Rajni Mania

When I was a student of 6^thstd, Rajni entered the film world as a villain then progressed to the role of a hero. He somehow captured the imagination of boys of my age group. Those who were studying plus two and above were die-hard fans of Kamalahassan.

Rajni’s style was unconventional: toss  the cigarette and light it in an outrageous way, comb the hair with fingers and never with a comb, not wearing washed shirts, keep shaking hands and legs for no reason at all (similar to epileptic attack), and when you speak to others always look sideways in the vertical dimension. I and my friends were mesmerized by these antics. We imitated those behavioral challenges religiously. And people called us mavericks or mad (in today’s time they would have called as mentally challenged, in fact it was very challenging mentally). We were not discouraged by their comments instead we felt honored since our hero was also addressed as mad maverick.

Rajni was diametrically opposite to Kamal. Kamal was very fair looking guy, and he can dance and act but always was running after heroine (both on and off the reel). Rajni was dark complex, and he couldn’t dance even to save his life, and he was running after only villains, of course to beat them up. When kamal’s fans criticized rajni’s dance movement, we pointed out that dancing is not men’s profession. And in fight sequence, Kamal was pathetic and Rajni was too convincing. And in every movie Rajni either will die or go to jail at the end of the film. The sight of Rajni being hand gulfed or dyeing was exhilarating.

As long as I stayed in my native town, I was a dedicated follower of Rajni. People used to call me Rajni and I was almost forgetting my original name. Life was full of adventure. But then every good thing must come to an end, I moved out of my town for higher studies (not for Phd, just for Eleventh std). Thereafter, my association with Rajni came to an end.

I just don’t know what magic Rajni did; people who called us mad have become Rajni fans when returned after few years to my home town. Rajni too has changed a lot today; he puts on lots of makeup, he dances reasonable well, runs after heroine (sometimes more than one), performs comedy and above all, he neither dies nor goes to jail at the end of the film. It is so disappointing, No wonder that I do not like to be called as a Rajni fan. Yet there is some soft corner for him, and for the sake of old time, I continue watch his movies in theater.

Now he has fans even in Japan, watch the video below: