I am waiting to see if fans get nasty after Dasavatharam releases. But I have a faint idea that things won’t be nasty.

Kamal has the good fortune of being well respected by everyone around and does not suffer the ignominy of being as (unfairly) hated as Rajini does.

It appears that people sometimes go to Rajini movies after deciding beforehand that after the three hours have gone past, they will come out and bitch about it forever. I am not sure why they have to subject themselves to that trouble. If they have decided that they are not going to like it, why even go and see the movie?

*sigh*

“Kamal has the good fortune of being well respected by everyone around and does not suffer the ignominy of being as (unfairly) hated as Rajini does. ”
- Good fortune?????? The genius has been let down badly by the Tamil people and thoroughly undeserving people get so much hype, attention and acclaim that its obscene. Yet, you say he has the GOOD FORTUNE? Yuck!

On Kamal being the “Thalaivar”: I much prefer the sound of the title Alwarpet Andaavar!

In sum, I don’t think he has been “let down”; I think all of us need to realize that Kamal Haasan is the sort of cineaste who loves to push the envelope, who doesn’t just like to repeat himself, but to stay one step ahead — this is ESPECIALLY true of Kamal-the-filmmaker. i.e., I can bet anything that if Hey Ram had been a big hit, then Kamal would have tried something even more radical. That’s not the people of TN letting him down — that’s the Ulaga Nayagan wanting to lead the way for Tamil cinema, of not wanting to be a follower. It does the man a disservice to shoehorn him into Rajni-mode and then say that TN has let him down — I submit that is not how he sees himself, and that is not how TN sees him. At the risk of sounding presumptuous, let me say that Kamal believes his date is with history.

The above are the observations of an “outsider”, someone who started watching Tamil films only a few years ago.

I would never shoe-horn Him into any other mode, least of all *Rajini’s* mode He has done what Rajini has done AND he has done his own thing. Let’s not get into that.

A couple of things to which i replied. “Good fortune” - implying subtly that Kamal is “lucky”, push it further and he might well have hinted that Kamal is lucky to get something which RAJINI deserves, rightfully. That’s just rubbish.

“The above are the observations of an “outsider”, someone who started watching Tamil films only a few years ago.”
- THAT’S THE KEY HERE You have to be in TN or atleast be aware of what’s happening with the Tamils (in India as well as the diaspora elsewhere) to understand what i meant by “he genius has been let down badly by the Tamil people and thoroughly undeserving people get so much hype, attention and acclaim that its obscene”

P.S: The movie is steadily sliding in most of the centers in TN apart from Chennai. So far, ONLY A SINGLE ARTICLE HAS BEEN FOUND IN THE INTERNET which accurately reports the situation - MSN Tamil.
No newspaper, magazine, website or TV channel has even bothered to LOOK. They just keep bouncing off the myth already doing the rounds without themselves actually doing any reporting.

DASA sure rock

He has craved for appreciation in hindi films even though most of them have been flops.

As for the rest of your comment, it doesn’t even deserve a reply. Ignorance is bliss, hartred is blinding.

Looks like I have set something off here. Not my intention, really, but I used “fortune” exactly for the same reason why you claim that “fortune” should not used here.

It is my honest opinion that Rajini has done enough to command the same respect from the “discerning Tamil movie watcher” (insert “average Kamal fan”, if you wish to), but does not. It is in that regard that I say that Kamal has been lucky.

So, do you get what I am saying? Both deserve the respect, but one (Kamal) gets it unfailingly (and he deserves it), but Rajini does not (he deserves it too). I don’t have any explanation for it, except for the fact that it is Kamal’s good luck.

I have to say that my statement was in no way related to Sivaji. I reviewed the movie (much more objectively, positively or negatively, than a lot other people, I should add), but I went, just like the average Rajini fanboy would say there with zero expectations about anything apart from wanting to have 3 hours of fun with Thalaivar, sorry, Rajini. Sure the movie lacked some logic, but if the object was to poke holes, you can poke holes into anything. It all matters on how low you want to hit. But that was not the point behind my comment.

My point was, the hardcore Kamal fans don’t stop at anything to rubbish Rajini, regardless of whatever he does and I don’t think that is warranted any more than what Kamal deserves. It appears that everything Kamal does is excused under the “artistic brilliance” category and anything Rajini does is trashed as “massy” and ergo bullshit. After a point, it gets tedious. And my frame of reference is the fans with an online presence (be it blogs or on message forums). I can point out a handful of Kamal fans that fit that profile, but would be hard pressed to find even one that trashes Kamal, while glorifying Rajini (would be glad to change my opinion given the proof). The point is, negativity is something that is not hard to adopt. But being positive though, is a completely different story.

This blog/blogger, very admirably I should add, has stepped beyond all that (the name says it all), but the fact remains that this blog is in the minority and that is sad. Some negativity is fine, but I don’t understand why people “assume intellect” over the average Rajini fan. The reason I watch Rajini’s movies are completely different from why I watch Kamal’s and why is that very hard to understand?

“but I went, just like the average Rajini fanboy would say there with zero expectations about anything apart from wanting to have 3 hours of fun with Thalaivar, sorry, Rajini. Sure the movie lacked some logic, but if the object was to poke holes, you can poke holes into anything. It all matters on how low you want to hit.”
- This is your (Rajini apologists) favorite excuse isn’t it? ‘Why do you expect logic? Go in knowing without expecting or knowing what to expect. If its Rajini you have to love it. We alter the rules’ eh? So, if somebody is given a plate of horse manure and just because he has zero expectations (or if he knows exactly what to expect), is he supposed to like that? ‘Don’t expect anything else. It’s horse manure and fun’. In that case, to watch a Ramarajan film, if i go in with zero expectations (or if i know what to expect), i should be enjoying the film? Whether i like it or not does not change the fact that it is horse manure.
This has nothing to do with assumption of intellect. It’s about my sensibilities, taste and yes, watching a film like Sivaji insults my intellect (this suspension of belief thing is crap). If i’m watching a Vadivel comedy scene or let’s say Guru Sishyan, i would have fun without looking at logic. A Shankar film is a different ball game - its about a pretentious prick trying to look and sound serious but ends up insulting the medium of cinema and his audience.

“but would be hard pressed to find even one that trashes Kamal, while glorifying Rajini (would be glad to change my opinion given the proof)”
http://lordlabak.blogspot.com/ - Calls herself a Kamal fan but it would be an insult to call her a Kamal fan. Check out what the first post is all about (written by a Rajini fan)

Apart from this, check out any comments section of posts criticizing Sivaji.

A line from Mahanadhi comes to mind:
“oru nallavanukku kedaikka vendiya ella mariyadhayum kettavanukku poi cherndhidudhu”

Randramble,
Sorry for hijacking your blog but blasphemy begs for a reply sometimes

adra saka adra saka adra saka…Bt its very true!

It is probably too harsh a truth for a die hard kamal fan like U to digest.

Yes, ignorance is bliss & blind following is also blinding - in Ur case.

But then this happening in case of sivaji - MGR too. MGR was far more popular though in acting, he could not hold a candle to sivaji.

check out this

http://sify.com/movies/tamil/fullstory.php?id=14484109