Dhanush Is The Antithesis Of His Former father-in-Law Rajinikanth

It’s not as if Dhanush has not done bad films. I mean , have you seen Karthik Subbaraj’s Jagame Thandiram? What was the actor thinking? Jagame Thandiram is your worst cinematic nightmare come true. It is loud, boorish, uncouth and splashy. And it dares to cloak all its creepy kitsch in a message on Tamil immigrants’ plight in London where, according to this film, they are welcomed with open arms …and ammunition. But then, we forgive Dhanush. When Dhanush is good, he is so so good he makes you forgive all the sins of his excesses, which I suspect he indulges in to please his fan-base in contradiction to what he claims to be his aspiration as an actor. Once, perhaps in an unguarded moment, Dhanush has said to me, “My motivations as an actor are very different from my (former) father-in-law’s. He is a Superstar of the masses. I don’t aim to be that.”

Dhanush’s films sometimes make history. Karnan, for instance. As played by Dhanush, he is the voice of a voiceless village. The hand that won’t hold itself back. The face of the social protester who is no poster-boy. He is an actor. A doer. He will kill. He won’t be stopped. Dhanush is so volatile in Karnan , I have never felt more compromised, more a part of socio-economical system that allows a handful to have all the wealth and power. Another recent film I liked him in immensely was Enai Noki Paayum Thota. Dhanush , playing a 20-year old was a bit of a stretch. The mating games are played with an enchanting elegance. This is romance in the purest cinematic sense, ethereal and unattainable, cadenced and magnetic, shot with an eye and ear for workaday sublimity. Director Gautham Menon lets the couple find and celebrate idealized love in routine places. Even as we savour the couple’s moments together, the narrative takes a sharp swerve into violence. The restless narrative shifts to Mumbai for action scenes which are as elegantly shot as the romance. Menon never allows any awkwardness to seep into his cinema even as he negotiates impossible genre jumps like a seasoned trapeze artiste. Dhanush is never afraid to look silly. If he feels it is right, he will do it. Like he did that brutally inane song KOLAVERI DI. The lyrics were a hotchpotch mix of English and Tamil, the singing style didn’t conform to any particular style and it was sung by a non-singer. It still became a super hit. Dhanush’s lack of comfort with the English language helped him in choosing the words to connect with people who are not fluent in the language. The song, composed by Anirudh Ravichander was a part of the film 3, directed by Dhanush’s wife Aishwarya. They have separated since then. Rajinikanth is, alas, no more Dhanush’s father-in-law. In Hindi cinema, Dhanush never really found his bearings in spite of fantastic start in Aanand L. Rai’s _Raanjhaana_ where Dhanush played Sonam Kapoor’s stalker/ardent suitor. But Dhanush’s relations with Aanand remain unaffected. Says Aanand, “Dhanush is not LIKE my brother. He IS my brother. That won’t change. I have the kind of bonding with Dhanush that I cannot have with actors in Mumbai. Whether we work together or not Dhanush is part of my life and I am his. After Raanjhaana we worked together again in Atrangi Re after eight years. Our relationship doesn’t depend on whether we work or not work together. Whenever he is in Mumbai he will stay with me.When I am in Chennai I stay with him. I feel embarrassed to even speak about this. What is there to talk about in this? Dhanush is a part of my life.” Anand is very proud of the global recognition that’s coming Dhanush’s way after _The Gray Man_ . It is certainly a marked improvement on Dhanush’s earlier attempt to go international in The Extraordinary Journey Of A Fakir. It confirmed our worst suspicions about what Indian actors are willing to do to be seen in “Hollywood films”(that’s how all international ventures shot outside Asia are known in India). The deplorable film unabashedly celebrated cultural stereotypes. Worse still, Dhanush grabbed the opportunity to display his most pronounced interpretations of the ingenue’s touristic delight. He squealed, he moaned, he sucked in his cheeks in stupefied wonder staring at firangi monuments, artifacts and , yes, the women too. As his character Ajatshatru Patel travelled across the world sitting in a suitcase and in a wardrobe, the actor asserted all the cultural stereotypes associated with brown-skinned ex-colonists: that they are extremely naïve and eminently flexible…in this case literally so, since Dhanush could fit into any size and space, boxed or otherwise, and reach to any part of the world and make friends. He was Raj Kapoor whose joota is japani, patloon englishtaani , sar pe laal topi rusi, phir bhi dil hai (and pugdi) Hindustani. Thank God for The Gray Man. The role is far briefer than what Dhanush played in The Extraordinary Journey Of A Fakir. But there is dignity in what Dhanush does in The Gray Man. He should never let go of it. Being dignified becomes Dhanush. Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.