Why does Vijay seem to like MGR now?

I got a question recently about why MGR references have started showing up in Vijay films. The questioner also asked if Vijay thought Tamilians are that dumb.

Umm… No. He does not think people are dumb. He knows they are.

Let me be very clear that once again - I have nothing against the dude, he works hard, he knows his audience and he is adored by his fans.

That doesn’t mean everything he does is strictly ethical or moral. It does not have to be. Because morality and ethics do not pay the bill. Hard work, business acumen and quality entertainment do.

Let us look at an interesting phenomenon now shall we?

A recent Telugu flick by the name of ‘Ala Vaikunthapuramlo’ was released on Shankaranthi. It featured a typical Trivikram Srinivas story about family values and emotions mixed with over-the-top fight scenes and comedy.

Without a doubt, the most memorable scene in the film was this:

Allu Arjun performs a plethora of dance movements in a sequence that happens in a boardroom (yes, Trivikram loves board rooms). The catch? Except for one song, all the remaining numbers he croons to are from other actors - MB, PK, NTR, Chiru. There was even a Sid Sriram song from a rather less popular movie.

Now why does a fiercely popular star like AA reference other stars who are just above him or arguably just his equals? Because in effect, he is paying homage to all their fans. By telling the audiences ‘Hey you liked NTR’s song? I loved it too, here watch me do his dance’. Now every single NTR fan in the crowd is now on AA’s side till the end of the movie. Easy right?

This phenomenon is present everywhere:

• Malayalis reference Mammooty and Mohanlal

• Tamils reference Rajini, Vijay and Ajith

• Bollywood stars reference SRK and Hrithik

to name a very few.

Now this technique of referencing first starts off as plainly as just mentions, then it slowly tries to blur the lines between who is being referred to and who is actually on screen.

Don’t believe me?

• Vijay first cozied up to Vijayakanth. He played his younger brother in Sendhoorapaandi. SAC recalled how Vijayakanth did Sendhoorapandi free of cost to help his son Vijay's career

• Then Vijay upped the ante and went straight for Rajnikanth. His name Ilayathalapathi is a direct play on Rajnikanth’s iconic movie ‘Thalapathy’. This was his nickname(?) is his 1994 film ‘Rasigan’. In short, he was now calling himself mini-Rajnikanth.

• From then till almost Villu, Vijay referenced mainly Rajnikanth. He had dialogues in Youth, Bagavathi directly acknowledging the fact that he is a fan of Rajnikanth. Villu also had him sing and dance to Rajni songs. Rare references to Shivaji and MGR were not exactly seen as oddities, as they were common among all stars - Bhagyaraj, Satyaraj, Prabhu, Sarath Kumar among others.

• From there onward, Vijay’s references stopped. He probably now knew that he was no longer the Challenger and was out in the front. Interestingly, Rajnikanth referenced Vijay in his 'Sivaji’.

• His fans, slowly dropped the ‘Ilaya’ from his title ‘Ilayathalapathy’ and now started calling him ‘Thalapathy’, which means he is no longer a Rajnikanth fan but actually his equal. Or so they still think.

So now, why did I tell you all this? Because repetition and implicit coercion are very powerful mediums to influence the way we think. People now constantly call him Thalapathy in all his films. So far so good.

Then Rajni started his political campaign, meaning either Vijay will have to refer him as his leader or pursue his own interests.

What do you think Vijay is possibly going to do about that? Become a lifelong fan of Rajni like Bhagyaraj and Anandaraj remain of MGR? Or something else?

Well, what do you think he is going to do? Has he been giving hints?

Hmmm…

errr..

ahem…

I don’t see it. Do you?