ரஜினி - கமல் : ஒரு சமநிலைப் பார்வை!

சமீப நாட் களில் வெளிவந்த மிக நல்ல சம நிலை நோக்கில் எழுதப் பட்ட கட்டுரை களுள் ஒன்றை இங்கே தந்துள் ளேன். டைம்ஸ் ஆப் இந்தியா ஞாயிற்றுக்கிழமை (17.08.2008) பதிப்பில் பாமா தேவி ரவி எழுதியது.

மக்களின் ரசனைக்கு மதிப்பு கொடுக்கும் நல்ல நடுநிலைப் பத்திரிகையாளர்களை காண்பது இன்றைக்கு அரிது. ஒரு சதவிகிதம் கூட இருப்பார்களா தெரியவில்லை.

ஜோல்னா பை, ஒரு வார மழிக்கப்டாத தாடி, பெரிய சோடா புட்டி என அடையாளப்படுத்திக் கொண்டு வக்கிரத்தை வாரி வழங்குவதுதான் றிவு ஜீவித்தனம் என நினைக்கும் சிலருக்கு மத்தியில், நல்ல ரசனையுள்ள, நடுநிலை மாறாத சிலரும் இருக்கத்தான் செய்கிறார்கள்.

அந்த ஒரு சதவிகித அரிய பத்திரிகையாளர்களில் ஒருவர் பாமாதேவி. இந்தியன் எக்ஸ்பிரஸில் அவர் பணியாற்றியபோதும் அருமையான பல கட்டுரைகளை எழுதியவர்.

உண்மையில் ஒரு ஆசிரியரை விட மேம்பட்ட நிலையில் இருப்பவர் பத்திரிகையாளர்தான். சமூகத்தை நேர்வழிப்படுத்தும் மிகப்பெரிய பொறுப்பு மட்டுமல்ல, தவறான தகவல்களால் சமூக அமைதி கெட்டுப் போகாமல் தடுக்கும் சமூகக் காவலர் பொறுப்பும் அவர்களுக்குள்ளது.

ஆனால் இதையெல்லாம் மனதில் வைத்துக் கொண்டு பணியாற்றும் பத்திரிகை யாளர்களை இன்றைக்கு அருங்காட்சியகத்தில் இருக்க வேண்டிய பழங்கால சின்னமாகத்தான் பார்க்கிறார்கள்.

இன்னொரு பதிவில் இது பற்றி விவரமாகத் தருகிறேன்.

இதோ இப்போது தி சண்டே டைம்ஸ் நாளிதழில் வெளியாகியுள்ள பாமா தேவியின் அந்தக் கட்டுரை:

20 minutes is all it takes

According To Their Mentors, Tamil Cinema’s Ageing Superstars Have Pushed The Envelope With Their Latest Works, Says Bhama Devi Ravi
They are well into their male menopause, and just when you were beginning to wonder what more Kamal Hassan and Rajnikanth can do, they have gone and redefined cinematic experience, yet again. The twosome, onscreen rivals but off-screen friends, have reduced Tamil moviegoers to tears, and they have done it under 20 minutes.

Kamal did it first, with his mind-blowing performance as a 12th century Vaishnavite priest fighting for his convictions in ‘Dasavatharam’, while Rajnikanth followed it up, a few weeks later in ‘Kuselan’, with his tearful tribute to a friend who funded and encouraged him to dream big. The high voltage performances had the audience reaching for anything from a Kleenex to a cuff.

These are two instances of incredibly defined 20 minutes in a movie buff ’s life, says K Balachander (KB), director and mentor of Rajnikanth and Kamal Hassan from their fledgling days. “The first 20 minutes of Dasavatharam was an eyeopener for me, for the imagination and intensity that Kamal showed both as an actor and a screenplay writer.

In ‘Kuselan’ for the last 20 minutes of the film, the delicate nuances of expressions in Rajnikath’s eyes, the controlled emotion in his normally stylized gestures, the subtle changes in modulation and diction and his profound silences only proved that the star in him has not diminished the actor in the man,” he adds.

Never mind if the films did not exactly set the box office on fire. “You should not look at films only commercially,” feels KB. “You should look at the larger picture of how these two stars have taken Kollywood to greater heights for nearly three decades,” he adds. He should know, since he is the one who spotted the charisma hidden behind the bus conductor’s coat that Rajnikanth was sporting.

“Let us not forget that both Kamal and Rajni are extremely talented actors. During his early years Kamal Hassan was a jack of all trades, but he had so much interest in cinema. If my films were ahead of times, Kamal was still ahead of the industry. Rajnikanth’s charisma sealed his fate for him,” adds K B.

In their own ways the two have evolved, taking the industry along with them. Rarely would you find two stars taking the high road, so intrinsically different, and yet interlinked. If Rajnikanth’s charisma predestined him to commercial mass hero status, Kamal is the eternal scientist, never satisfied with cloning, but always wanting to rearrange the DNA of movie-making wherever possible.

“Punishing himself to unravel the extreme limits of a character, with all its complexities is Kamal’s forte,” says director S P Muthuraman(SPM). “Even in ‘Enakkul oruvan” (a remake of the 1980 Hindi film ‘Karz’) Kamal acted with his eyes streched with tape to resemble a Nepali, and there have been many other experiments by him since then,” he adds. If KB ‘discovered’ the two gems, SPM polished them finely and displayed them in the commercial souk of box office.

“We directors are content to offer people the commercial fare they demanded, but Kamal always looks at cinema differently. He feels we should call the shots when it comes to what people like,” adds SPM. “Rajnikanth’s approach to films is different. As the people’s hero, he connected emotionally with the roles and took it further with his appeal. Everyone who saw him felt that he voiced their innermost angst.” According to the director, Rajnikanth was both the fan and the actor while shooting which gave him the edge.

“During the shooting of “Aarilirindu Arubadu Varai’ we had shot over 2000 feet, but he could not digest the fact that despite helping his sisters (in the movie) they treated him badly. He had to be taught the real world and then he carried it off. The film, a fabulous tear jerker, was a huge winner,” recalls SPM with a laugh.

Tamil cinema is sentiment-driven, and both the actors never lost sight of it, says KB, who reduced even an Aamir Khan to tears, during the awards ceremony of Gollapudi Srinivas award.

“Kamal came to me at a very early age and took a certain amount of time and space to evolve. He was willing to wait for such is his passion for cinema and its techniques. Rajnikanth is a phenomenon. When I could not correct the way he spoke or the way he moved, I intentionally allowed him his lead. Anyone can imitate a mannerism but none can a personality. Rajni is living proof of that. Both stand like giants holding the flame of Tamil cinema aloft,” says the grand old man of Kollywood.
Despite their complete understanding of how cinema works, for them and the industry as well, both stars have bit the dust occasionally. On occasions, the experiments of Kamal and the tentative forays into spiritual subjects by Rajni have backfired. Tamil cinema has benefited from such attempts to push the frontier, feels SPM. “The fire is still in the minds of both the stars, and they will continue to raise the bar,” aver the directors. All they need is 20 minutes to do it.

Courtesy : The Sunday Times of India, Chennai Edn, 17.08.2008