THALAPATHY

Assembly elections happened today in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Vijay made headlines by going to the polling booths on a bicycle- people jumped to the conclusion that it could be his way of protesting against a hike in petrol price. Could be, could be not. But I had several conversations with people about Vijay and how I have always been his fan, no matter how fuckall his movies are (yeah thinking about Vettaikkaran, Velayudham, Puli, Sura, Kuruvi, Bairavaa…). Too much nostalgia happened.

In school, almost all my friends were Suriya fans (I love him too), and Vijay being not a good actor as Suriya was always a topic of ridicule. I fought hard for him, picked fights with Suriya fans, and defended Vijay with all my might. I have always loved that man, from cringing at his misogynistic dialogues in Sivakasi to hooting with pride when JD thrashes people who victim blame a sexual harassment victim in Master. From fighting to establish Vijay supremacy to rolling my eyes at Suriya fans in school who kept their fan fight aside to pick Vijay’s songs for School Day dance programs- because we all know, if you wanna dance you gotta do it the Thalapathy way- school was a time I had to fight the haters as if I was fighting for my blood. But I still hate the fact that the female leads in his movies are just decked-up dolls with no purpose. That one thing is still unacceptable to me.

I am proud of him for raising his voice- in his own gentle way- against fascists. For saying his wealth is his fans after the infamous raid. I love how he embodies the fight that all of us wish to do against injustice. Mersal and Bigil are the only movies so far I have watched from theatres. Master dreams got trampled upon by COVID. I have loved him limitlessly since Ghilli, I don’t remember any other movie but Badri from before that time. I have loved him when he was Ilaya Thalapathy and I love him now that he is our Thalapathy. Even if he makes another movie like Puli, I’ll still love him.

Thalapathy uyir.