Tamil vs Hindi: 9. Choreographers

Choreography is an important component of Indian movies, since it is vital to most of the songs. South India prides itself for the birth of Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, and Kathakali, whereas North India can boast of Kathak and Bhangra. Over the years, the Western influence has changed the dance style of both Tamil and Hindi movies alike. Now, we rarely have the purest forms of our classical dance; I think it is a fusion of both worlds. There are a few in both movie industries who have stood the test of time and outshone others. Let us see who fares how.

1) Tamil choreographers:

Thankfully, gone are the days of 'Puliyoor' Saroja, and, to some extent, Raghuram, both of whom approached cine-dance as just 'dancing to the tunes'. In the late 80's, Maniratnam showed in his movies what new and innovative choreography and picturization can do to the viewing pleasure. Atleast a couple of songs in each of his movies, since Mouna Raagam, had some great dance numbers. The person whom he teamed up with, Sundaram, was undoubtedly the best of his times. It is very apt that, he and his sons were utilized to maximum possible extent by another master of visually pleasing cinema, Shankar.

The 90's saw Prabhu Deva and Raju Sundaram taking the central stage in choreography. There were others too, such as, Kala and her sister Brindha, who shone occasionally but they paled in comparison with the Sundaram family. Then, in 2000's, Lawrence Raghavendra entered the scene and he has created his own style in choreography.

The main problem with the choreography in Tamil cinema is not with the masters, but those who matter, i.e. the actors and actresses. Barring a handful, most actresses dont dance well. The less said about the actors, the better. Due to this, we often see some great dance scores wasted as item numbers.

2) Hindi choreographers:

Khans rule here too.. there is old-but-still-gold Saroj Khan, Farah Khan (who is undoubtedly the #1 now) and Ahmed Khan. In addition to them, Ganesh Hegde, very stylish and highly talented choreographer, Vaibhavi Merchant (young and very promising master) and Shiamak Davar (selective but delivers unforgettable hits like 'Dhoom 2', 'Bunty aur Babli') and Remo. Unlike their tamil counterparts, these masters are blessed with very good dancers in the hindi cine industry. It is hard to pick lousy dancers over there, which makes their job much easier and the outcome much better.

It also happens that the language/regional barrier is broken quite astoundingly. Saroj Khan won the National award for the Tamil film 'Sringaram' whereas Prabhu Deva won for the Hindi film 'Lakshya'. All of them command respect among each others, and so, I feel that Tamil and Hindi choreographers are quite evenly matched and hence share the honors.

Tamil leads Hindi 4-2, after 9 rounds of competition/comparison.

Tamil vs Hindi Cinema: 8. Lyricists

This is one area which I am not knowledgeable enough to pass a comprehensive judgement on, since I can hardly follow the lyrics of poetic Hindi songs (e.g. in Fanaa). Nevertheless, let me try my best.

Tamil lyricists:

Thanks mainly to Kannadasan, very high standards were set for tamil film lyrics. Almost all his popular songs had excellent lyrics, and those aspiring to make it big in the industry wanted to emulate him. We were lucky to have a Vairamuthu ready to take over after Kannadasan, and continue the trend. Since 'Mudhal Mariyathai', he has won the national award for best lyrics 5 times. No words of praise are enough for him, and he continues to surprise us with his imagination, comparitive skill, humor, and at times, philosophy.

Following on his footsteps are talented and promising lyricists such as Na. Muthukumar, Thamarai and, Pa. Vijay (who won the national award for 'Autograph'), to name a few. Even Vaali comes up with a few surprises at times. Good quality tamil lyrics effortlessly flows from them, and despite the popularity of 'Kuthu' or 'Gaana' style songs, the quest for penning ever-lasting melodies is what gives them the ultimate satisfaction.

