If nepotism rules Bollywood according to many, it is political
dadagiri that rules Kollywood. If the Khans or Kapoors had said something similar
to what Rajinikanth or Kamalhassan said, it would have been a breaking news in
CNN, WION . Rajinikanth after the clash with PMK political party over depiction
of smoking scenes in BABA - If I go to Mumbai, I am called a Madrasi. In
Karnataka, I am a Tamizhan and here in Tamil Nadu, where I earned my bread and butter,
I am a Kaannadiga. Where should I go?. Am not an Indian? Next shift to Kamal
after the opposition by Muslim bodies (read as instigated by AIADMK) over
Viswaroopam release.- If my nationality is questioned , then I think it is
better to leave India and go to another country.
Shift to a function held by
entire Kollywood to felicitate Karunanidhi on becoming the CM (It was not the
first time he was becoming CM). Ajith goes on stage and says - Please do not
compel anyone to attend such functions. Rajini stands up and claps. Cut to
Udhaynidhi Stalin (actor - producer) who moves court to get a directive to ask
the State committee to declare that the film he produced is serving the purpose
of spreading the Tamil language. This enables the producer to get a tax
exemption, a rule passed by his grandfather Karunanidhi and turned into a
weapon by Jayalalithaa to deny tax sops to those having DMK links. A Vijay starrer `Mersal’ which had dialogues
against GST in the trailor , led to BJP warning distributors and theatres that
if it was screened with the objectionable portions, they would face the music.
DMK MLA J Anabazhagan ( who passed away recently due to Covid 19) said that he
is willing to distribute it all over the State , without any changes. When
Jayalalithaa was alive, Rajini in `Annamalai’ and later in `Padayappa’ had taken
onscreen potshots at her. In the first instance, she was in power and brought
in a rule that Madras should not have
film posters. In the second instance, she was not in power.
Vijay who did suffer from Jayalalithaa’s autocratic ways. It was mainly
to help Jaya TV ,then owned by Sasikala . Earlier he had to do a volte-face as
his father agreed to help AIADMK election campaign but did not do so and
unluckily for him, Jayalalithaa came to power. Since then, he had been facing
problems. After Jayalalithaa’s death, came Sarkar ( 2017). It stirred a hornets’
nest as it talked about Jayalalithaa’s freebie politics and to top it the antagonist in the film was
Komalavalli( a name given to
Jayalalithaa by her grandmother) Predictably, it created a turbulent period in
film trade as AIADMK was in power.
Now that Rajini and Kamal have entered politics
and Stalin seems to be having a cordial relationship with both, the era of
political muscle play in filmdom would hopefully end. When Karunanidhi was CM,
Jayalalithaa alleged that Stalin’s son, Alagiri’s son and Sun TV were
controlling the filmdom and arm twisting was rampant. Satellite rights were
bought but no cash was given by Sun TV and after Jayalalithaa came back to
power, a few cases and money reached those who were to get it. Now Sun TV is
producing blockbusters and buying them too. Jaya TV and Luxe Cinemas of
Sasikala have no backing of the ruling EPS- OPS group. BJP seems to harbor a
grudge against Vijay and the IT raids were a part of it. The politicalisation
of film trade bodies needs to be eradicated to bring in a transparent business
scenario is what many films corporate who did business in Kollywood feel. Most
of them have left in disgust.
As a journalist covering four South film
industries, I can say that Kannada and Telugu filmdom does have a nepotism
culture. To a little extent, it does exist in Malayalam. We all know about
Prithiviraj who faced hardships in the initial days. Now, he has directed a
film with Mohanlal as hero and latter’s man Friday as producer. A few days back, a director spoke about
Prithiviraj’s father Late Sukumaran unofficially getting blacklisted from the
industry. Sukumaran , whenever in Chennai, made it a point to sit over a drink with me and hear
about Kodambakkam news. His visits became rare and I heard that he was not
called by producers. In one of his visits, I think to sell his flat in Gemini
Parsn (don’t remember), I met him. I asked what the problem was. Laughingly he
said – “I was on a flight to home. I did not get up and wish Joy. From that day
onwards, my phone stopped ringing. Many think that I am an extravagant arrogant
xxx. I have invested all my money safely enough for my family to live
comfortably. Just because I am not doing films, do not stop meeting me. You (
my tribe) people have this habit of chasing only those in limelight. I don’t blame
you. Your owner wants to sell his paper,”
As he rightly predicted , though I visited
Trivandrum ( my home town) many times after that, it slipped my mind to pick up
the phone and meet him for a drink.
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