On the evening of Saturday, February 6th, Chennai saw one of the most star-studded, yet badly organized and chaotic events in the history of Tamil cinema – the FEFSI-spearheaded function to honour Tamilnadu’s CM Mr. Karunanidhi for his support and path-breaking perks for the film industry.

Breaking the scenario into the good, the terrible and the noteworthy:

The Good:

The entire industry turned up en masse, from the biggest stars to the most respected filmmakers and technicians to thousands of fans and the general public. It was fantastic to see the tall and charismatic Amitabh Bachchan sitting next to the CM; he had specially flown in just to be at this event because of his immense respect for the Tamil film industry. In the front row were Rajinikanth, Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, R. Sarathkumar and other stalwarts, flanking the CM. Amongst the VVIP guests were Radikaa, Sripriya, Khushbu, Trisha, Shriya, Prakashraj, Mr. AVM Saravanan and Mr. L. Suresh, actors Vijay, Vikram and Suriya and almost every single name worth reckoning from the Tamil industry. The evening’s entertainment programme was in Tamil and was put together to resemble the story of the CM’s journey as a poet, politician, leader and bastion of Tamil rights. His presence and sharpness of mind has always been an inspiration for poetry and interesting performances. Stars from the industry performed and acted on stage with gusto in their endeavour to impress the esteemed Chief Guest. Kamal Haasan and Amitabh Bachchan sat alongside each other, a picture of dignity, elegance and sophistication, with Kamal Haasan explaining bits and pieces of the programme to the Big B.

The Terrible:

It was a wonder that anyone other than the scores of policemen, the stampeding general public and the CM himself could even enter the gates of the Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai, let alone be treated as respected guests and members of the industry. Had every single member of the film industry decided that being manhandled was enough at the gates, then it would have been a function with zero stars and zero performances; that was how bad the entry and access organization was. The police stopped everyone indiscriminately; several of these "protectors of the people" roughed up celebrities and general public alike. Much yelling, hurling of curses and pushing people around happened and the security detail seemed to have little clue of what to do. Stars from the industry were stopped, yelled at and rudely mowed about. A near-stampede situation prevailed at all times, with everyone’s tempers rising sky-high. Veterans like Radikaa and Sripriya were crushed and pushed about badly and had to resort to violence and aggression to even get through. This, despite seemingly hundreds of random policemen and “organizers” teeming about the place. The entry gates had to be kicked open; stunned and helpless people like actress Sandya had to be bodily carried through to prevent being trampled upon. Radikaa and director K.S. Ravikumar even had to rescue a young girl who was about to be crushed beneath their feet. Even Rajinikanth was made to wait for more than 45 minutes in his car at the entry for no apparent reason!

We at Galatta were there as VVIP guests – no use, since none of these passes were worth a listen from the police and other personnel at the entry gates and the car park had either only badly parked 2-wheelers or police vehicles parked. Zero signage didn’t help the situation any and the poor PROs and film personnel were like unwitting victims of a violent melee running helter skelter. Inside the gates, the situation was no better. At the entry doors, police personnel, people from the film fraternity and invitees were pushing each other, screaming and shouting while others tried to sneak in and out during this confusion. Poor Prakashraj took door duty upon himself and ensured people like veteran actor S.S. Rajendran – an elderly gentleman who was not even accorded the courtesy due to his age, let alone any other starry courtesy – and Mumtaj got to enter. Once inside, no one knew which way to proceed inside the stadium or backstage. Once near the stadium entry door, several celebrities realized that the seating arrangement was as bad as everything else and several respected members of the industry went without seats!

Inside the stadium, it was bedlam in the sidewings. There were hundreds of people NOT sitting, other than the thousands that had packed the stadium to bursting point. Both at the main entry gates and the inside doors, several celebrities decided at one point that they would rather go back home with respect and their frayed nerves intact than go through with the rest of the “tamasha”.

The Noteworthy:

Apart from the heavily Tamil-saturated speeches, poetry and performances on stage, several top personnel, including actors like Vikram and Ajith came on stage to thank the CM for his support of the industry as a whole. Ajith simply stunned the crowds with his speech, though. Taking everyone by surprise, after thanking the CM for his support of his fraternity, he made a plea and ardent request that art and films must not be mixed with politics. Actors and the film fraternity, he said, were entertainers and must not be forced into standing up or be forced into making a stand on political issues because those were personal and very sensitive decisions that cannot be shoved down the fraternity members’ throats. These were honest words humbly presented to the CM and to everyone’s surprise (and many people’s gratefulness), Rajinikanth stood up and gave Ajith a standing ovation, which resulted in the entire stadium applauding in uproar.

The CM, poet first and politico next in such matters, too agreed that while every single member of the film fraternity needs to conduct themselves responsibly in serious social issues (since they are looked up to by the general public), they should in no way be forced into making political stands or mix their art with politics.

Certain members, grabbing the end of Ajith’s speech, hurriedly made a statement in a completely different context that no one had been forced to attend that particular function!

All in all, Saturday night ended very eventfully for the film fraternity – in a pleasant manner or otherwise is a different topic altogether.

Just One Point

The one thing we noticed and pondered about was how poor Amitabh Bachchan, out of his respect for the CM of Tamilnadu and the Tamil film industry, had to sit through 5+ hours of completely and purely Tamil programmes and speeches onstage, with translation and explanation to the evening’s happenings given now and then by friend and peer Kamal Haasan!