Hindi Lyricists:

Though they have a few very good lyricists in Gulzar and Javed Akhtar, the quality and the ethereal poetic purity are somehow inconsistent. Only Gulzar has won the national award, that too just once, for 'Ijaazat' long ago. Whenever I translate some of the gems of Vairamuthu or Na. Muthukumar to my Hindi-speaking friends, they have told me that Tamil poets' imagination is too good, romantic, and 'unimaginable'. Such quality exists only in Ghazals, which mainstream Hindi music somehow doesn't embrace much.

I think it is fair to hand over the victory to Tamil lyricists. This makes Tamil cinema lead Hindi 4-2.

Tamil vs Hindi Cinema: 7. Villains

(Pics adopted from musicindiaonline and Galatta)

The movies released in the couple of weeks (e.g., PKMC and Mozhi) made me think about the role of villains in Tamil cinema and compare it with Hindi Cinema. For instance, I was surprised that three of the leading characters in the feel-good movie 'Mozhi' have recently appeared in notable -ve roles. As was done earlier, I am gonna limit the comparison to the post-2000 era.

Tamil cinema:

If you take a look at my post on the most notable villains in Tamil, we have had quite a good amount of versatility in the recent past; but has it been top-class? For that, the list of notable recent villains are:

1) Nasser: Though he was terrific in the early-mid 90's, his recent -ve performances have been forgettable. He appears more often as a loud villain (e.g., Thamirabharani, etc.) than the brainy subdued one he was famous for. His last notable performance was in 'Anbe Sivam'.

2) Raghuvaran: Where is he now?

3) Prakash Raj: Though talented, most of his roles after 'Aasai' were similar, until probably 'Ghilly' and after that, they are mostly similar in 'Chellam' style. Had couple of different hero-resisting roles in 'Vasoolraja MBBS' and 'Anniyan' but apart from that, he is one talent largely being wasted.

4) Pasupathy: Similar to the earlier mentioned, had a rollicking start early in his career (Dhool, Virumandi) only to become loud and irritating later (Arul, Sullan, Madurei and Thirupachi). Majaa and Veyyil suggest that he is better off as a character artist and probably likely to appear so in the near future.

(A point off-the-topic: The exceptional movies that I mentioned above Kamal's influence.. He really brings out the best from his co-artists).

Rest of the others, like 'Kaadhal' Dhandapani, 'FEFSI' Vijayan, Ponnambalam and Aashish Vidyarthi are so-so.. They look, act and shout like villains.. thats all. Rarely have we got the heroes embracing -ve roles. Even if it happens, more often than not, the hero makes up for it by appearing in a goody dual role (e.g., Indian, Aalavandhan, Amaidhipadai and Vaali) . So, he is the loser and he is the winner as well.. Once in a bluemoon we get a Kadhal Konden (Dhanush), or Kaakha Kaakha (Jeevan) and Ayutha Ezhuthu (Madhavan).. here again, the former werent established heroes when they performed the -ve roles.

Hindi Cinema:

(Pic adopted from BBC and Yashraj films)

The situation in the recent past in this aspect has been pretty encouraging and versatile. Almost all the main heroes have appeared in a negative role and have done reasonably well also. For example, Shahrukh (Don-though a bit different and KANK- a gray character), Aamir (1947 Earth and Fanaa), Amitabh (Aankhen, Aks and the forthcoming Sholay), Saif (Omkara), Ajay Devgan (Khakhi and Deewangee), Akshay Kumar (Ajnabee), Abhishek (Yuva), John Abraham (Aetbaar), Sunil Shetty (Main Hoon na) and Akshaye Khanna (Humraaz).

Even the actresses turn out to be interesting villains. Priyanka Chopra (Aitraaz), Kareena (Fida), Esha Deol (Ankahee), Isha Koppikar (Girlfriend), and Bipasha (Jism) to name a few.

