Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Rajnikanth and reclaimation of lost things

I don't know if this is true of all revenge cinema in Tamil. But in recent Rajnikanth movies, the crisis involves him losing something - like say a house. In Annamalai, his "hut" is destroyed by bulldozer. In Arunachalam, he loses his identity. In Padayappa again, he loses his house. This also a key scene in Sivaji. It's not even a turning point in the movie when he reclaims it. That is supposed to happen anyway. The audience knows the superstar and fully expects him to get back every single thing he has ever lost. But the crisis does set up the climax of the movie and in some cases also lends the story its central thread.