BAASHAA, 20 years young....

It has been 20 years (15th January 1995) since the iconic  BAASHAA  had released...When the movie released in 1995 it was unique and one of its kind movie...right from the titles,intercutting flashbacks with just a silhoutte of the Superstar,bgm that would send all Superstar fans like me, into a tizzy,the frameless glasses,stylish jackets,punch dialogues that echo in the background,etc...It redefined the done -to-death gangster films structure totally and also kick-started "Baashaa" like movies which paled in comparison to the original Superstar film....but none could even match its humungous appeal..

I had watched BAASHAH in a theatre in Madurai, when i had visited my cousin there...i would be around 11 years old then. Although i might not have understood much back then, i still remember being mesmerized by the whole movie...I had lost count of how many times i had watched the movie since then.Whenever they telecast the Superstar starrer in TV, i make it a point to watch it and i know many more BAASHAA fanatics like me would do the same, giving a deaf ear to all the family members who scold you on watching the same movie again and again..I do pity them, since they dont know what it feels like to relive the magic again and again...

Being a Superstar fan, i had bought the book "My Days With Baashaa" by the Director Suresh Krishna. It has very interesting anecdotes about the making of the movie, although not as much as i would have liked :( ...In the book the Director had mentioned how both Suresh as well as Superstar wanted to do an action movie, but since they did not have a story, Rajinikanth himself suggested just the title "Baashaa" and started on "Veera" movie instead.I read in a leading newspaper that the germ of the idea came long back  to the Superstar when he was working on "HUM" with Govinda and Amitabh Bachan..In the movie HUM, Bachan Sir, was a former gangster and now just a elder brother to his other two siblings, played by Govinda and Superstar himself..During one of the discussions between Superstar,Govinda and Bachan Sir, they had thought about a scene where Bachan Sir, will be influencing a person, with his previous gangster background,in order for Govinda to get a job and they had given the suggestion to the Director of the movie, but he rejected the idea informing them that it did not sit well with the script of the film...Years later Rajinikanth had suggested the same scene to Suresh Krishna and that is the now famous scene where Superstar goes to the Head of a college and speaks to him in a office room and finally gets a seat for his sister...This is how the script of "BASHAA" the movie was born.

Coming back to the movie itself, everything about the movie was pretty new at that time.It had such a talented star cast which included Raghuvaran,Vijaykumar,Devan,etc with fantastic music by DEVA, pulsating dialogues by BALAKUMARAN (NAYAGAN fame)...The "Naan Autkaaran.." song is still played today by autorickshaw drivers everywhere for Ayudha Poojai even now..The "Style.." song, the "Azhagu..." song, etc...There are so many memorable scenes right from the introduction of "Manik Baashah" in a cave to the "Ulle Po.." scene...to the "Oru thadava sonna nooru thadava sonna madiri" scene which gives me goosebumps even now when i see it..To the scene where he says, "Yen Per Manikkam, enakku innoru per irukku...." and the awesome background music takes over...The intercutting flashback scene, showing Baasha as a shadow,silhoutte..with the bgm (improved upon from TERMINATOR)..the innumerable social messages by way of punch dialogues, the confrontation of Baasha and Antony near the Fort, etc....i could just go on...

If BAASHAA needs to be shown as strong and powerful then he needed to have insurmountable odds stacked against him...That came in the form of the stupendous Antony...I still feel now, that there could be no other actor who could have played the character of ANTONY with so much panache and style like Raghuvaran.,,,He just imposed himself onto you, his barritone, height, stylish frames and jacket, made up for what he lacked in a good body...A handsome guy like him to play a villain is really tough, i would say :) ....

The movie has stood the test of time and many leading stars even now are willing to do a remake of the cult film...Actually Suresh Krishna had asked after the success of BAASHAA to Superstar, if they could make a sequel to the movie and the Superstar outrightly rejected the idea.. His reason was that the sequel should surpass the original film which is highly unlikely and so Suresh dropped the idea altogether..I feel movies like this should not be remade and never touched...Except the remake of yesteryear superhit "Billa" all other remakes had a very bad run..that shows the instinct of Rajinikanth..

I had watched LINGA recently and I felt the Superstar's magic has waned (sadly,feeling bad as i write it :( )...My personal wish would be that Superstar should act in strong character roles as in THE GODFATHER (Don Corleone), or Gene Hackman's role in (CRIMSON TIDE) or Jack Nicholson's role in (A Few Good Men)or Morgan Freeman's role (BRUCE ALMIGHTY) or retire completely..

I just want to end by quoting from a song from the movie itself, "there is only One Moon, One Sun, One BASHAA" and want to addOne and Only one SUPERSTAR...The BASHAA legacy still  lives on now.....Rajini Sir you will always be a BASHAA in our hearts,,,Live long and stay healthy...A humble tribute by a fan to irreplacebale BAASHAA....