In addition to that, the mainstream villains have been reasonably good (e.g., Manoj Bajpai, Ashutosh Rana, Irfan Khan, Mohan Agashe, and Mukesh Tiwari) too of late. The legacy of Pran and Amrish Puri has been passed on and continued well by many others. They usually stumble whenever they portray some Jihadi or Pakistani bigwig as the loud villain but otherwise they are OK. Even renowned actors like Nasirudeen Shah (Krrish, Sarfarosh), Om Puri (Dev, Yuva), Nana Patekar (several) and Boman Irani (Don, Ekalavya, and, to some extent, Munnabhai) appear in -ve roles and add flavor to it. They, IMHO, make the Hindi villains more dislikable than Tamil ones

So, the lead for Tamil cinema is reduced to 3-2.

Previous posts in this thread:

6) Music directors

5) Comedians

4) Good actresses

3) Beautiful actresses

2) Great actors

1) Handsome heroes

Tamil vs Hindi Cinema: 6. Music Directors

After more than 3 months, back to this thread. Music is an integral part of Indian cinema; hardly are there movies without songs. Since this is a vast subject, I will not touch upon the old movies/music and the verdict would be solely based on the current state of quality.

Tamil film music directors(MD):

The unarguable leader is AR Rahman. His growth was phenomenal, but fortunately/coincidentally happened during the time when Ilayaraja's music started to sound less and less interesting. From 1992-2000, much of his attention was in Tamil cinema but ever since then, he first became a 'National music director' and then 'International MD'. I would still include him under 'Tamil' category.

Following closely on his footsteps are extremely talented and promising MDs like Yuvan Shankar Raja and Harris Jayaraj. One can always expect something different and exciting from these two. They are ready to take the mantle from Rahman, in case he decides to score most of his music outside Tamil. Next level includes Vidyasagar, and Bharadwaj. Others are, IMHO, good enough for a good surprise number here or there. Since most of the viewers of this blog are Tamils, I dont think I need to write more about the achievements of the aforementioned MDs.

Hindi film MDs:

Until Rahman's 'Rangeela', Hindi film music was rather mostly predictable. MDs like Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Kalyanji-Anandji and even RD Burman (1942 A Love Story was a glorious exception) liked to use 'Violin-based music' a lot, which made most of the songs and tunes monotonous. After Rahman's entry, they realized that they need to change their music-making style in order to survive in the industry. Unlike in Tamil, music companies (such as Tips and Venus) had a much bigger say in the movie matters, so their constant pressure resulted in a forced form of Hindi music in the late 90's. Some survived to give good numbers, whereas some faded into the background. That was the time when the 'remixes' and Indi-pop albums made unwelcome entry into the mainstream music. Needless to mention, the quality of film music largely sucked then. I would touch upon some recent music directors and their prowess.

Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy:

Right now, they are undoubtedly #1 in Hindi. They started off slowly with 'Mission Kashmir', 'Dil Chahta hai', and 'Armaan' as noteworthy albums in their first 3 years; but with 'Kal ho naa ho', their ascent to the present position has been very steady. They have Rahman-touch in their music, but they cleverly mix and blend Western and Indian music to give us some mesmerizing numbers. Their recent hits include 'Bunty aur Babli', 'KANK' and now, 'Don'. If famous and young directors like Farhan and Karan continue to stick to them, they are sure to sustain their position for quite sometime now.

Jatin-Lalit:

Though they gave a super-hit 'Jo jeeta wohi Sikandar' early in their career, the turning-point in their career was 'DDLJ' and there was no looking back for them since then. Well, almost.. they were the #1 choice for big banner movies, (KKHH, Mohabbattein, etc.) but they had a rough patch in the late 90's-early 2000's, when only Rahman and remixes ruled. This duo is famous for having rendered music to some of the most melodious, soft and romantic Hindi songs. Their recent hits include 'Hum tum' and 'Fanaa', esp. the latter. I strongly recommend the music of Fanaa, for those who havent listened to it. Mind-blowing..

