The Yogi Adityanath Meet: Why Are Rajni's Detractors Jittery?

The superstar Rajnikanth's favourite pastime these days seems to be proving his critics wrong.

They said he was over the hill and is no longer the force that he was once at the box-office. And out came Jailer that has made all eat humble pie. 

Jailer, at least at the moment of writing, seems to be on the way to becoming the highest grosser in Tamil film history. 

As per a report in The Indian Express, Jailer has so far collected over Rs 500 crore  worldwide. 

The film crossed the big mark on its 10th day of release. It also became the third Tamil film to enter the Rs 500 crore club after his own starrer 2.0 and Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan: I. Jailer is said to be the second-fastest film to cross the Rs 500 crore mark, after Rajinikanth-Akshay Kumar’s 2.0 which earned the big number in just seven days.

These are big numbers and to think that this has been pulled off by an aging 72-year-old star in a rank commercial potboiler is the thing to note.

This also sends out a strong message to the juniors like Vijay who have been making claims to his superstar chair. The blockbuster success of Jailer conveys the idea that Rajni is in no mood to relinquish his space at the top of the totem and is not really bothered by the competition.

Rajni, it would seem, is equally unperturbed by the backlash that his meetings in Uttar Pradesh have triggered. The man, who went off to the lower regions of the Himalayas in the aftermath of Jailer's release, was in Uttar Pradesh and met Yogi Adityanath and while calling him on, the superstar touched the feet of the Chief Minister.

This brought forth an avalanche of reactions in the Tamil sections of various social media platforms. 

The hand-wringing and chest-beating was hilarious in a strange sort of way. A narrative is being set that Rajni has betrayed 'the Tamil nation' by falling at Yogi Adityanath's feet. 

How a person doing something in his personal capacity can be built up as an affront to a State's collective pride is not to be questioned. For, the DMK and its minions, who are pushing forward this loud narrative, have an agenda to peddle.  

For the record, the superstar also met the Samajwadi Party head honcho, Akhilesh Yadav, whom Rajni described as a 'good friend'. That this meeting did not get the 'media play' as the other one did confirms the belief that there is an underlying plan in the DMK and its cohorts' ways.   

It may be recalled that when Rajinikanth walked away from his plans to launch his own political party, his detractors pounced on him and said he was never a political force that he built himself to be and his chickening out at the last moment only confirmed that. 

But when the very same critics are now at his throat for meeting the UP Chief Minister and visiting the Ram temple at Ayodhya --- all just private and courtesy calls ---  it shows that they may be jittery inside and are worried that his pit stops in UP may have political ramifications. 

It shows that the DMK despite its tough posturing may be feeling a little jelly-like inside. They may be fearing that Rajnikanth the politician, like the film star, can still be a big force. 

The larger problem of online mob  

To be adversarial to your political rivals is understandable. To be ideologically opposed to the BJP is fine. But this vehemence for merely meeting a BJP Chief minister is staggering. 

What has Rajni done to deserve this kind of counterblast? 

Who he meets and speaks to is his prerogative. After all, Adityanath is an elected Chief Minister, and what is wrong in an actor in his personal capacity meeting him? To artificially whip up an aggressive groundswell of opinion against an individual's private meeting is an act that borders on fascism. That is what the DMK is attempting.

But when the DMK and its lackeys pull it off, it somehow gets to be seen as sleight of liberalism.

It is not as if Rajni was unaware of the repercussions that awaited his encounters in Uttar Pradesh. But one thing that the superstar has consistently done is do his own thing unmindful of the reactions. 

He spoke out against the Sterlite protests and alleged that anti-social elements had a hand in them. He couldn't care less that it went against the grain in the State at that time.  He has also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

This of course earned him the mocking moniker 'Sangikanth'. 

The DMK sections in Twitter (X) say that his meeting with Adityanath should not be seen as a surprise as he is always close to the Sangh Parivar. If the DMK types really feel so, why let Sun Pictures --- which is the biggest brand from their stable --- repeatedly make movies with him? 

If they are so opposed to Rajni, is money raked in through his movies kosher? Can't they rein in the Marans?     

Sometime back the VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan said (and this video is still available on Twitter) that Rajinikanth was unkeen to support the BJP and hence backed out from launching his own party. 

But when told that Rajni is friends with the BJP leaders, the VCK leader shot back and asked what was wrong in being pally with leaders. It doesn't mean anything politically, he had said then. 

An orchestrated online mob now decides and dictates what to say, who to meet and so on. Ironically, this is what the right wing sections are often accused of carrying out. But when the Dravidian types perpetrate the same, the liberals are nowhere to be seen.

Probably they are all watching Jailer in the theatres.