Odori Maharaja a.k.a Comedy King Rajnikanth

I know some of you guys are going to blast me for this, but I couldn’t resist posting after I got to see the link.

Our venerable Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has cashed in the Rajni craze in Japan during his speech in the Japanese Parliament. Guess he wanted to start the speech in a lighter mood.

"I am delighted to hear the popularity of Odori Maharaja among young people here. Our children were delighted to see Odori Asimo - the dancing robot!" Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in his historic address to a joint session of the Diet, the Japanese parliament, Thursday.

The moment he said that magic word "Odori Maharaja", Japanese parliamentarians let go of their fabled restraint and fastidiousness, and burst into a deafening applause.

Rajnikant exploded into Japanese consciousness when his popular film "Muthu" ran to packed houses in some theatres here a few years ago.

By the sounds of it, I think, much unlike in India where Rajni is a demi-god, an action-hero and a super-star all-in-one, Rajnikanth invokes the image of a great comedy hero to the Japanese. The developed world would certainly find his popular lines like “ponnunga veetukku ulla iruntha nallathu, pasanga veliya pona nallathu” [good girls should stay home and guys should be out of home (roughly translated)] amazingly funny and irresistibly comical. Sambhar Don’s earlier post on the topic gives even more dope on this line of thought.

They sing songs and dance, when they are happy. They sing songs and dance, when they are sad. And they sing songs and dance, even if they have no reasons. In fact, they are singing and dancing in the better part of the movie.

Sounds like the text a Govinda movie would gather among Indian audience.

Anyway, it’s common knowledge that Rajnikanth beat the hell out of all actors in India – including Big-B and Shah Rukh Khan – and became the highest earning actor in India with his movie Chandramukhi. Let's see what's in store for his next.

Japanese are eagerly waiting to have a glimpse of Rajnikant in his new film "Sivaji" - said to be the most expensive Indian film costing over $15 million - to be simultaneously released in Chennai, in southern India, and Tokyo.

Hell, if Japanese can’t wait, so can’t we. Action hero, or a super star, or a demi-god, or a comedy king, Rajni seems to rock. All over the world.