Anu Malik:

If I had to list the Hindi MDs for their number of albums, Anu Malik would have certainly at the top of the list, but that is his problem too. He is almost like our 'Deva'.. too many movies at a time, and sometimes all of their music suck. He has had a successful collaboration with the masala directors Abbas-Mastan, but a decline in the quality of their movies of late affected his fortunes too. After memorable music in late 90's like Virasat, Border, Ishq, Kareeb and Soldier in the late 90's, he was sort of pushed back later by others. Like 'Deva', he was also labelled 'copycat' for so obvious and shameless 'inspirations' from outside Hindi. His recent hit albums that I liked were 'Murder' and, to some extent, 'Mein hoo na'.

Nadeem-Shravan:

They were once very exciting and promising duo, after the success of 'Aashiqui' in early 90's.. Their music became a rage, with a string of hits like 'Dil hai ki maanta nahin', and 'Hum hai rahi pyar ke'. Later, they were riding very high with the success of music of 'Barsaat', 'Raja Hindustani', and 'Pardes' when tragedy struck. Nadeem was accused in the murder of Gulshan Kumar and he had to live in UK for a few years. So, the frequency of their movies decreased but still they managed to give hits like 'Dhadkan', 'Raaz', and 'Andaaz'. 'Pari pari' from 'Hungama' is a sweet number. Things might have been very different for them if not for that major glitch during a crucial time.

There are others like Uttam Singh (Dil to Pagal Hai, Gadar), Himesh Reshammiya (MD of Kamal's 'Dasaavataram'; his Hindi memorables are Tere naam and Aashiq banaya apne; I dont like him as a singer and with that cap..), and Ismail Darbar (Hum dil de chuke sanam, Devdas, Kisna) who give some hit numbers once a while. But, if you do a head-to-head comparison, in terms of the versatility, creativity, novelty and quality, Tamil music directors edge past their Hindi counterparts.

So, the lead for Tamil is 3-1.

Previous posts in this thread:

5) Comedians

4) Good actresses

3) Beautiful actresses

2) Great actors

1) Handsome heroes

Tamil vs Hindi Cinema: 5. Comedians

Comedy is an important ingredient to an entertaining movie. I can think of very few movies which didnt have a comedy track but still engrossing.. needless to say that they are action-oriented.. like Kaakha Kaakha, Kadamai Kanniyam Kattupadu, Kurudhipunal, Pulan Visaranai and Captain Prabhakaran. With the advent of mega serials, it is easy to confirm the statement that 'It is easy to make one cry but difficult to make one laugh'. Most of the heroes have tried their luck in humorous role and have had varied success. And then, there is another unique sect of stars- comedians, who, either on a separate comedy track or running along with the main story, evoke laughter and help pull crowd to the theaters.

Since the present discussion deals with current cinema (the last 6 years or so), I wouldnt touch upon greats like NSK, Nagesh, Chandrababu et al. in Tamil and Mehmood, Johnie Walker, et al. in Hindi.

Tamil comedians:

Tamil cinema had a rich tradition of comedians.. but in the recent past, it has largely been either Vivek or Vadivelu. Both are my favorites now, but their modus operandi is pretty different. Vivek has an 'urban touch' to him, so I find that urban audience tend to like him more, whereas Vadivelu has the 'rural touch' or 'Madurai masala', so people from B and C centers correlate him more. By and large, they are 'decent' comedians but at times, they get sucked into 'double entendre' jokes, which is not a great humor.

Vivek: He made his debut in the 1989-release 'Pudhupudhu Arthangal' of KB and made an immediate impact as Rahman's assistant. For almost another decade, he was rather quiet, without any memorable role. Coincidentally, that was the period totally dominated by the Koundamani-Senthil duo, sometimes supported by Vadivelu. The turn of the century has been lucky for him, and his unique style of 'funda humor' was very well received by the audience. He has never looked back since. His most memorable movies are Vaali, Minnale, Run, Dhool, Parthiban Kanavu and Anniyan.

Vadivelu: His first movie was 'En rasavin manasile' (1991). He was lucky to picked up early by Kamalhaasan and got a memorable role in 'Thevar magan'. His methods to evoke laughter are his mannerisms, facial expressions, situations in which he is in the 'receiving end', and dialogue delivery. I am glad that his recent release 'Imsai Arasan' is a huge hit.. My favorite movies of his are Thevar magan, Singaravelan, Winner, Giri, Engal Anna and Chandramukhi.

