REALITY CHECK

Sample this: A chopper hovering metres above the ground and its blades trying to shred the hero into pieces when out of nowhere a jeep being driven by the hero’s sidekick at speeds much above the pice of junk is capable of ricochets off a boulder, crashes into the chopper and kills the enemy…sounds like a cartoon? It is actually a scene from a southern blockbuster flick, the name of which I cannot remember.

Southern India has a flourishing film industry in almost all the states just like Bollywood. Thousands of films are made there majorly small budget and B-grade movies. But if we talk about the mainstream cinema, the one thing that intrigues me the most is the high level of absurdity depicted in almost all the flicks.

I have come across some of the weirdest and funniest scenes in almost every read handful southern movie. The thing that intrigued me the most was in fact southern India has a higher literacy rate than the rest of the country; it houses the ‘Indian Silicon Valley’ in Bangalore, which means it produces some the sharpest minds. Still, their taste and preference in movies was perplexing.

Last week when Rajinikanth’s latest offering ‘Endhiran’ hit the theatres, it received an overwhelming response with movie halls being booked for weeks in advance. But more interestingly, it was surprising to see Rajini meeting his fans and followers sans any make-up or tantrums.

It was then that it occurred to me that no matter how surreal the actors, plot and sequences in southern movies are, the fact remains that fans as well as the stars down south are absolutely comfortable with their appearances. They are much closer to real life than the reel life… at least that is the case with Rajinikanth and his followers.

On the contrary in Bollywood a celebrity has to look young at any cost and any time. Bollywood stars nearing their 50’s whenever make a public appearance, colour their hair, shave their chest and put on layers of make-up to hide that saaging and wrinkling skin.

As a matter of fact many of the balding stars spent crores on special treatments like scalp hair replacements. Although playing characters 20 years younger their age with girls barely out of their teens is common to both, it is the Bollywood stars who have to do it with shaved chests and six pack abs.

So, the next time you try to make fun of a “Madrasi” film (I know people love to do it) just think about what you have read here.