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Sivaji - World Wide Reporting
June 21, 2007
Sivaji
Sivaji - Revolutionizing Indian Cinema :

“Chumma Adhirudhile" is the oft repeated punch line in "Sivaji - The Boss". Indeed, the reverberations of this massive production and its worldwide release might just have shaken up the landscape of Indian cinema.
And not a moment too early.
I've been following movie fans from southern region of India seething with indignation at "IIFA" awards which shamelessly touts unity in diversity whilst considering only Hindi movies as "Indian". But all they could do was vent vitriolic vituperation over the relevant online forums. The common man is quite powerless in ocean of humanity called India.
Rajnikanth is anything but common. In combination with Shankar and A.R. Rahman under the experienced banner of AVM studios, Rajni might have laid a brand new pathway (like the CGI ones in the film) which could be his greatest legacy...yet.
Released in 25 countries and smashing records with panache, Sivaji has made the world sit up and take notice of the fact that Indian cinema is not just sugarcoated song and dance routines made to the backdrop of glamorous characters and richness which are a far cry from the "real" India.
Well, isn't Indian cinema all about escapism?
Of course! But Sivaji portrays the different genre of escapism, unabashedly catering to the classic Dravidian adrenalin rush in the macho vicarious pleasure of rising up against the system and aiming for the greater common good. And that, the world and rest of India cannot but notice is in stark contrast to setting new standards in longer marriage-based themes or blindly aping the western culture.
For Bollywood socio-political themes have remained parallel low budget fare but for the occasional Mani Ratnam, RGV or Amir Khan movies or the rare Munnabhai.
The apt frame of reference for big budget Bollywood remains Broadway and for south Indian cinema, it is fantasy "Fahrenheit 911".
Sivaji is extending to more screens in north India based on audience curiosity. One can only hope that this leads to all major south Indian production houses earmarking an extra crore to make sure that their work gets subtitled and released at least in major centers all over India without fail.
What Bollywood has failed to do so far is wed its humongous access to money and markets to the real talent in that industry. Probably due of the traditional dynasty worship which seems to have led to the natural evolutionary dumbing down that results from inbreeding! Yet time and again the real talent has revealed itself in sparks in the small budget, smaller releases or in the unforgivable tagging along of gems like Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav, Nasseeruddin Shah etc., onto the miserable ego-trips splashed around as art.
"Sivaji" might not be the quality realism peppered with fantasy (not the other way round as the world has come to understand "Indian" cinema through the Bollywood lens) that forms the mainstream cinema of south India, it may not have the strength of script that demands repeat viewing, it may not have dramatic sequences designed to bring out the best in the actor but it definitely is a path breaker, a path along which regular south Indian cinema with all the above mentioned attributes can reach a wider audience...let's start with "Dasavatharam" !

~Arun Surendran
Email: mallusarun@gmail.com

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