Rat faced superstar

The good thing about being a Tamil superstar is you will have a hysterical fan following. The bad thing about being a Tamil superstar is you'll have a hysterical fan following. On one hand you'll easily get the much needed hype for the opening. On the other hand you'll have to churn up the same product time and again.

I was in high school when Vijay came into limelight. He had this habit of remaking the small budget, romantic hits from Malayalam into big budget, picturesque Tamil. Onto the Malayalam formula he added the Tamil masala. There would be two women chasing the hero ( Vijay ofcourse ) . One would be a busty vamp always on short skirts, low cut blouse climaxing into orgasm on slightest excuse. The second would be a good natured, village damsel who will have no chance against our hero. But at the end Vijay will walk away with village girl, satisfying the Indian dharma .

Added to that there would be the usual cowdung - banana peel jokes and a bunch of idiotic cronies hanging on to him. Vijay wasn't handsome , strictly speaking.  There's a story that goes around that a production executive made fun of his 'rat face'. Still he resolutely carved a niche at his own terms thanks to his mesmerizing dance steps.

It was then the romantic Vijay shifted gears and moves onto the super human Vijay with the epic 'Gilli'. The movie was about a young guy who fights out the notorious bad guys to win his girl. Although Vijay scripted the success to his name, the honours have to be shared with the heroine and the anti hero who did a fabulous role. The movie turned out to be a jackpot for many associated with it.

Vijay decided inorder to hang on to his fame he will have to do the same thing again and again. Then followed a stream of homogeneous products. Vijay (or his fans) anointed him as the little prince. The movies started screaming his name. Later on he managed to get a doctorate added and thus became the Dr.Vijay. The bad guys would be creating havoc in the streets, when Vijay would coming in beating the living daylights out of them. Then the village babes would come out singing his praises. Rest of the story would be predictable. The only change would be the villain. He might indulge in black marketing in a movie, trafficking in next, money lender in next. Invariably he would be the MLA or a minister.

Vijay was riding on a steady wave when he found out the whole industry moved on leaving him behind. He started pulling in new directors  and technicians, perhaps a bit overconfident in his own abilities. The end result - his movies started sinking even before it came out.

But recently I watched his latest movie. The Tamil bad man spoke to the Arabic terrorist in Tamil and they understood each other very well. I just loved the part. He then steals some outfit out of a museum, which.strangenessly resembles a video game. In the end he turns a dark knight and chides the common man for expecting a saviour. Is it going to be another turn on the road.