Every film is only as good as its content and not the reputation of the director or the stars. They can only whip up unrealistic expectations and help garner a gathering for the first couple of shows. The bigger the expectations the greater is the disappointment God forbid if the film falls short and the director flounders. This has been proven time and again even with the biggest of names like Mani Ratnam and even Rajnikant. Their biggest flops may be better than some potboilers that break box-office records but it’s difficult to satiate their fans who have unrealistic expectations whipped up by cinematic milestones churned out previously. “You think you’ve taken a step forward but a failure makes you retreat a couple,” said Mani a long time ago. Mani now is close to realising his cinematic dream ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ which he has nurtured for a couple of decades. I remember reading a brief outline he’d written and sent in a floppy disk. He had only Kamal in mind for the key character of Vandiyathevan but a host of talents from various languages as options for the others. I did suggest he make it in two parts purely because of the plethora of fascinating characters and the sheer sweep of the canvass. “It has everything you can ask for in a film. It’s a readymade script you can literally visualise and just shoot,” said Mani. Mani will probably revisit some of his idol Kurosawa’s classics for inspiration. I do wish he’d made it then with Kamal, anybody else in the cast, Ilaiyaraja scoring the music and PC Sreeram cranking the camera. I’m sure most of today’s generation has not read ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ even though their parents have carefully bound copies but they will watch because it’s a Mani Ratnam film.
Anyway, while Mani is going back in time to etch in celluloid a timeless tale that most Tamilians can’t stop raving about there are some like director Rajesh who still writes a tale where a woman has to be shown her place in a relationship and a family. Rajesh did make a couple of mildly amusing films but has since run out of variations for the jobless stalker that most of his heroes play. Shivakarthikeyan has come a long way from gags on the idiot box to making people pay to watch him in theatres. He did play the hero’s pal in one film before bagging titular roles who have a sidekick to help them ‘love’ the heroine. He has a pleasant presence and performs with ease which seems to have endeared him to most sections of the audience. A diehard Rajni fan he mimics the superstar to perfection. His career seems to have hit a plateau because he may not be accepted as a full fledged action hero and is getting typecast. I suspect he suggested Rajesh revisit Rajni’s super hit ‘Mannan’ where ‘Thalaivar’, playing a factory worker tames the rich virago. Rajni was known to throw lines about how women should behave mostly veiled jibes at Jayalalitha. Also every star right from MGR, Sivaji, Kamal and Rajni have a humungous hit where they tame the ‘thimir’(arrogance) of the heroine, change her attire from skirts to saris and transform them from harridan to obsequious housewife. What we get is Mr.Local, a regressive, ennui inducing, insufferable enterprise struggling to keep us engaged. The time-tested formula has failed for once.
Cinema has a way of knocking the biggest stars on their knuckles and bringing them back to terra firma, briefly at least till their next success. Producers feel triumphant when they sign a saleable lead pair and a director both agree upon. What we have in Mr. Local is a talented lead pair struggling to look convincing in ill-written roles and garrulous sidekicks who make you want to smack them rather than smile. Of course, you have time tested elements like, ‘amma’ and sister sentiment, hero getting constantly humiliated and persistence mistaken for undying passion. Rajesh does attempt a brief twist to a familiar trope but develops cold feet. Heroine’s hearts in our films melt for gestures like an umbrella offered during a downpour!
Rajesh had shown a flair for the funny stuff in his initial efforts like ‘Boss Engira Bhaskaran’ but seemed to have lost the plot in his last few films. This was a golden opportunity to prove that his first few films were not flukes. He had Sivakarthikeyan and Nayantara, two stars who could fetch his producer a table profit, but ultimately it’s not what the producer earns before but whether the distributors make a profit that counts in cinema. That is what will dictate the fate of Sivakarthikeyan’s next and Rajesh hasn’t helped. Nayantara will not be affected because films where she plays protagonist enjoy a separate demand. “It’s very strange but audiences are somehow able to smell something amiss ahead of a film’s release. Mr. Local did not enjoy the kind of expectations and excitement surrounding a film starring Siva and Nayan,” opines a producer friend.
The stars will survive thanks to a line-up of releases a couple of which will redeem their flagging fortunes. Fortunes fluctuate for stars but for directors failure is fatal, mostly.
sshivu@yahoo.com