Rajinikanth & Kamal Haasan:Who is going to finish it on a high note?

Yes, we are talking about the legendary Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan who are celebrated by the entire nation and remain to be the pride of Tamil cinema…

If we look at Rajinikanth and Kamal’s career, it’s like watching a see-saw game. At one point of time Rajinikanth would have been at the top and sooner or later Kamal would have broken the record and vice-versa, except for the last five years it is Rajinikanth’sEndhiran (2010) that remains at the top.

Both Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan were commercial actors till the early 1980s. Thanks to Nayagan (1987), Kamal slowly shifted to the less travelled path and it equally helped and tested his ambitious super-stardom. Some of his experiment blended with commercial films like Apoorva Sagothargal , Kuruthipunal, Thevarmagan and Indianstood as a tough competition for Rajini.

Though Rajini acted in experimental films likeMullum Malarum, Sri Raghavendra and Netrikann and proved his acting prowess, post 90s he projected himself as larger-than-life hero which made him as darling of masses and people gave him the majestic Superstar throne.

Back then, any layman/ intellectual would have said that the path chose by Rajini is the best and Kamal’s experiments are unnecessary but now it looks like Kamal chose a safer path and not Rajini.

Today, Rajini is not in a mood to play roles that suit his age, he doesn't want to give a family dramas likeMullum Malarum anymore and all he wants to do is a big budget commercial extravaganza that requires mammoth investment. If there is a worthy director like Shankar is on board then there is no problem but look at Rajinikanth’s last two films,

Kochadaiiyaan and Lingaa that brought losses to its buyers and raised a lot of questions on his super-stardom. Also Rajinikanth can’t afford to choose a promising upcoming director or music director for his films, he definitely needs an AR Rahman, and his films definitely need a top shot cinematographer and expensive technicians.

Kamal could direct his own films even when in his late 60's and 70's just like Clint Eastwood. Major advantage is that today Kamal Haasan is having a massive respect and fan following among young audience who are raving about his Anbe Sivam andHey Ram, they want more such films from him and he can do it till the end of his life but Rajini’s case is different.