The Hindu : Superstar heaps praise on Vikram

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 26, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

Superstar heaps praise on Vikram

By Sudhish Kamath

Chennai Sept. 25. ``One sun. One moon. One superstar.''

That was `Siyaan' Vikram summing up people's sentiments about superstar Rajnikant. For the crowd, there was nothing more pleasing than to catch a glimpse of the real man at the 125th Day celebrations of Saamy on Wednesday.

Like Vivek said to a thunderous applause: ``Yesterday, today and tomorrow — there can be only one Superstar on the throne. And others coming up only have to earn and create their own `chair'.

But the Superstar wouldn't agree. ``The tag `Superstar' is just like any other post — Commissioner, Collector, DIG, Chief Minister, Prime Minister. It is limited for a specific period and then it expires. Like they say, `Long live the king...'. And another king will come. And who's a Superstar? Whoever wins the heart of the people, whoever makes sure that collections are good, whoever gives one hit after another. There should be more Superstars.''

The Superstar was lavish in his praise for Saamy, and in highlighting how Vikram had won a hundred per cent of the masses, starting from a near zero base before Sethu, acquiring 20 per cent through the action packed Dil, another 20 per cent through the `character'-oriented Kasi and making it 60 per cent with Gemini, 80 per cent with Dhool and 100 per cent with Saamy.

The fans went crazy when he went on to ape the Saamy line: ``Oru Chaamy, Rendu Chaamy, Moonu Chaamy, Naal Chaamy, Anju Chaamy....Aaaaru Chaamy''. ``I can imagine how the crowds would have reacted to that in the theatres,'' he said. When Vikram fans wanted their hero to garland Rajnikant, he politely received the garland in his hands and put it on Vikram.

Rajnikant (who said he went in disguise to watch Kaakha Kaakha with the general public) also had a special word for Surya when he said: ``Nobody has done an IPS role like this. Not just physical appearance, the expressions, the body language... everything.''

Not to let Vijay down, Rajnikant said the audience would see a ``new avatharam'' of the `Ilaya Thalapathy' in Kavithalaya's next project Thirumalai. As a surprise packet, the audio for Vijay-Jyotika starrer Thirumalai was released by Rajnikant along with a special trailer of the Deepavali release. Vikram received the first copy.

K. Balachander said it was director Hari who was the `man of the match' of Saamy 125. ``After hearing his narration, the next I saw him was while watching the first copy. Pushpa was sitting next to me but everytime I was curious and wanted to know about specific locations or actors, I didn't turn to ask because I didn't want to miss out on the next shot. The pace was so fast that it was gripping. After I watched it, I couldn't talk for two minutes. I couldn't decide what to talk about first— the grandeur of the film, Vikram's histrionics, the technical quality, the music... it was a live wire''. The veteran director, who Superstar called `Bhishmar plus Dronacharyar' of Tamil cinema, also made Vivek's day saying: ``With the same pride that I say `My Kamal, My Rajni... I say My Vivek. Vivek is a vitamin tablet for every movie''.

Vivek peppered his witty speech with an unconventional tribute to KB calling him `Dracula'. ``When `Dracula' bites you, you become `Dracula' as well. It was the same `Dracula' that bit someone in Apoorva Ragangal that bit me too.'' Surya got emotional when he referred to Rajnikant as the `guiding force' in the industry and expressed with tears that refused to pop out from the eyes, how honoured he was to share the stage with veterans KB, Superstar and also Vikram from who he had learnt a lot during the shooting of their latest project Pitamagan.

Vikram too returned the compliment saying he learnt a lot from Surya too, after going on to thank the entire team of Saamy. Vijay had just two words to say for a speech after he read out the list of people he was addressing— the producers, the director, the actors and technicians behind Saamy— `En Vazhthukkal' (My wishes).

Trisha, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Harris Jeyaraj, Pushpa Kandasamy, Tiruppur Subramaniam were the others who spoke.

There was a lot of expectation that Rajnikant would announce his next project, and fans screamed demanding to be told. ``I'm bored of doing the same old things. I'm looking for something different. Something that I will like and something that you will like,'' he responded. ``I'm not wearing blinkers. But I'm my own friend, my own enemy. I'm my own competition. Just like Padayappa is my competition, Vikram's competition should be with Saamy, Surya's competition should be with Kaakha Kaakha and so on.''

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