Today is the day that we all knew would surely come. It
was done and decided that such a day would happen and it would be celebrated in
a fitting fashion. Even before June 15th we knew that September 22 would be
special. Today Sivaji completes 100 days in theaters and without much argument
the past 100 days have been the best in the history of Tamil cinema. Close to
500 theaters, more than 7 states in India and more than 7 foreign countries-
neighbors, Asian, European and American.
That was the number of theaters that showed Sivaji on June 15th and
today 100 days from that date nearly 200 theaters are still showing the movie.
Some of them are in Kerala, in Karnataka, some others are in Canada and
Britain. Rarely does a movie have such a wide reach, rarely are so many tickets
sold for a single movie, rarely do so man people go crazy over one man, rarely
do cinema and history go hand in hand.
But when it is Superstar in action we know that history is in the making.
It is much like Sachin Tendulkar batting; when he bats he has only one record
to break- his own. When a Rajinikanth movie releases it has to get better of
only the previous Rajini movie. Everything else is a foregone conclusion. It
was the same with Sivaji. The only thing everyone wanted to know was whether it
would do better than Chandramukhi and today we have the answer for you- very
easy to guess.
Yes. Sivaji is Rajinis-Tamil cinemas biggest ever in terms of, well
..
everything that you can think of. The biggest and best combination of sheer
talent, star power and tradition that Tamil cinema has seen.
The biggest budget, the biggest release and of course the biggest
hit
it doesnt get any bigger very often and there is only one man who can
make things bigger- Superstar himself, when he chooses to do so. If Shankar and
Rahman are amongst the greatest in their chosen fields of expertise and AVM is
the production house most steeped in tradition. That was the stage that was set
for the Superstar effect to unleash; this was the only stage that could do
justice awesome potential that a Superstar movie has to offer. And what was
done was more than just justice. Sivaji is not about the creation of a hit, it
is about the creation of new frontiers, new benchmarks which will spur others
in Tamil cinema to work harder, to go higher and expect more out of themselves.
What this Superstar movie has proved is that Success is a
journey, not a destination. The pursuit of excellence never stops and there is
no place for complacency, no matter how big a star you are, no matter how sure
of success you may be.
We all might think that Rajinikanth has nothing to prove to anyone; hes been
there and done that, given the biggest hits Indian cinema has known, reached
the pinnacles of stardom, become the idol of crores and yet in each frame of
Sivaji you can see the efforts that he has taken, the hard work he has put in,
the new things he has tried and done to make the movie an unforgettable one for
all of us as if he is a newcomer who still has to prove his mettle to everyone.
They say, only a retired actor has nothing to prove to anyone and
thats what Superstar seems to be following and thank God he has not shown any
inclination towards retirement, in fact the next Superstar movie is almost sure
to happen (at least we like to believe in that) quite soon.
It would be sacrilege to not give special mention to everyone involved in
the creation of this movie. Shankar, we need not tell you how good he is at
doing what he did in Sivaji. Painting larger than life characters on a larger
than life canvas is his bread and butter but in Sivaji he gave new dimensions
to the term larger than life. Rahman might indisputably be the best music
director in India at the moment but the efforts that he put into this project
are obvious to all music lovers; its one thing to give good tunes but it takes
a lot of dedication to travel around the world in search of new sounds, new
kinds of music and put them together to create a great album. K.V. Anandh
grabbed the opportunity to be part of such a great team and gave his best work
yet and AVM was always there to provide everything that the team needed to
enable them create a product that would be yet another feather in the cap of
this haloed production house. It was as if everyone realized
that they were not working on just another movie. Sivaji is the result of that
realization.
Sivaji is not great cinema in the context in which critics use
the quote. But then no one pretended it is. Neither the director nor producer
ever said that it was going to be one. What they set out to make was a
Superstar movie, for the countless Superstar fans (me and you) to enjoy and
cherish. They set out to create a thing of beauty that will remain a joy
forever and they achieved everything they set out to and more. They created
history and today history is in its 100th day and we know that it is just the
beginning
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