Forget IPL! There's no biz like showbiz

Superstar Rajinikanth declared that he will bounce back in movies with his Kaala ready to hit the screens early next month. A huge crowd packed the YMCA ground where the audio launch to the much awaited movie was held in Chennai on Wednesday evening. Bold enough to speak on his films that bombed at the box office like Kocahadaiyaan and Lingaa, Rajinikanth sounded most optimistic about his latest venture.

The people gathered at the launch had a gala time even if the suspense they were held in about their favourite movie star launching his political party came to nothing as the star said the time is not yet ripe. The lack of announcement could make sense on one count and that has to do with the Cauvery issue and the matter of the formation of the Cauvery Management Board and a schedule to release water. The issue will now come back to the top court on May 14 after the Karnataka polls are over on May 12.

The only people not happy with the grad launch of the Kaala audio are the cricket fans of Chennai. They are extremely displeased about all the film folk having their way with movie releases after they called off a strike held purely for commercial reasons. “Why are they celebrating in their business-as-usual mode after protesting against the IPL and having it moved out of Chennai? How hypocritical is this,” asks avid Chennai Super Kings fan S. Anand. The fan may have a point as the box office takings are being enthusiastically counted at all theatres now which are also showing new Tamil films.

Cricket was the soft target after which all the film folk went hard at, including Rajinikanth who said he was very uncomfortable with the IPL going on in Chennai when the Cauvery issue was pending. How is the situation any different now when the audio launch of his movie has been held? “We are the only suckers. See how they threw shoes at cricketers from abroad who have come to earn a living in IPL. The same people are clapping at the Kaala audio release,” says P. Ramanathan, a cricket enthusiast of several decades standing.

The ugly scenes that marked the protests against the cricket by lumpen elements of fringe political outfits have been so quickly forgotten. They were replaced by the enthusiasm film fans showed at the audio release. “It is typical of politicians to cynically exploit anything that suits them. Consider all his comments before the first IPL match in Chennai in April and now and you will know Rajini is already a politician,” says a political analyst who wished not to be named. Rajini had clearly said in April he was “embarrassed” at the IPL going on in Chennai when the state’s rights were betrayed in the Cauvery issue. He seemed far from embarrassed at the thought at the audio launch where his only embarrassment were over some failures of his films at the box office. But, as the saying, there is no biz like showbiz.