Hindi comedians:

There is only one actor who is truly qualified as a full-time comedian, and, that, is Johnny Lever. He is more of an one-dimensional artist, unfortunately, and lacks the versatility of the tamil comedians discussed above. He, like Vadivelu, doesnt look so pleasing, but has got a few roles to evoke laughter. He has changed his name to sound like the legendary Johnny Walker but there is a huge difference in quality between them. Some movies in which I have liked his comedy are 'Kuch kuch hota hai', 'Kareeb', 'Yes Boss' 'Dulhan hum le jayenge', 'Baadshah', and 'Awara Paagal Deewana'.

Paresh Rawal has changed his career profile from a villain to a nice comedian. I rate him higher than Johnny, becos Paresh is more spontaneous. He has stuck a great chemistry with Priyadarshan to deliver movies like Hera Pheri, Hungama, Hulchul, etc. Unlike the tamil comedians, who can stand their own even in a serious/action movie, Paresh, albeit superbly, acts only in comedy movies. His quality is pretty good, but if you consider him , one also has to consider Kamalhaasan in MMKR to Mumbai Xpress.

So, Tamil comedians score over their Hindi counterparts. The score is, tamil leading Hindi 2-1.

Earlier posts of this series:

1. Handsome heroes

2. Great actors

3. Beautiful actresses

4. Good actresses

MPS:

I recently watched

a) Wimbledon: A feel-good movie. Though predictable to most part, it has some surprises towards the end. I believe that sports-based movies are trickier to make, bcos people have seen a good action of the sport in TV before.. so they have to be convinced that what they are watching in a movie is in par with what they have seen. When you have 'Wimbledon' as the event, for example, the actors have to play tennis as good as, say, a Sharapova or Federer, to win the title. And, tennis is a 'fast' game. While watching it, the games looked real to me and I felt as if I am watching a LIVE match on TV. Good effort.

b) Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind: An amazing movie with a real tough screenplay.. sort of a sci-fi movie.. Totally non-linear screenplay and only in the end, things fall into place. Good performances from Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet. One of the unforgettable movies.

c) Good night and good luck: Somehow I didnt like the movie that much. The actors appeared to be stone-faced and the entertaining parts were hardly any. The 'black-and-white' didnt help either. The event around which the entire movie is based might be of significance to the Americans but I found it hardly strong enough to carry the whole script.

d) Memoirs of a Geisha: This is not one of the typical Japanese/Chinese movies that one expects.. Since I hadn't googled for 'Geisha', I had to patiently wait till the halfway of the movie to know what that means.. The visuals were stunning and the performances were top-notch too. I guess you have to either fall in love with it or dislike it to the core.

e) The Chronicles of Narnia: Pretty much a children's movie.. but, as usual, I enjoyed it. The technical aspects/ visual effects were great. Good story-telling.

f) Mississippi masala: Yeah, old movie but got a chance to watch is just now. It was an interesting movie.. the life and love of a girl of Indian origin who has never been to India. Denzel Washington, Sarita Choudhary, Roshan Seth and Sharmila Tagore all deliver powerful performances in this movie with a tricky story.

Tamil vs Hindi cinema: 4. Good Actresses

In an industry dominated by males, the role of heroines, pretty much throughout the country, has been mostly confined to 'dancing dolls'. The actresses can be classified into 3 categories: a) Those who do only meaty/decent roles; b) those who are just glamour dolls; and c) those who do both. In the first category, one can count on Revathy, Tabu, Jaya Bachhan, Shabana Azmi, Konkana, and Aishwarya Rai; the second category has most of the new and young actresses; the third category has artists like Simran, Jo, Sneha, Meera, Kajol, Rani, Preity, Sandhya, et al.

