Basha

Basha ! an iconic movie from the Superstar Rajinikanth which bombed the mass adrenalin with the one-liner "nan oru thadavai sonna....." I happened to see the movie few days back, once more, after watching probably four or five times before.Checked in Wikipedia ...it was released on the year 1995 ..14yrs back! Not surprised that the movie stood the test of time, for a complete movie is watchable even now with the tempo only mildly faded...(though personally surprised by the quick passage of time....!) and perhaps all along the 14yrs time, the Superstar himself could not really come back with one more flick,which could excel the thumping-impact Basha had on his fans.

The plot begins with the apparently gentle auto-driver, Manikkam(RajiniKanth) , living with his step-brother and sisters. He thrives hard to settle them all , his brother as police inspector and one sister admitted to a medical college and other getting married to her love interest. Also in between gets romanced by Priya (Nagma) .Despite an underlying suspense, things move normal untill once the area is sent to rampage by a local rowdy(Anand Raj) . Manikkam's brother who is also a police inspector by now, tries to defend the rowdy in vain and gets empowered. But Manikkam aware of the ruthlessness of the goons concedes on to getting beaten-up tied on to a lamp-post , to get his brother spared. The very next day,Manikkam's brother arrests Anand raj. However, he gets released and in revenge attemps to molest their sister before Manikkam's house. Manikkam who till then seemed a gentle chap , erupts with the redhot anger of his past (...which till then was shown only few glimpses with negative visual background and suspense audio effect.."basha..basha ") . A tempestuous fight sequence follows where Manikkam demolishes the goons with mercurial fury(....also a ever memorarable treat for the Rajnikanth fans!). His friends
join the fray. Ananda Raj, gets beaten up by Manikkam tied to the same lamp-post in retreat.

The shocking belligerence of Manikkam, evokes suspicion on his cop brother and questions him of his past life in Bombay.... From here, the movie cruises back towards past episode of Manikkam at Bombay where he was the underword don, Basha , with the sole motive of eliminating another leading underworld don, Antony(Raghuvaran) . Here in Bombay too Manikkam was an commoner till Antony one day took stronghold of their locality and went on an evacuating spree threatening out the people at gunpoint.Manikkam and his best friend Basha , alone defied his atrocity. Antony's men brutally kill Basha but spares Manikkam as his father was a personal assistant of Antony. Enraged Maanikkam kills Antony's men who had killed his best friend. Soon Manikkam earns public support and trustworthy friends(which includes actor Janakaraj etc) and renames himself MaanikBasha.From then on proceeds towards eliminating Antony.Maanik(alias)Basha grow fast as a don and shrewdly thwarts attempts by Antony to kill him. Antony on the otherhand was losing support from peers and the cops because of Maanik's growing influence and makes desperate attempts to kill him. Soon , Antony falls prey to Maaniks trap and faces police arrest. Before getting arrested , Antony as a last time effort, pawns Manik's father to kill Maanik.Antony fails this time too and could not escape the law either.But in the drama, Manik's father gets killed. Manik moves to Madras as per his father's last wish and lives as auto-driver.

Coming back to the present , it was not the end as Antony escapes from the prison .He takes on to take revenge Manikkam and hatches a trap.Again, Mani triumps with heroic efforts . But,Antony this time faces his dead end as Manikkam's brother shots him down .

The fans should have been excited with the superstar's belligerent Basha act, with his furious philosophical dialogues, flashing costumes, frameless sunglasses etc Moreover,to sustain Basha, Antony was no meek villain and actor Raghuvaran did his part with finesse. It was a fine good-evil contest.Ans still , more exciting are the sequences which charges the audience with the suspense of Manikkam's past ....whether while politely-threatening the rogue college dean to get his sister admitted or putting Nagma's smuggler father shell-shocked while rescuing her or the stunt-sequence thrashing Anandraj co goons !

Thankfully the movie did not have much humour for it could have pulled down the tempo .

The movie however has some logical lapses too, then and there.. say, the high-profile don Antony himself goes and plants the explosives in Basha's collateral instead of sending his men! A former accomplice of Antony turns to be Nagma's father is too coincidental... but all these goes minor considering the 'weight' of the movie as a whole.

Nagma, perhaps was in her peak of glory days lavishes on glamour quotient to the movie .

and songs! each of them was of a variety and relishing.... stylish, glamourous, romantic, philosphical... Kudos Deva music! The philosophical touch of " ra ra ramaiyya... " , the lyrics depicting the different phases of man's life in multiples of 8 is of a unique variety indeed.

For sure , from an entertainment perspective , Basha is a crown piece of all superstar movies .
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and finally ...some of the favourite dialogues i would like to recall...
"இன்னொரு  தடவ  உன்னை  இந்த  பக்கம்  பார்த்தேன் .....பார்த்த  இடத்துலேயே  குழி  தோண்டி  பொதச்சுடுவேன் !"

"மன்னிகிரதுக்கு   நான்  ஒன்னும்  பாட்ஷா   இல்ல .....அன்டோனி!"


"நான்  சொல்லல ?! ஆண்டவன்  நல்லவங்கள  சோதிப்பான்  ஆனா   கைவிட  மாட்டான்   ...கெட்டவங்களுக்கு  நிறைய  கொடுப்பான்  ஆனா  கை விட்டுடுவான் !...பார்த்தியா?! உன்ன  கை  விட்டுட்டான்!"

"வாழ்கையில  பயம் இருக்கலாம் ...ஆனா  பயமே வாழ்க்கை ஆயிடகுடாது "

and of course  " நான்  ஒரு தடவ சொன்னா நூறு  தடவ  சொன்னா மாதிரி !  "

:)

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