Ever Since Robot got released a few weeks ago, my mailbox has been flooded with Rajnikanth jokes. The North might ridicule him, even hate him, but they can not ignore him. Such is the power of this man and he is one of many.
Raj Kumar brought Bangalore to a standstill, the tremors of which were felt in as far away places as the Philippine islands and the United States ( BPO's in Bangalore shut down that day)
Chiranjeevi is Andhra's answer to Rajnikanth. What do these stars have that cause mass hysteria?
Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan have/had the ability to draw in crowds from all corners of the United States during their annual visits for concerts/stage shows.
Is there a common strain between these species? Without delving into the occult, is there a common trait that distincts them?Charisma? Behaviour? Looks?
Given neither Rajnikanth nor Chiranjeevi are no Greek Gods, we can safely assume that this pull can not be attributed to looks alone.
Is there an affinity to this set of people from the masses?
A small town guy reaches Bombay ( it wasn't Mumbai back then), struggles to get a role in a movie, gets rejected multiple times before getting a breakthrough and coming good. So much so, that he attained cult status or a bus conductor who made it so big that the biggest politicians in the state want him on their side?
I believe that the hysteria surrounding these stars, emanates from the fact that the masses see them as role models. They are what they would want to become- they are veritable personifications of their ambitions or their children's ambitions. They are a reflection of what they would aspire to be.
In doing so, the looks didn't matter, the skills didn't matter (read Shah Rukh Khan's acting), what matters is the popularity they got and the way they used it.
Some resorted to politics, the others to social causes, and the lesser ones continue making money, banking on the fact that there is another generation that will idolize them.
Who is Raj Kumar?
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