Catch
the Rajni-experience in the big screen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypT61gzVvKk
(3) What’s in it anyway? Ask the fans and they’d say, ” Go for it.
It’s entertainment guaranteed”. Poor me – I couldn’t manage to grab
a ticket. The queues are getting longer despite extra shows across
the city. The movie, we are told is already a sell-out for the
first three weeks and definitely for people like me Shivaji could
only come after a long wait. And so, I decided to surf through
movie reviews on the Internet – the world of information at your
finger tips. Not surprisingly, ‘Rajini-the superstar’ is everything
in the movie. Even the best among its film crew at best remain mere
shadows.
(4) Shivaji’s story is pretty simple, straight forward and
predictable. But who ever said Indian cinema is about story. Indian
cinema, particularly regional cinema has always been (and will
always be) about the “hero” who churns out a ‘tried-and-tested’
formula for both entertainment and (socio-cultural) enlightenment.
It’s all about the hero’s invincibility as he fights for a just
cause. It’s all about romance/love that defies socio-cultural
conventions. Most of all, it’s all about a movie experience that
provides either a ‘cathartic’ effect and /or fulfillment of
spectatorial aspirations. Shivaji faithfully follows the beaten
down track within Tamil cinema – one man’s crusade for
self-respect, honour and larger public good. Shivaji is yet another
‘one-man-agent-of- change’ formulaic plot within Tamil Cinema. But
what makes Rajni a celebrated superstar for the last 25 years? I
suppose, in a Rajni- starer one must stop thinking and just allow
the Rajni-experience to slowly envelope you. So wait for your
chance to watch Shivaji – it may wake you up to the reality of
Rajni-mania.
Rajni-mania: Is it our concern?
(5) Should an evangelical Christian worry about ” Rajni mania”? I
think we must. Our context/s challenge us to “speak” the Christian
hope within popular culture. Historically, the Church ( and her
related Institutions) has been largely hesitant to engage with
popular culture. Douglas Groothius painfully remarks, ” The
evangelical world today suffers from apologetic anemia. Despite the
fact that Holy Scripture calls believers to give a reason for the
hope we have in Christ (1 Peter 3:15; see also Jude 3), we sadly
lack a public voice for truth and reason in the marketplace of
ideas. We do not have a strong intellectual presence in popular or
academic culture”. Douglas’ words are painfully true about the
Indian Church (and its related institutions)
Shivaji: The case for cultural apologetics
(6) Our Christian commitment (and calling) requires us to readily
defend our “Christian hope” with reasons( I Pet 3:15). This is the
apologetic task for every believer. Historically, our affiliations
to traditions of “rationality” have led us to “speak” of ‘rational
defense’ (why-we-believe-what-we-believe) rather than ‘defense of
Christian hope (our-Christian-hope-makes-sense-
and-we-can-show-you-how). Today, popular culture presents (actually
promotes) a discourse of ‘desire’ and ‘despair’ and the apologetic
task is to speak “Christian hope” within popular culture.
(7) If the apologetic task is to engage in a ‘persuasive’
conversation with contemporary culture – its needs, hurts, tastes
and desires, then we must locate a ‘common’ ground from which to
speak out the “Christian hope”. Theodore A. Turnau reminds us, ”
The truth of Christianity is not just about its rationality, but
also about its beauty, goodness, rightness – how Christianity
connects with desire. Apologetics must relate the truth of the
gospel to human desire”. We must be willing to locate the hungers
of the human heart with the discourse of “desire” and “despair”
within popular culture.
(8) Apologetics, if rightly understood, is engaging Christian hope
(persuasively) with the discourse of ‘desire’ and ‘despair’ within
popular culture. Theodore A. Turnau writes,” If we understand
apologetics as persuasive dialogue, as conversation aimed at
swaying human desire, then a robust, relevant apologetics must
study popular culture. On the silver screen, or over the airwaves,
or in the magazines: that’s where the current shape of desire is
laid out for all to see (and for all to buy into)/”. It is
imperative that we study popular cinema, TV Soaps and magazines
etc. David Bruce, who runs the website hollywoodjesus.com contends,
” Being a Christian used to mean you didn’t go to Hollywood movies.
Now it is seen as a missionary activity”.
