Three reasons why Kochadaiiyaan may be Rajinikanth's Ra.One

Wikipedia defines Kochadaiiyaan as the ‘king with a long, curly mane’. For someone with no great understanding of the Tamil language, it sounds like the perfect character for  Rajinikanth, the reigning emperor of the silver screen. The man who flicks a cigarette in ways unexplained by the laws of physics, the man who rids the country of every naya paisa of black money, the man who creates a robot army and then defeats it single-handedly.

But the movie’s road to the theatres has not been easy, despite it’s mega-star hero. Kochadaiiyaan, made with a budget of Rs 125 crore and dubbed in six languages, faced a series of delays. While producers cited tech glitches, word was doing the rounds that the film’s finances has run into bad weather.

It finally made it to the theatres today. And if early reports hold true, this movie will be no Enthiran.

While most Rajinikanth fans and a Tamil language film-watching audience bust out in celebrations on Twitter, there are already reports that the film didn’t receive a great opening in Mumbai. Theatres in the city reportedly had to cancel morning shows today since there were no takers for the same.

https://twitter.com/rohitkhilnani/status/469702355470909440

https://twitter.com/rohitkhilnani/status/469705241722486784

So what could be the reason Mumbai turned its back on the most-awaited Rajinikanth film of the year? There are three possible reasons that immediately suggest themselves.

1. Why ‘animate’ Rajinikanth?

The bordering-on-obsessive fan loyalty and his larger-than-life reputation has endowed Rajinikanth with God-like status, and ensures that film after film is a blockbuster. The appeal of  ‘Superstar Rajinikanth’ is not that he is a super-hero, but a mere mortal- as blood and flesh as any of us - who is capable of superhuman feats. Say for example, Robot . Rajinikanth, as a robot, is seen jumping off one car, doing a somersault in mid-air, then crashing through another car and then stopping a van ahead of it with just his hands.

Hence the innumerable Rajinikanth jokes about his superhuman status. Statements like ‘he government of India pays tax to Rajinikanth to live here, or ‘Rajini can give a missed call to his number’ would be considered absurd for any other hero is perfectly believable in Rajini world.

And yet that is also the point of an animated movie: to create a world where the unbelievable is entirely possible – be it flying horse in some Disney flick or a break-dancing Mamata or Modi in an election spoof. The genre itself is all about caricatured or larger-than-life personalities. But Rajini is already larger than life, his super-star persona is already a parody of itself.

Why would anyone queue up to see an animated Rajini perform insane, belief-defying stunts when we prefer watching the real Rajini doing the same?

2. And a cartoon Deepika Padukone?

Seriously, which smart person decided it was a good idea to rob Deepika Padukone of her smouldering hotness and turn her into a 3-D character? She isn’t a blonde bombshell who can be oomphed up into a Jessica Rabbit kind of character. Deepika’s appeal lies in her very real, natural lusciousness which is almost impossible to recreate or top in animation.

And to flatten out her sizzling looks is surely doing great disservice to devoted Deepika-watchers. Surely they would rather watch Ram Leela on a DVD than have imitate Chhota Bheem on screen.  The near absence of Deepika in the trailer of Kochadaiiyaan will hardly inspire her fans to rush out to watch the film either.

3. The animation doesn’t look top-notch in the trailer

With Bollywood aiming to show it can do all things that Hollywood can do, high-tech, cutting edge productions have become all the rage. Unfortunately, ambition often outstrips ability, as the fate of Ra.One proved. Hindi-film watchers - who are a majority of Rajini’s audience in Mumbai - have been warned by experiences called Krrissh3 and Ra.One to not waste money on any Indian venture that flaunts its use of technology as a reason to watch the film.

Kochadaiiyaan makers, looking for a non-Tamil audience can blame Shah Rukh Khan for spoiling their party already. Shah Rukh as the blue-eyed, blue-suited, Chammak Challo-ing superhero could turn any superhero-devotee into a bit of a non-believer. Add to that Krrissh3.

Naturally then, to a Hindi film watching audience in Mumbai, Kochadaiiyaan doesn’t promise to pack as great a punch as it does in Chennai.

However, here’s hoping Mumbai gets over its superhero cold-feet and gives Rajinikanth’s ambitious venture a chance.