Tag: Padayappa

The Boss is Back 10

~ The Koboi Project

With Annaatthe about to be released, a Malaysian politician claims a likeness to the SUPERSTAR! According to Baling MP Abdul Azeez bin Abdul Rahim his Indian constituents call him Padayappa, after Rajnikanth’s character who champions the cause of the poor and downtrodden in the film of the same name. He also took great pride in saying “I speak in fluent Tamil, which shows I not only accept the language but also keep it in high regard.” Sorry lah but I always thought the honorable member of parliament was a Tamil … you know what I mean … in ancestry, like he learnt it at home from Ammamma or more likely Appappa (judging from his proud colour, maybe even from his Appa?)! Anyhow, the point is that this analogy was thrown up in his self-defense after being angrily accused, perhaps unfairly, of insulting the Tamil language by the even more colorful Jelutong MP Sanisvara Nethaji Rayer s/o Rajaji Rayer … and it was all over an elephant! Here is the video!

What can I say … nampaknya –

Baling sama Jelutong berlawan

gajah pulak di tengah-tengah!

Image: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2021/10/27/they-call-me-padayappa-in-baling-says-azeez/

Who Are You Man!

~ The Koboi Project

Of late, the SUPERSTAR’s sign (semiotically speaking) was being reconstituted as a unity of two distinct signifiers – one being that of the established  screen ‘hero’ and the other, the emerging ‘politician’. Both these signifies had, in the run-up to the release of PA Ranjith’s Dalit-Bahujan (the proletariat majority in the context of Indian caste society) gangster flick Kaala, seemed to be coalescing to signify something like … ‘Common (Tamil) People’s Leader’. In the wake of the Thoothukudi police massacre, however, Rajinikanth’s response, seem to have created a sudden and impactful aporia or space of internal contradiction within this singular signification.

Who is the Superstar Rajinikanth?! ….

https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/kaala-is-not-a-rajinikanth-movie-a-dalit-bahujan-reading-of-the-anti-caste-politics-in-pa-ranjiths-film-4505063.html