It is almost time for milk packet sales to see a short-term spike. Come June 7, said extra milk will be used to pour over the towering cut-outs of Rajinikanth to mark the release of Kaala . The cut-outs are, perhaps, among the smaller symbols of his much, much larger-than-life persona. A persona which has evolved over the years and been celebrated across India and far beyond.
His is a persona that now has its own app and a website dedicated to his political entry. His entry into politics merits a much larger, more serious discussion. His larger-than-life-ness, however, is more fun to discuss, and is a phenomenon that most Indians have talked about at some point or the other.
It is not just Indians, however. In Japan, it is estimated that in Tokyo alone, over 3,000 people are part of a Rajinikanth fan club. This, apart from clubs in other Japanese cities, such as Osaka and Kobe. A few of his most ardent fans in Japan have reportedly even imported auto rickshaws, run a South Indian restaurant, worn T-shirts emblazoned with his face, grown moustaches and even speak Tamil so they can follow his movies better.
Some are known to even take life lessons from films such as Muthu , which a Japanese fan was quoted as saying taught her the value of learning to live with less money. Of course, as many may recall, there is even a book Rajini’s Punchtantra: Business and Life Management the Rajinikanth Way by PC Balasubramanian.
Then there is Malaysia. Remember the special Air Asia flight that brought over fans to Chennai for a screening of Kabali and the official dinners hosted for the star by the Malaysian government?
The Air Asia special flight specially painted for Rajini starrer `Kabali' and carrying Rajini fans prepares to land at the Chennai Airport, on Friday ( July 22, 2016) Photo : Bijoy Ghosh To go with Raja Simhan's report
His feats in some of his action films have caused fans and the general public to create memes that present him as a force of nature, similar to the pedestal Chuck Norris is placed upon in the West. Among his most recent pop-culture appearances is the viral, rib-tickling meme that depicts a Kabali doll, ‘suited and booted’, hands in its pockets, towering over the fallen dolls of the dissipated (hopefully, this is no longer a spoiler) Avengers.
Meanwhile, back home in good old South India, where his fan following is concentrated, there have been multiple reports of fans going to great lengths to ensure they can watch his films first-day, first-show. It is also hard to forget the emotional bond that Rajini’s daughter, Aishwaryaa, talks about sharing with the head of the actor’s fan club in Chennai, in her autobiographical narrative, Standing on an Apple Box . She describes him as practically family. They definitely seem to be doing much more than just pour milk over cut-outs during film releases.
Therein lies the key to his superstardom and his cult following. The contrast between his invincible, villain-bashing, sunglass-wearing, eyebrow-wiggling, finger-wagging, punch-line-spouting actor persona and his humble, spiritual, deeply human real self.
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I can speak with some authority about this real self, because I have, in fact, met him, as part of a group of six students who were invited to his house as part of a college assignment. We spent 45 minutes in the elegant second home that his wife had built for him within the compound of their palatial home in Chennai’s Poes Garden.
The general saying in Chennai is that when it comes to superstars like Rajinikanth, he is among those rare actors whose real-life personas, paradoxically, blend into their on-screen selves. The superstar is also perhaps among the last of his kind, after those like MGR and NTR, to enter the political arena catapulted by the kind of ‘heroic’ roles they played in their film careers.
As soon as we entered, he was there, ready for the interview by six first-year college students. His calming presence put us at ease, and he patiently answered our questions, while we sat hanging on to his every word, sipping tea, on his couch.
He even offered us some of his spiritual advice, asking us to observe our thought patterns and motivating us to read autobiographies, success stories and have role models. He spoke to us of the importance of following a path of self-realisation, as a journey, and even showed us the spot where he still keeps his first car, his passion for cinema evident in his answers.
One of the most stark memories of that once-in-a-lifetime experience, was his laughter, which is the same on-screen, or is it on-screen laughter that he carries with him as a tiny portal to his superhuman reel self? We’ll never know.
What we do treasure, even today, is the large, framed photograph of the saint Shri Raghavendra Swamy that he sent each of us. It still occupies a pride of place in my room, and each time I look at it, I remember that tinkling laughter and the humble man. To me, the act was a human version of his superhuman cinematic self. It may, I suspect, also be why his fans share such an emotional connection with him.
