Swara Bedam. That is how all it started. Really an inauspicious way to start.
Rajni’s career can be bifurcated as before ’Mannan&Thalapathy’ and after ’Thalapathy’. In the first phase, one can witness the real Rajni where he played a normal hero . Yes, there were few exceptions where he presented a South Indian version of ’angry young man’ roles which were nothing but the dubbing of Big B’s super hit films in the north.
Billa - Don
Ram Robert Rahim - Amar Akbar Antony
Thee - Deewar
Padikkathavan - Khuddar
Mr. Bharath - Trishul
Velaikkaran - Namak Halal
Panakkaran - Laawaris
Dharmathin Thalivan - Kasme Vaade
Most of them were huge hits in Tamil too. But these were movies in which Rajni acted and not made for him. At the same, he has given some exceptional performance in that period. He delivered a stellar performance as ’Iyyampettai Arivudainambi Kariaperumal Chandran’ in Thillu Mullu and he continued his work as a ’reckless rich man’s son’ in Thambikku Entha Oorru, as an ’Absent minded professor’ in Dharmathin Thalaivan, as a ’slum prankster’ in Guru Shishyan - a film which was completed within 30 days and my personal favorite is ’Rajni-Goundamani’ combo in Mannan. All these movies proved the natural sense of humor that he had. If it is ’Sivaji’ Ganesan for historical role then as a ’Sadist’, Rajni is the best. His ’Parattai’ role in 16 Vayadhinille is beyond time and he didn’t stop there. His role in Avargal, Moonru Muduthu - in my opinion his best performance along with Parattai, Gayathri, Pollathavan and Netri Kann bolster my opinion. He gave a contrast but classy performance in Mullum Malarum, Jhonny and in Sri Raghavendra. He gained the attention of female audiences through some - what I will call it as a ’Betrayed by siblings or friends’ - roles in 6il -60varai, Padikaathavan, Annamalai, Dharma Doorai and Bhairavi. He never felt ashamed to use dupe in the stunt sequences. His belief is that if the final product is good, people - especially the kids - will accept and another reason being that if the hero gets hurt it will stall the entire proceedings.
His second part is more of directors making stories to suit his image. But if the people are happy with this trend and every movie is going to make a business of 40C who will complain and it is not Rajni’s fault. In the first, he was like ’Uthsava moorthy’ (Idol of God which will be taken outside the Temple for procession) where he was able to do different roles and in the latter part, he is like a Moolavar (Idol of God which will be inside the Temple. A stationary one.) where he is cemented in the same place (here role) by the people.
Reason behind Rajni’s success is that he always delivers ’Entertainment without vulgarity’ movies and he never targets a particular set of audiences. Today’s young heroes can learn a lot from Rajni and Kamal. They didn’t reach this level overnight. First and foremost they had skill and the zeal for the profession. They were ready to toil hard. At the same time they were lucky to have directors like KB, Mani, Barathiraja and Mahendran. They had different styles and they gave movies with new flavor and didn’t try to imitate their superstars (MGR and Sivaji). I feel today’s heroes are trying to imitate Rajni and Kamal a lot and they expect fame within a short period which will never happen. They can take some lessons from these two great actor’s life, but they should have their ownness.
Tidbits :
This scene is from Bhuvana oru Kelvikuri. Actor Satyaraj (at that time he was not an actor) accompanied Sivakumar to the sets. Sivakumar is known for his clear Tamil pronunciation and accent (consider to be the second best after ’Sivaji’ Ganesan). Rajni was new and he had an awkward Tamil accent. Rajni delivered the dialog and Sivakumar was not happy with Rajni’s effort and he asked for a retake. Same thing continued for a while and 12 more retakes was taken. Sivakumar was fed up with his attempt to teach proper Tamil accent to Rajni. Finally the scene was picturized with improper accent of Rajni. That scene was turned out to be a huge hit just because of that ’awkward’ Rajni’s pronunciation. This was told by Satyaraj in an interview.
There is a possibility of Amithab or Mohanlal or Mohanbabu acting in Sivaji-The Boss. Crew strength is getting better and better.