The Inspiration Behind South Cinema And Stars

Jyothi Venkatesh

I have a journalist friend named Shyam Sharma who hails from Haryana  and is a regular columnist for Mayapuri weekly but is settled down in Mumbai. The guy, who does not know even a word of English, goes out to watch a film in Hindi only if he has to review it as part of his day to day work but he makes it a point to devote time every evening after dinner at home to watch at least one film which is dubbed in Hindi from the original Tamil, Malayalam or for that matter Telugu and telecast on any of the movie TV channels. In fact, he is more aware of which South Indian star has acted in which Tamil or Telugu film than even I am, though I am a staunch Tamil guy born in Mumbai.

What is the main reason for this veneration of South Indian stars and South Cinema be it Tamil, Telugu, or for that matter Malayalam? I am excluding Kannada films from this purvey because due to some strange reasons, till some time recently films made in other languages especially Hindi and Tamil or Telugu films were not allowed at all to be dubbed in Kannada, as the producers felt that the business of such films dubbed in Kannada would cut into the income of the Kannada films made by them at the box office, as the quality and standard of films in Hindi and Tamil or for that matter Telugu were definitely a lot better than the ones made in Kannada where even today a lot of tacky and C grade films are being made in abundance.

What is the reason the South stars are held in  high esteem not only by the South Indian cine goers but also non South Indian fans who are scattered all over India?  Why has a temple been made on Khushboo, a Tamil actress who incidentally had made her debut in Hindi films three decades ago and was in fact Govinda’s heroine in the Hindi film Tan Badan? Not many are aware of the fact that Khushboo is not a Tamilian by birth but a Hindi speaking Muslim girl by the name of Nikhat. Also there was a popular Tamil heroine by the name Sada who ruled the rostrum even till a decade ago and was seen with the likes of Vikram of the South in the dubbed Hindi film Aparichit. She also was a Hindi speaking Muslim girl called Sada Saraf who had migrated to the South when her luck did not fetch her any film in Bollywood.

Yet another reason that South Indian stars are idolized in the earl literal terms of the word is that they make it a point to donate with a large heart whenever there is a major disaster in their State. Like Rajanikant during the last floods in Tamil Nadu donated cycles and umbrellas to the poor and needy who were displaced from their slums or the late M.G. Ramachandran better known as MGR used to donate footwe4ar and umbrellas to all the poor rickshawalas in Tamil Nadu. By the way, MGR was a Malayalee and not a Tamilian though he ruled Tamil Nadu as the Chief Minister.  When MGR died, there were lots of his Tamil fans who even went to the extent of immolating themselves because they felt that life was not work living when their favorite idol had left them.

However, not all Tamil stars are like MGR earlier or Rajnikant is now. For instance Sivaji Ganeshan was not reputed for spending money on others but he was a great thespian who can be compared to Dilip Kumar. So was Gemini Ganesh who is the father of Rekha, who was also tightfisted to the core. Kamal Haasan is also not known for helping people in distress by way of donation but he has dared to plunge into politics by floating his own party whereas Rajnikant has been dilly dallying and delaying his decision of floating a party or joining a party, because he is not sure at all whether he is cut out for politics, because even Sivaji Ganeshan failed in politics miserably unlike MGR his contemporary.

Muthuvel Karunanidhi the late Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu was actually a fiery writer who had written the story of Parashakthi with which Sivaji Ganeshan had made his debut in Tamil films way back in 1952, the year in which I was born. However, for every Karunanidhi or MGR, a Vijayakant or a T Rajinder or a Vijayakumar could not scale greater heights in politics. While Karunanidhi’s son Stalin aspired to be the Chief Minister, yet another son fo his called M.K. Muthu failed miserably first in films where he tried to ape MGR and later in politics too.

I remember once I had gone to Ooty to cover the outdoor shooting of a Hindi film called The Gentleman which was being directed by Mahesh Bhatt. Though Mahesh Bhatt played truant and did not at all fly down to Ooty as he was busy witrh his films in Mumbai. Chiranjeevi asked Mahesh Bhatt’s then assistant Milan Lutharia to step in as the director till Mahesh Bhatt turned up. When the lunch break was announced, while Chiranjeevi was going to a corner of the ground where he was shooting, to have his lunch, he asked me to join him for an elaborate lunch though he himself was fasting and did not want to have lunch. I was glad that he had concern for me as I was the only journalist who had gone to cover the shooting at the producer’s expense.

I did a flashback to just a fortnight before when I had gone to the same location to cover the shooting of Mr Azaad starring Anil Kapoor and  Niki Aneja way back in 1994, twenty five years ago. Unlike Chiranjeevi, who cared for other fellow mortals, Anil Kapoor asked for his lunch to be brought in front of the other journalists who had come to Ooty to cover the shooting and straight away proceeded to take his lunch while we just had no other alternative but to gape at his face till our lunch was served twenty minutes later.

Salman Khan once told me that his career which had gone done the drain had picked up all of a sudden only after he was part of South re makes like Ready and Wanted, because it is only the South brand of films which showcase the macho virility of the leading men and also offer them to connect to the masses with their themes which string at the hearts of the audiences. True enough, like Salman Khan predicted his career went on an upswing after Ready and Wanted with films like Body Guard which brought him in the forefront as a leading player in Bollywood.Salman Khan who himself is a traditional young guy who dotes on his parents says that it is the South films which teach the audiences to stick to principles and instill a sense of discipline in the viewers. “A film ought to be relatable if you want the audience to take home the message and the South films as well as the remakes in Hindi exactly set out to do that and make us larger than life stars.”

It has to be hammered that the South Indian stars, whether they are small ones or big ones love their mother tongue fiercely. If Mammootty and Mohanlal love Malayalam, Rajankiant though a Maharashtrian dotes on Tamil and the audiences too are patriotic enough to see each and every film in their mother tongue, unlike say Maharashtrians who do not necessarily see each and every Marathi film released every year and prefer to see Hindi films. By turning up in strong numbers, the South Indian fans of watch star see to it that there are a large number of footfalls for every film of their favorite star.Unlike the Bollywood stars, the South super stars, believe it or not do not have massive egos. Rajnikant once told me when we were sitting at his bungalow over drinks at Chennai, “Why do the Bollywood stars have such big egos? I do not have ego at all because I started my career from being conductor in transport department in Bangalore and have risen up to be a superstar though I do not consider that I am a superstar.” I still remember what Rajnikant had then added with a flourish, “You go, I go, why Ego”.

Before I wind up this article on what is the secret behind the phenomenal success of South Indian films and the allure of their stars, let me recollect what Chiranjeevi had told me in an interview two decades ago. Chiranjeevi had to shoot for a lip to lip kiss scene with Nagma for a Telugu film and he did it in one take but Nagma had he own reservations but she did not dare to broach to Chiranjeevi about her discomfiture but Chiranjeevi noticed that she was not all comfortable doing the lip to lip kiss which she thought may shock her fans in Andhra Pradesh.

Chiranjeevi just packed up but made it up to sit at the editing table with the editor when the editing of the film started and believe it or not he instructed to the editor of course after confiding with the producer who agreed to toe his line, because it was a kiss which was not required at all especially in those pre kissing days way back in the 90’s. And since then, Nagma became a staunch fan for life of Chiranjeevi the gentleman, who was the hero of the Hindi remake of Gentleman called The Gentleman. Now tell me is there a star in Bollywood who is like Chiranjeevi?

For more Bollywood updates, follow Bollyy!

Tags: Bollywood, Bollywood News, Bollywood Updates, Television, Telly News, South Cinema