Not Super

Superb" I said. My 5 year old nephew “ corrected” me with "Super". In Chennai, there is only one word to describe that its fantastic,marvellous,er superb etc - Super. And most of the star heros have titles, to their names. But there is only one Super star. But this post is not about the Super star or the latest news on his latest movie.
But on what would have happened if Veerapan had kidnapped Rajnikant (for those of you who don't know about Tamilnadu and its culture etc... he is The super star ) and to those of you wondering why I am posting another post on Veerapan its because of the Indiatimes article http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/897722.cms
Actually I wanted to write about our nominee for Oscar this year "Shwaas". Seems it requires around a crore and half, for sub titles, screening costs, etc to promote the film at Oscars. (And I read Shiv Sena gave around Rs.10 lakh and BJP Rs.5 lakh, probably the Congress NCP etc too will give or has given).
Well what this has to do with Superstar? I think the Tamilnadu government would have probably paid the ransom if it had been crore and half and the public would have Approved. I don't intend to say an Oscar is worth more than someone's life.
But I just wonder the support the politics and people gives to film stars but not films. A film star is a crowd attraction during election rallies. And if he/she wants to become a candidate, out goes the regular party worker and in comes the star.
Marathi films have long lived under shade of Bollywood. And I am amazed that even after winning the National award, this should be the plight for this film.
And if people think that we should not crave for foreign recognition and its better for the government to spend money on poverty etc, then lets just stop nominating an Indian entry for Oscars. But if we send it as an Indian entry, shouldn't there be a regular mechanism to support its success from the government side? I am not saying the goverment should fork out the entire amount every year even when the producer can afford it. But there must be some policy on it. Why leave it to political parties and the rest.
Hmmm I know its not a Super Post.
But when film stars are important and when “ some” films are unimportant, the system isn't Super either..
posted on Monday, October 25, 2004 12:13 PM on O3