Will Rajinikanth reinvent himself with ‘Jailer’?

Tamil film actor Rajinikanth in Jailer, releasing in theatres on August 10, 2023. (Screen grab/YouTube/SunTV)

The release of a Rajinikanth film is a festival in itself in Tamil Nadu. Ever since he laid claim to the title of ‘Superstar’, Rajinikanth’s hold over the box office has been unquestioned. Though actors of the next generation like Vijay and Ajith also became massive stars in the '90s and 2000s, Rajinikanth was not displaced from his position. There were a few blips along the way like the failure of Baba (2002), Kuselan (2008), Lingaa (2014) and Kochadaiiyaan (2014), when some trade pundits predicted the end of Rajinikanth’s numero uno position, but he always managed to bounce back. His stardom was beyond hits and flops.

But at 72 and with his last few films receiving poor reviews and not exactly setting the box office on fire, the superstar must be anxious for his upcoming film Jailer to do well. The trailer released on August 2 got 10 million views in a day – which is a decent number but much lower than what stars like Vijay and Ajith manage to rake in.

If one were to only go by box office performance, Vijay is probably the biggest superstar in Tamil cinema today though Rajinikanth’s 2.0 (2018) still holds the record for the highest ever grossing Tamil film. In the last decade, Vijay has expanded his stardom beyond the state with slick action films that appeal to the young male crowd that forms the majority of First Day First Show theatre-goers. He has also ensured that his films appeal to family audiences with a fair mix of comedy, dance and family sentiment. The formula has helped him draw in crowds from different sections of society. The actor has also worked hard to stay fit and appears to understand the pulse of the audience, picking young directors to work with and not taking too many risks.

Still, Tamil cinema has been synonymous with Rajinikanth for decades in the popular imagination outside the state. His gestures, punch lines and style statements are legendary, and much has been written and said about his phenomenal stardom. But it is this very stardom that has made it difficult for Rajinikanth to reinvent himself. While he experimented through his career in the '70s and early '80s, the later years saw the emergence of the Rajinikanth template where he was larger than the character he played. The tremendous success of films like Billa (1980), Annamalai (1992), Baasha (1995) and Padayappa (1999) elevated him to the status of a god, and the audience lapped it up.

But this also meant that whenever he moved away from this template, he was more likely to burn his fingers than not. Unlike his contemporary Kamal Haasan who was known for taking risks and charting his own course, Rajinikanth had to keep producers, distributors and his large fanbase happy. Each film had to top the previous one in exploiting his stardom, and this worked well for several years. When the Malayalam psychological thriller Manichitrathazhu (1993) was remade in Tamil as Chandramukhi (2005), for instance, several changes were made to the script to accommodate Rajinikanth’s stardom. In the original, Mohanlal – a superstar in Kerala – makes his entry just before the interval, but in the remake, the lion’s share of the screen time went to Rajinikanth, and the central conflict in the story (of a devoted wife’s growing antagonism towards her husband due to mental health issues) too was changed.
With age and health issues catching up with him, Rajinikanth reduced the number of films he did in a year in the 2000s but this only made every release all the more special for his fans.

To be fair, the superstar sensed the shift in the audience and did films like Shankar’s Enthiran (2010), a science fiction film where he played a double role. He also did back-to-back films with maverick director Pa Ranjith in Kabali (2016) and Kaala (2018) where he became the face of a powerful Dalit hero. It was also in these films that Rajinikanth played his age (or close to it anyway) for most part of the film. Notably, he took this call after the consecutive failures of Kochadaiiyan and Lingaa.

Kabali became a major success, thanks to the hype generated by its impressive trailer and extensive promos (AirAsia even had a Kabali aircraft), but Kaala received a lukewarm response from the audience despite being a more layered film. It’s also relevant to note here that Rajinikanth’s insensitive and ill-timed comments on police violence during the Thoothukudi anti-Sterlite protests were made right around the release of Kaala, triggering public anger against the superstar.

After Kaala, Rajinikanth chose to work with another young director – Karthik Subbaraj. Petta (2019), which was pretty much a tribute to his entire filmography, saw Rajinikanth return to his demi-god status. A significant section of his fans who were uncomfortable with the superstar becoming the voice for Pa Ranjith’s anti-caste politics in Kabali and Kaala, celebrated Petta as a “real” Rajinikanth film after a long time. But his next two releases after Petta – Darbar (2020) and Annaatthe (2021) – were unanimously panned by critics with the latter film staying afloat thanks to its performance in B and C centres.

Both these films were mediocre and had lazy scripts that banked heavily on Rajinikanth’s superstardom to see them through. Unlike Bollywood stars of his generation who have evolved into playing impactful age-appropriate roles, Rajinikanth has struggled to find directors who can put his stardom to good use. His contemporary, Kamal Haasan, on the other hand, made a thumping comeback with Lokesh Kanagaraj’s action thriller Vikram (2022). Not only did Kamal play the lead, he also produced the film.

In sharp contrast to the Rajinikanth template where the entire film revolves around him, Vikram was a multi-starrer with Vijay Sethupathi and Fahadh Faasil also playing important roles. Actor Suriya did a cameo in the film too. Kamal’s clever move to do a multi-starrer at this stage in his long and distinguished career ensured that there was massive interest in the film. It quickly became a money-spinner, minting Rs 500 crore, and there is a sequel on the cards too.

Kamal Haasan’s reinvention with Vikram means that the clash of the senior Titans in Kollywood is still alive. There is a lot riding on Jailer, and with director Nelson’s previous film Beast (2022) with Vijay proving to be a disappointment, fans are on tenterhooks about Jailer’s fate. The film also has Mohanlal and Shiva Rajkumar in the cast in a bid to expand its reach, but unless Jailer works for the home market, it will be tough for Rajinikanth to retain his hold over the box office without some kind of significant reinvention. Will that happen at last? One has to wait for August 10 to find out.