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Chennai: They have done only very few movies together over the last four decades - in which he always played the lead role - but Tamil actor Kamal Haasan has indicated he wouldn't mind working together with Talaivar Rajinikanth if he floats a political party.
"Give me a signal.... If Rajinikanth comes to politics, we can talk, wouldn't I join him? Though we are rivals in our industry, we consult on key issues," the actor was reported as saying at an event in Chennai.
This was just a couple of days after 62-year-old Haasan said in an interview that he was thinking of launching a new party "out of compulsion", and hence the guessing game over his proposed political trajectory will only get more confusing.
The statement will also spark questions on how the two giants of Tamil cinema can hit it off together as a political duo. Over the recent past, the politically correct Rajinikanth has been seen as gravitating right, posing for clicks with leaders from the BJP and Hindu organisations, while avowed atheist Kamal Haasan has launched with Kerala's Marxist chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and verbally sparred with union ministers over GST.
Earlier this week he also said “saffron is not my colour", clearly indicating he will keep away from the BJP bandwagon, which is seen as aggressively wooing Rajinikanth.
"Which existing political party can provide me with a platform or an ideology that will match my reformatory goals in politics?" Haasan had asked the Quint in the interview in which he spoke of his intention to launch his own party. Whether Rajinikanth's anticipated political course will match his "reformatory goals" is anybody's guess.
If both indeed share a great personal rapport as has been widely believed, it has seldom been in the public domain. The recent DMK event in Chennai was the first at which they were seen together after a long while. If they spoke together it was on issues in which any Tamil actor could not afford to have a different view - like the ban on bull-taming sport Jallikattu.
Kamal Haasan was the chocolate-boy hero when Bengaluru-born Shivaji Rao Gaekwad made his debut as a villain in Apoorva Raagangal in 1975. In the films that followed the next year, Avargal and 16 Vayadinile the same casting pattern followed. In films like Ninaithale Inikkum Haasan was still the big hero opposite the glamourous Jaya Prada. The two did not do films together after Rajinikanth's meteoric rise in the 80's.
Recently, Haasan turned down director Shankar's offer to play baddie opposite Rajinikanth in the sequel to Enthiran and the role went to Akshay Kumar. Of late, Haasan has spoken about both doing a film together, but till that materialises pictures, like this one from an award event last January would be the only visual evidence we have of that celebrated camaraderie.
Lovely Pics of @superstarrajini and @ikamalhaasan @rameshlaus @sri50 @UNKHOurPride @anirudhofficial @RBSIRAJINI @rajumahalingam pic.twitter.com/VmIiz7VTwh— Rajinikanth fans (@Rajni_FC) January 19, 2017
Will Haasan bury his professional rivalry and play Thalapathy to Thalaivar in a political role? In the gravity-defying worlds of Tamil cinema and Tamil politics, things should not be easily dismissed as impossible.
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