Rajini. Dot.

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I've never really been a Rajini fan but I've watched most of his films because they are entertaining. True, his 'advice to the ladies' has always struck a jarring note with me, but I'd forgive him faster than I would a wannabe like Vijay who attempts the same in a much more poisonous way. With Rajini, like everything else in his films, it still manages to be good-natured. Even when he's singing Oru kudai sunlight, you are tempted to ignore the racist overtones of the song and its depiction and admonish yourself for being a bore who's even considered thinking that way. But all said and done, I was never a Thalaivar-vaazhga person.

But...

I watched Endhiran on Friday and boy, am I a fan now! I can't imagine anyone else playing Chitti's role with equal aplomb or lovableness. Kamal was apparently offered the movie first and thank god he didn't do it. I'm pretty sure Kamal's Chitti would have been one of those ultra-sophisticated wanna-win-an-Oscar performances. With unique make-up and get-up for each of the Chitti replicas that explode onscreen. I don't even want to hypothesize on how Saaruk would have done it.

Rajini, on the other hand, sticks to the local. The biggest Wow! factor in Endhiran is that despite its big budget, theme, and ambition, it never for a moment pretends to be anything other than a Tamil film rooted very much in the spirit of the street. You get all the jokes and they are all insider ones. This is what makes the film an absolute kick-ass experience. You gotta adore a robot called Chitti Babu.

I'm not going to talk about the story and yada-yada because if you don't know it by now, you are probably in coma or something. Let's talk performance here. Rajini has never struck me as a great actor. I've enjoyed watching him but his over-the-top superstar antics have never made me connect. But as I watched Chitti's deadpan face achieve humor, love, anger, evil and the entire range of the Navarasa with such flair, I couldn't help wondering who else in the superstar league could have done it. The Malayalam industry has had some stellar actors who've been big at the box office and equally big at performance in the past. But if you look at those superstars now, all you see is a bunch of aged men wearing their crowns insecurely and unconvincingly. Mohan Lal and Mammooty are both terrific in films that have gut-wrenching reality and require genius to perform, but they've never been able to let themselves go and play a character that's out of their comfort zone. Both have attempted to play dons, rock stars, punks and what not. And it's terrible to watch them do it. They look undignified and foolish. Not to mention tragic.

But take Rajini. At sixty one, he swaggers around in a uber-funky hairstyle playing a robot and wins you over hands down. Never for a moment do you think- god, he should retire. The scenes in which Chitti becomes evil are so gleefully executed that one can't help but think that in hailing Rajini as a hero, we've lost out on a wonderful villain. The lines are minimal- no lengthy I'm-going-to-cut-you-into-parts-and-then essays. He simply mimics a bleating lamb that's about to be sacrificed and sends shivers down your spine. To be a true superstar, you must know how to wear your mantle. And when it comes to that, Rajini is in a league of his own.

The graphics towards the end of the movie are super. I was cheering as much for the the brilliance of it as I was for the delight that this was happening in Kollywood, machi. From those ugly-weirdo snakes in Mudhalvan, Shankar sure has come a long way. Well done.

Towards the end of the movie, when Chitti is dismantling himself in a black-humoresque way, you actually feel a little weepy. That I say, is a robot for keeps.

Long live Thalaivar. Dot.