The main problem with actresses is that they have only a limited lifetime in the cine industry.. Unlike heroes who continue to sing duets even well into their 50's, the actresses have to make hay only until their youth lasts; seldom do the fans accept married and mothered actresses. (I sincerely hope Simran and Kajol would break that trend). Due to this, what happens invariably is that there is a seggregation of sorts, based on age and experience: usually, senior actresses tend to act in meaningful roles.

As the parallel cinema doesnt almost exist in both these cine worlds, one gets just a handful of good actresses to compete in this category. A cursory look at the recent National award winners tells us that Meera and Shobhana are the ones from Kollywood (though they won the award for Non-Tamil movies).. and Tabu, Konkana and Raveena won them in Bollywood. Not much to separate one from the other, here again.. So, the actresses on both sides are not only equally beautiful, but equally good in performance as well. Score remains tied at 1-1.

Tamil vs Hindi Cinema: 3. Beautiful Actresses

There was a time in Hindi cinema that all the dream-girls were from South - Rekha, Jayapradha and Sridevi. After their retirement, the likes of Madhuri, Juhi, Kajol, et al. took over. In Tamil, it was quite the opposite.. until recently, most heroines were from the South India - Ambika, Radha, Revathi, Gauthami, Soundarya, Meena, Rambha, and Devyani. No one ruled Tamil cinema as much as Simran and Jyothika did.. and they both are Punjabis.. So, unlike in case of heroes who usually dont break language barriers towards complete shift, the heroines tend to act in more languages. It would be more suitable to call Sim, Jo, Sonia, and Namitha as Tamil heroines, simply bcos they act most in Tamil.

Currently, the heroines most-in-demand in Hindi are Preity, Rani, Kareena, Priyanka, Bipasha and Mallika. In Tamil, they are Jo, Asin, Nayan, and Trisha. Right now, my heartthrob is Katrina Kaif, whose first film, I think, was 'Malleswari' in Telugu and now she has a handful of movies in Hindi. Aishwarya Rai, arguably the most beautiful Indian celebrity of recent times, was introduced first in Tamil. Hindi has heroines from Punjab, Bengal, Gujarat and Maharashtra, whereas Tamil gets its heroines from pretty much all Indian states. Analyzing all these factors, kootti kazhichu parkkumbodhu, right now, the scenario in both sides is similar. So, I would say that both sides have some equally good-looking actresses and some so-so ones too.. The score still is tied at 1-1.

Tamil vs Hindi cinema: 2. Great actors

After looking at how they 'look', it is now on how they 'perform'.

Tamil:
Well, we have got a good bunch of highly talented actors, whose passion in acting is more from heart than for the sake of money or being the #1.

Kamalhaasan: He continues to lead and he is like the 'Sachin Tendulkar' of Tamil cinema for over a quarter century now.. Having won three national awards and given equally strong performances in movies like 'Rajaparvai', 'Pesum Padam', 'Thevar Magan', 'Mahanadhi', 'Kurudhipunal' and 'Virumandi', Kamal is hailed by most as the best actor India has seen for long time.

Rajinikanth: Acts well. He has got the pressure of pleasing his fans, which IMHO is a reason his movies are in a different league.. Entertaining nevertheless.

Vikram: He is all set to take the mantle from Kamal. One national award already and another in pipeline?

Surya: Though he started off as a typical indifferent masala hero, post-'Nandha', he continues to surprise in each movie. He is the only one who can challenge his good buddy Vikram in acting in the years to come..

Madhavan: A Manirathnam find and favorite has got to be good. Though a bit unlucky with box-offlice of late, he excels whenever given a chance to show his skills. I was amazed by his recent performance in 'Thambi'.

Dhanush: Everyone took notice of his acting in 'Kadhal kondaen'.. He was brilliant. Subsequent directors failed to bring the best out of him (except Balu). I hope we can see Dhanush at his recent best in 'Pudhupettai'.

Ajith and Vijay's aura surrounding them doesnt help their acting talents. Both had got some good roles in their early years when they were romancing heroines and longing for them. ('Aasai', 'Vaali' and 'Unnidathil ennai koduthen' for Ajith and 'Poove Unakkaga', 'Kadhalukku mariyathai' and 'Thullatha manamum thullum' for Vijay).

