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Thursday, December 3, 2020

Rajinikanth's announces entry - shakes political scene - 'Cigarette flipping' !!!

நினைத்தாலே இனிக்கும் !!

ஜனவரியில் கட்சித் துவக்கம், டிசம்பர் 31ல் தேதி அறிவிப்பு.

#மாத்துவோம்_எல்லாத்தையும்_மாத்துவோம் ! #இப்போ_இல்லேன்னா_எப்பவும்_இல்ல

~ this tweet is being very widely followed and has taken Twitter by storm.  Rajinikanth – ‘will He or not’ – has been the Q – most discussed, most ridiculed, most memed and more .. and today Rajni has announced that he would take a plunge in politics.  .. .. eerie ..it has shaken almost all the parties in Tamil Nadu with everyone claiming that their vote share is intact and would not be affected by Rajni’s entry.  General Secretary of once National party that got only 3 lakh votes contesting 25 seats was heard shouting in a TV that Rajni can stand alone but should not align with BJP – and would lose credibility.  So much so, that he wants to decide on what a new entrant should do !  .. ..

From a minor role in ‘Apporva Ragangal’ and negative roles, he grew very prominent.  :  “ Nagaraj and Sampath are garment salesmen and roommates in Tirunelveli. While Sampath is a straightforward person who believes in honesty, Nagaraj is a womaniser, in contrast to Sampath who believes in true love. Sampath's lover Raji, while fleeing from a rogue bull, dies due to an accident. A depressed Sampath attempts suicide, but Nagaraj stops him, and Sampath decides to stop selling garments, instead confining himself to remaining Nagaraj's assistant.”  ~  that was the plot of Bhuvana oru kelvikuri as read in wiki !! 

This is no political post .. .. Be that film or most of his films, his mannerisms, his styles have cast a shadow on people – there perhaps can be a debate on whether his influence has made more people take to smoking and drinking  !!

K Balachander’s Ninaithale Inikkum gave a new lease of success to MS Viswanathan – in that musical hit, Kamal was the hero, while Rajni played a guitarist  of a band (a la Beatles !) – those were the days of Rajni throwing his cigarette, moving on his lips and releasing rounds of smoke were spoken of .. .. in one particular scene that became a big hit – the man with French beard would be challenged on cigarette – ‘toyota car’ and Rajini backing out fearing severing of his finger .. ..  

Four Rooms is a 1995 American anthology comedy film co-written and co-directed by Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino, loosely based on the adult short fiction writings of Roald Dahl. The story is set in the fictional Hotel Mon Signor in Los Angeles on New Year's Eve. Tim Roth plays Ted, the bellhop and main character in the frame story, whose first night on the job consists of four very different encounters with various hotel guests. The film received negative reviews from critics who praised the segments directed by Rodriguez and Tarantino but heavily criticized the segments by Anders and Rockwell.

The writer - Roald Dahl (1916 – 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter pilot. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl was born in Wales to Norwegian immigrant parents. He served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He became a fighter ace, scoring five confirmed victories, and, subsequently, an intelligence officer, rising to the rank of acting wing commander. He rose to prominence as a writer in the 1940s with works for children and for adults, and he became one of the world's best-selling authors.  He has been referred to as "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century. Dahl's short stories are known for their unexpected endings, and his children's books for their unsentimental, macabre, often darkly comic mood, featuring villainous adult enemies of the child characters. His children's books champion the kindhearted and feature an underlying warm sentiment. His works for children include James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The Witches, Fantastic Mr Fox, The BFG, The Twits, and George's Marvellous Medicine.  

The Kamal Rajni Jayapradha starrer ‘Ninaithale Inikkum’  was a big musical hit of our times with 14 songs ! – the movieline was an adoption of story written by Sujatha Rangarajan. The film was also simultaneously shot in Telugu as Andamaina Anubhavam (Beautiful experience). A large part of the film was shot in Singapore and later  dubbed in Hindi as Pyara Tarana.  That Cigarette flip scene involving a wager (was it Poornam Viswanathan !) by a millionaire challenging Rajni to flick a cigarette into his lips 10 times in a row without dropping – the prize being a Toyota car and fine being little finger ! – the otherwise confident Rajni slowly develops fear on seeing the medicines, cotton and scissors for cutting !!  .. .. that scene was inspired by story of Roald Dahl.



"Man from the South" is a short story by Roald Dahl originally published in Collier's in 1948. It has been adapted several times for television and film, including a 1960 version that aired as an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and starred Steve McQueen, Neile Adams, and Peter Lorre. Adams and McQueen were married from 1956 to 1972.

While vacationing at a resort in Jamaica, the narrator encounters an elderly South American man named Carlos. They are soon joined by a young American naval cadet, who boasts about the reliability of his cigarette lighter. Carlos offers to bet his Cadillac against the American's left little finger that the American cannot ignite the lighter ten times in a row. The American accepts, with the narrator agreeing to act as referee and hold the car key, and they adjourn to Carlos' room. After Carlos has a maid bring in the necessary supplies, he ties the American's left wrist to the table and the challenge begins. After the eighth successful strike, a woman bursts into the room and forces Carlos to drop the knife he has held ready to sever the American's finger. She explains that Carlos is mentally disturbed, having played this game so often in their home country that they had to flee in order to keep the authorities from committing him to a psychiatric hospital. He has taken 47 fingers and lost 11 cars, but no longer has anything of his own to bet with; she won it all from him long ago, including the car he claimed to own. As the narrator offers the key to her, she reaches out to take it with a hand that has only its thumb and one finger still attached.

Penthouse  part of  Four rooms released decades later in 1995 – "  - written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, too was adapted from "Man from the South" by Roald Dahl. The penthouse is occupied by famous director Chester Rush (Tarantino) and his friends, including Angela. They request a block of wood, a doughnut, a ball of twine, three nails, a club sandwich, a bucket of ice, and a hatchet "as sharp as the Devil himself". Ted is invited to join their challenge: Chester's friend Norman (Paul Calderón) has bet he can light his Zippo cigarette lighter ten times in a row; if Norman succeeds, he will win Chester's car, but if he fails, his pinky will be cut off. ..

I n t e r e s t i n g !!!

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

3.12.2020. 

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