intelligent and innovative film making and aggressive marketing and release tactics. While the credit for showing the courage to put the money behind this undertaking must go to Aascar Ravichandran, Shankar’s vision and Vikram’s dedication were vindicated Aascar’s courage. You might be wondering about where this piece is headed, tracing Vikram’s career graph back to 2005 and his last real hit.

The point is: all actors have hits and flops, no one is immune. An actor’s growth into a star is determined by how well he manages either of them. Failures are meant to be immediately brushed aside with sights on the next project. More importantly, success has to be milked. It is easy to take this statement in a negative context. So, to put it in perspective let’s say that one has to ‘make hay while the sun shines’. Again, by using this piece of ancient wisdom, one is not trying to say that all actors should hike their salaries immediately after a hit. The idea is that, in filmdom, a universal hit is not very easily achieved. We have films for the classes and films for the masses. What is liked by one section may not go down well with the other, reactions might vary. But, when an actor gets to be part of a film that is liked by almost all sections, that is the right time to step on the gas (once again: this does not point to anything monetary). When an actor delivers a hit, his popularity graph amongst audience will hit a crest and it is important to ride that crest into the next release. To put it simply: the actor’s next film should hit theaters when the audiences’ memory is still fresh with respect to his last release. The audience must enter theaters expecting another hit from the actor, that’s where the actor transforms into a star.

With the amount of films, good and bad, releasing these days, it becomes imperative for an actor to have regular releases to remain in the audiences’ frame of thought on a consistent basis. Otherwise, in our times of fast food and short attention spans, all memory of an actor will be put on the back burner from where we retrieve bits and pieces from time to time; the big picture is lost.

From conversations that one has in everyday life, it is easy to gauge an actor’s current popularity index. It is difficult to recall the last time when Vikram was the subject of discussion in any conversation about movies. This is not any attempt to question Vikram’s acting prowess (I remember that he is a national award winner) or to compare him with any other star. But, one cannot overlook the fact that other contemporary stars like Vijay, Ajith and Suriya have been constantly in the public view with regular releases. Their fate at the box office is a different matter. Being a star is not just about acting outstandingly well; it is also about managing one’s career. This is not a criticism of how Vikram has managed his career.

Let’s take a cricketing analogy here. Many of you would have heard about the term ‘pacing an innings’, it is a crucial factor, especially in one day cricket where batsmen tend to get bogged down in the middle overs. It is something similar that is happening to Vikram at the moment. He is so intent on quality that regular releases have been missing, analogous to a batsmen being intent on preserving his wicket and letting the run rate drop.

A good innings is one that mixes caution with aggression; a good career has to have quality and quantity. We all love Vikram for his unflinching commitment towards any role that he takes up. It is this trait of his that makes us want to see more of him on screen and ironically it is this same trait that is spacing his releases too far apart for our comfort. In his quest for perfection, he chooses very carefully but unfortunately ends up distancing himself from the regular moviegoer. Of course, it would be injustice to Vikram if one was not to mention that fortune has played spoilsport over the past couple of years, with the filming of Bheema stretching out over the period. Now, Kanthaswamy, the mega project has taken well over a year in the making and Raavan is not going to be a quickie either, especially after Mani Rathnam’s hectic work schedules have unfortunately taken a toll on his health. We do not doubt the quality that will come with both these movies. But let’s also hope that we get to see our most reliable actor and star on screen with far more regularity. Let’s hope for better fortunes and new beginnings.

(By Sudhakar, with inputs from Arun Gopinath.)

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