Apart from them, there are some talented young guns like Jeeva (Raam and Dishyum) and Simbhu (Manmathan and the first half of 'Thotti Jaya'), and Rajkiran (for character roles).

Hindi:
Khans: Aamir Khan is the most versatile actors among the Khans. His performance in the last 5 years has been good with movies like Lagaan, DCH, Mangal Pandey and RDB. Shah Rukh, the hottest star in Hindi, comes next. He is a good actor but not great, since he tends to get monotonous. His best performances came in Swades, Kal ho na ho, Devdas and Dil Se. Other 'Khans' like Saif, Salman, and Fardeen are just OK. It is ironic that among them, they have won only one national award (Saif), that too a highly controversial one.

Big A's: Amitabh is still the big fish in Bollywood. At times, he is the main hero of the movie as well ('Ek Ajnabee' was a recent example). He is a good actor, charismatic but gets only a rare movie once in a while (like 'Black') which shows his full acting talent. Abhishek is a cool actor; his best so far was in 'Yuva'. Ajay Devgan had a high in the early 2000's with successive national awards (for 'Zakhm' and 'The Legend of Bhagat Singh') but has failed to ride on the high. Akshay Kumar and Akshay Khanna do have talents but while the former has become a full-time masala actor, the latter is hardly seen nowadays.

Then there is Hrithik Roshan, who delivered a mind-blowing performance in 'Koi mil gaya' and he was good in 'Lakshya' too. The low frequency of his movies recently and his tendency to overact at times are his minuses.

Thus, in the category of heroes with terrific acting skills, Tamil heroes are ahead of their Hindi counterparts. They win this round and the score is levelled at 1-1.

Have a great weekend, y'all!! Next few days, will be pretty busy in Atlanta; I will try my best to read your comments and reply..

Tamil vs Hindi cinema: 1. Handsome heroes

As someone who has been watching as many Hindi movies as Tamil movies of late, esp. for the past 6 years or so, I keep getting the doubt about who is better than who, from both sides. If you talk to some middle-aged or old man from North and ask him about his favorite music, he would invariably say 'Old hindi songs'. Rarely have I heard such things from Tamils.. Though the era of MSV, Viswanathan-Ramamurthy and KVM gave us some great songs, the aura around the Hindi music that time was at a different level. In a series of posts, I am planning to look at the present crop of people involved in both industries.

In the male-dominated movie industry, the 'hero' is the selling factor for the movies. The men tend to search for what they want to be in them, and the women look at them with admiration. Looks do matter. A lot.

Tamil:
A critical look at each of the 'selling heroes'..
Rajini: Plus-Style, charm. Minus- Old, bald.
Kamal : Plus-Fair, well-built and still adorable. Minus-Old, and looks older; plump.
Vijay : Similar to Rajini but has got limitations. Face alone wont make any head turn.
Ajit : Plus - Fair, good face. Minus - either too fat or too thin nowadays.
Vikram: Plus-Tall, wheatish, well-built and handsome. Minus-Those ~10 years at the wilderness have cost him.. Vikram of 'Meera' looked certainly better.
Surya: Plus - Cute, well-built and handsome. Among the current crop of promising heroes, he looks the best. Minus - not all kinds of costumes suit him.

The second rung of actors, such as, Dhanush, Simbhu and Captain dont qualify. Others like Madhavan (needs to shed some weight), Arya (has to stop sleep-talking), Bharath, Srikanth, Prasanna,and Vishal are just OK.

Hindi:
'Khans' rule.. Shah-rukh, Aamir, Saif, and Salman are all aging and it shows. Still, the first two look great even now. Throw in others like Hrithik, Abhishek (he has suddenly got real hot), Akshay, and Shahid.. you have got a good bunch of tall, and well-toned heroes, who look like heroes.

The first round is won by Hindi heroes. They lead Tamil 1-0.