. That would be an awful waste of stardom. It is impossible not to be a star after one is branded so. When you can’t die a star, you atleast live as a faded one. There is no way out.