Superstar

The “superstar” of Tamil movies, one of India’s most popular and among the highest paid actors in the country, Rajinikanth’s latest movie, Sivaji releases this weekend.

The preview of Sivaji doesn’t seem half as interesting as this video from one of his movies several years ago:

What I (and probably several million other people in the world) can’t understand is, how and why is Rajinikanth so popular in Japan, of all countries????!! Here’s some interesting stuff I found on the topic…

Some photos to start with…

More here: http://rajinifans.com/japanese/cm_city.asp

And, guess what? Rajini is on the wrapper of a Japanese snack product (garam masala chips) by a company called “Tohato”!!!

Brand Rajinikanth is hot in Japan…

When the company wanted to market an Indian chips variety, it was looking for an Indian star with an appeal in Japan. So, you have Rajinikanth, accompanied by his Muthu, heroine Meena, flashing a broad smile from the green wrapper.

The Rajinikanth wrapper is such a hit that people are preserving it after consuming the snacks.

(Picture thanks to http://munmun.moo.jp/archives/artist/rajnikanth/)

And, how Rajinikanth unites India, Japan (can politics be too far behind?)…

Rajni’s blockbuster Odoru Maharaj (The Dancing Maharaja) found a special mention in the context of strengthening of Indo-Japan ties as Manmohan Singh, (Prime Minister of India), addressed Japanese law on Thursday.

Manmohan Singh – who is on a four-day visit to the country – referred to the 1995 movie in his address to the joint session of Diet (Japan’s Parliament) and said he was delighted to hear about its popularity among the young Japanese.

This is just such an amazing phenomenon to study, from a cultural point of view, why a country like Japan should take to a Tamilian film star from Chennai? If and when I go to Japan, this is probably one of the first things I’ll be checking out…maybe find some Rajini fans in Japan and do some ‘contextual interviews’!