My Baasha – my spin on the the book “My Days with Baasha”

Jayaprakash Bandu (aka Bandu) dipped his hand in his bag saying I brought something for you and pulled out “My Days with Baasha” a book on Rajnikanth, authored by Suresh Krissna who directed Annamali, Veera and Baasha. (all popular movies starring Rajnikanth). 

I of course had no intentions of reading the book. 

I grew up in the shadow of Rajnikanth faniacs in my childhood, only to to experience the  dark shade with Gokul Santhanam and his absolute lunatic love of Rajnikanth. I liked Rajnikanth, enjoyed his theatrics but like the very few outside his “fanatic” circle remained superciliously skeptical! I liked the memes around him more. 

Therefore, this desultory acceptance of the book and commitment to never read it. 

Like the author says in the book, somethings are pre-ordained. I was clearing my bags after a tough week, that ended with some theatrical fireworks. I chanced on this book I had thrown in the bag.  Maybe the crazy week or the lure of the comfort of the familiar, I started thumbing the book through and didn’t put it down. 

Strangely it wasn’t the magic of the Superstar or the crisp narrative, that held me captive. It was the story of what goes behind the scenes. The fascinating creative process, the hard work, science and imagination behind the celluloid magic unfolds inadvertently in the directors repast he lays in the creation the “Superstar” and the many trends that spawned from here. 

The side characters or the narrative behind the narrative were the mains in my weekend read. 

It is fascinating to read the creation of the blockbuster movie Baasha  inspired by a sequence shot for another movie in a another language.  Incidentally this shot never made it there but went on to inspire a timeless cult blockbuster, nurtured by two individuals over years as an idea and fleshed out in a few weeks. This reminded me of so many of the blockbusters at work, that when they occurred seemed random but germinated over the years to become successful business lines or happy associations.

In those pages there’s so many nuggets around timing of products, understanding the pulse of what will work and branding you almost don’t pay attention to them. It takes a little bit to not let Rajnikanth take over the story. It was also also a bit of the unravelling of the magic to realize that every tug of the heart, unshed tear and like or dislike is orchestrated by the director. It’s not fun to know that what you thought were your feelings, somebody had cleverly engineered, with the right lighting, dialogues, sequencing and steady build up. It also helped me understand why we love these stories and why some characters in real and reel evoke the emotions they do in us. 

The author in a very quintessential manner of the personality of the times, place and industry gives a lot of credit to fate, god and the alighnment of starts. I wish I could call him and tell him to instead look at his obsession with his craft, his risk taking and madness of accepting a movie not knowing what is in store and starting work in two days! He doesn’t have look behind his quote on how he has music everywhere and is constantly making notes of what he likes from any genre, any language and brings it to his work. 

I know it is fashionable now to belt out a few learnings, from everything we do in our life. I am going to refrain from it simply because it takes away the magic from the underlying logic the author, inadvertently unspool for the readers willing to see that. Maybe it was my theatrical closing that opened this realm, maybe its all timing. 

Enjoy the read, and if that’s not possible watch a Rajnikanth movie, where anything is possible. Here’s to all the fans of Thalaiva, I now see some of the magic you see. I also see the work ethic and the preparation that goes behind making that magic.