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Some take-home messages in the movie ‘Kabali’

I refer to the letter ‘Kabali, a hype not worthy of attention’ by Bhavani Krishna Iyer published in the letters section of Malaysiakini on July 26, 2016.

First of all I agree that the ‘Kabali’ movie has earned mixed reviews around the world. Some have praised the movie while some like Bhavani did not. I believe Bhavani’s opinions is her own personal opinion and does not reflect the reality of Rajinikanth and ‘Kabali’.

First of all, Rajinikanth remains the ‘superstar’ actor in the Tamil film industry in a stellar career spanning four decades from 1975. An entire generation of Indians, me included, have grown up watching Rajini’s movies. He has acted in variety of roles and has delivered many blockbuster movies in every decade be it the 80s, 90s the early 2000s and even the present 2010s.

Rajini’s ‘Enthiran’ released in 2010 is among the top five highest earning movie in India film history and a sequel to ‘Enthiran’ titled ‘2.0' is already in production, with Rajini reprising his dual role. Rajinikanth is worth his weight in gold for Tamil film producers and I disagree with Bhavani’s assertion in her letter that Rajinikanth is “out of season and he (Rajini) is not worthy of such roles”.

Is Rajini the only actor to have such a long and successful career ? Certainly no. Legendary actors Kamalahassan and Sathyaraj also began their respective acting career in the same time as Rajini which was the late 70s and early 80s. Both are still acting in Tamil movies in a variety of movie roles. Sathyaraj’s role as Kattapa in the epic movie ‘Bahubaali’ released last year is my favourite while Kamalhasan’s ‘Vishwaroopam’ movie was a critical success.

Let’s come back to ‘Kabali’, which is a gangster movie with Rajini as an ageing Malaysian don fighting for downtrodden Indians. In a gangster movie, there will be violence, bloodshed and guns or else it will not be a gangster movie. The director did well to balance some of the violence with a story of a father-daughter’s search for their wife and mother taking both of them in a journey back to India.

There is some take-home messages in the movie. Throughout the movie, Tamilnesan (played by actor Nasser) and then Rajinikanth are leaders of a gang that steadfastly refuse to indulge in drugs and prostitution. They claim to be gang leaders but the activities of Tamilnesan and Rajinikanth’s gang are not shown, which easily makes the both of them as Indian community leaders or workers union leaders.

Their stance puts Nasser and Rajini in direct collision course with a Chinese gang leader. Subsequently Nasser is betrayed by another Indian and killed under the instruction of the Chinese gang leader. What ensues is typical gang war benefitting no one. Even Rajini is lured into a trap and gets shot. Hopefully this sends the message to wannabe real life gangsters that crime does not pay.

‘Kabali’ also shows glimpses of life of a typical Indian Malaysian working in an oil palm estate. Rajini was mostly wearing coat and suit but there was an opportunity to see him dressed up like a ordinary Indian living in an estate together with his beloved wife. To see a Bollywood actor like Radhika Apte dressed up in a simple attire of an Indian Malaysian wife living and working in an estate was simply unbelievable.

Kudos to producer Kalaipuli S Thanu, director P Ranjith, Rajinikanth and all ‘Kabali’ actors for taking the bold step to produce and act in a movie based on Indian Malaysians. Magilchi.

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