Locating the discourse of desire and despair
(9) Shivaji - helps us to understand the discourse of ‘desire’ and
‘despair’ within popular culture. On the flip side, it is an
opportunity to engage in “persuasive” cultural conversations that
make the Christian hope count within a culture of ‘desire’ and
‘despair’. Theodore A Turnau exhorts Christian believers to engage
in such persuasive conversations, “If a movie or singer or
television show becomes extremely popular (what you could call “of
cultural moment”), then the apologist ought to look into it,
disentangling the strands of grace and idolatry”. In this way, you
slowly become educated about the landscape of desire and despair in
the inner terrain of young minds.
(10) Ever wondered “why” Rajni-the Super Star connects so well with
an inter-generational audience. The Rajni socio-cultural phenomenon
has not been taken ‘seriously’ by the church and its related
Institutions. The formulaic Rajni movies are nothing more than a
discourse of ‘desire’ and ‘despair’. The “Super star” symbolizes
the hungers of the human heart for a crusader who would fight for
the poor (socially marginalized), penniless (economically deprived)
and the powerless ( politically oppressed). The souls of millions
thirst for peace – justice and prosperity. This comes so close to
the messianic expectations within the biblical paradigm. There is a
kind of messianic desire already within the hearts of people and
popular culture provides “icons/idols” to satisfy the hungers of
the human heart and the thirst of the soul. Even the popularity of
the yesteryear celebrated film icon MGR was due to the constant
reel images that portrayed him as the ‘crusader for justice’.
Indian cinema, at least the regional cinema is all about
savior-myths. These messianic images coincided with the
spectatorial expectation for a real life ‘crusader for justice’.
The adulation for the reel crusader betrays the widespread desire
for peace, love and justice ( Kingdom values) and despair about
‘corruption’, ‘conflicts’, ‘poverty’, ‘powerlessness’ and
‘deprivation’ (the public face of evil). Unfortunately, the
reel-crusade against “evil” is a mirage. This explains the need for
more and more “repetitive” storylines and “formulaic” plots rather
than new stories.
The religious dimension of Rajni-mania
(11) Is ‘Rajni-mania’ – a religious expression? Paul Tillich’s
description of Religion is very perceptive. Tillich describes
religion as ” Religion is a state of being grasped by an ultimate
concern, a concern which qualifies all other concerns as
preliminary and which itself contains the answer to question of
meaning of our life.” How is the “ultimate concern” communicated
within a visual culture? It is in and through the “popular” and the
“cultural” that visions of ‘ultimate concern’ are propagated.
Robert K. Johnston, professor of theology and culture at the Fuller
Theological Seminary, reminds us: “Film, especially for those under
35, is the medium through which we get our primary stories, our
myths, our read on reality”. Cinematic myths permeate our reality
and make us engage in meaning-making, patterns forming and
significance giving. Thus, Popular culture becomes a religious
expression
Speaking hope within a culture of ‘desire’ and ‘despair’
(12) If Rajni-mania is a religious expression that arises out of
the desire (for peace, love and justice) and the despair (at the
reality of evil all around), then Christian apologetics must engage
in persuasive conversations with it. We must present the TRUTH –
BEAUTY and GOODNESS of the Christian hope of a new world to come
(and defend it too). We must “speak” the Christian hope of a
redeemed cosmology wherein evil is both defeated and destroyed
within a culture that is strangled by despair.
(13) How do we “speak” – THE CHRISTIAN HOPE – within a culture of
‘desire’ and ‘despair’? We must recognize that the way young people
engage and/or disengage with “the world of ideas” has dramatically
changed. Robert K. Johnson reminds us: “As the culture has moved
from a modern to a postmodern era, we have moved from wanting to
understand truth rationally to understanding truth as it’s embedded
in story”. Shivaji – has the promise of a ‘fulfillment experience’
and ‘a hope message’ embedded in its story. As evangelical
Christians we know that the answers it brings to the hungers of the
heart for Peace – Love - and Justice are ‘illusory’ and ‘escapist’.
How we “speak” the Christian hope within the discourse of ‘desire’
and ‘despair’ post-Shivaji is the specific apologetic challenge.
Hopefully, we will learn to “speak” our apologetics as stories
within a story-culture.