Yaanai irunthaalum aayiram pon,
iranthaalum aayiram pon !
iranthaalum aayiram pon !
- A Thamizh (Tamil) proverb
In economics or finance, the concept of time-value of money is very fundamental in any valuation model. In simple terms, this essentially means that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar tomorrow. The difference is accounted for return desired for deferring current consumption, adjusting for inflation expectations, and for accepting an assorted collection of risks (credit, liquidity, ...). The afore-mentioned quote contradicts time-value of money, as the quote says that An elephant alive is worth 1,000 gold coins, and so does a dead elephant. Even though time is not explicitly mentioned, I presume almost all of us can see the point... And of course, there are other assets whose value increase over time ( in precise terms, over a sub-interval during its life time ). Commodities like oil, gold, rice, etc., real estates are some examples of such assets (asset classes) whose value appreciates over some time-interval. This post is about assets that belong to the second and third category, the one that is always valuable or appreciates over time.
While I was surfing channels on TV, earlier this afternoon, I stumbled upon Steve McQueen's Magnificent Seven, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054047/ , the Hollywood version of Kurosawa's, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047478/ . A cult classic in its own right, the film is one of the cool movies of McQueen. He was stylish, macho and he was the original King of Cool, before the arrival of Clint Eastwood's Spaghetti westerns. I had come across an interesting article about Steve McQueen and others, about a year back, that I forgot and somehow recollected while watching this movie, that spawned this post. The article lists various deceased artists, who are still in demand for different reasons. The funny part is that these celebrities earn money even after their death !!! And they make a filthy lot of dough !!! The article could be found http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7069981.stm
While I am not exactly a die-hard fan of Elvis/Lennon/Warhol and others, I was happy that an icon like McQueen is not exactly forgotten by this generation. In closer neighborhood, all of us have our own list of style icons from Bollywood/Tamil/Telugu or other film industries. My favorite icons are MGR, Rajnikanth and Amitabh Bachchan. All of them played the role of an angry young man to perfection, had a unique style when it came to dialogue delivery and acting, and most importantly, they were able to connect with masses in a way not many others could. While Big B's is still a super star in Bollywood, his fan base is not as strong as that of Rajini's, a contemporary of Big B. People outside Tamil Nadu and those who are not die-hard fans of Rajini associate him with his recent movies since mid 90s. But the true cool Rajini belongs to 70s and 80s. Movies like Ninaithaley Inikkum, Avargal, Murattu Kaalai, Thillu Mullu, Moondru Mudichu, 16 Vayathinile and many of his classics of 80s readily come to my mind. Certainly Amitabh doesn't capture public's attention the way Rajini does even right now. At one point, Rajini played a significant role in electing the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. While no one knows if Rajini is ever going to jump into politics like other popular actors of South India, he could be formidable opponent to all of the bigwigs of politics, if ever decides to make a foray. It is in this aspect, Rajini outscores Amitabh, taking into account Amitabh's earlier unsuccessful tryst in politics.
But the biggest daddy of all, in my view is M.G. Ramachandran a.k.a M.G.R. For those who don't know M.G.R., he was an icon both in Tamil film industry and Tamil Nadu politics, and he died in late 80s. Even in this age, there are political parties who campaign in the name of M.G.R., and not in the name of the candidates, and end up winning. Now thats what I would call as star power. Value of this star power cannot be estimated in monetary terms, but it is truly a significant number. In my view, M.G.R. is probably more valuable than Elvis !!!
Long live Cool. Long live Kings of Cool...
While I was surfing channels on TV, earlier this afternoon, I stumbled upon Steve McQueen's Magnificent Seven, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054047/ , the Hollywood version of Kurosawa's, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047478/ . A cult classic in its own right, the film is one of the cool movies of McQueen. He was stylish, macho and he was the original King of Cool, before the arrival of Clint Eastwood's Spaghetti westerns. I had come across an interesting article about Steve McQueen and others, about a year back, that I forgot and somehow recollected while watching this movie, that spawned this post. The article lists various deceased artists, who are still in demand for different reasons. The funny part is that these celebrities earn money even after their death !!! And they make a filthy lot of dough !!! The article could be found http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7069981.stm
While I am not exactly a die-hard fan of Elvis/Lennon/Warhol and others, I was happy that an icon like McQueen is not exactly forgotten by this generation. In closer neighborhood, all of us have our own list of style icons from Bollywood/Tamil/Telugu or other film industries. My favorite icons are MGR, Rajnikanth and Amitabh Bachchan. All of them played the role of an angry young man to perfection, had a unique style when it came to dialogue delivery and acting, and most importantly, they were able to connect with masses in a way not many others could. While Big B's is still a super star in Bollywood, his fan base is not as strong as that of Rajini's, a contemporary of Big B. People outside Tamil Nadu and those who are not die-hard fans of Rajini associate him with his recent movies since mid 90s. But the true cool Rajini belongs to 70s and 80s. Movies like Ninaithaley Inikkum, Avargal, Murattu Kaalai, Thillu Mullu, Moondru Mudichu, 16 Vayathinile and many of his classics of 80s readily come to my mind. Certainly Amitabh doesn't capture public's attention the way Rajini does even right now. At one point, Rajini played a significant role in electing the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. While no one knows if Rajini is ever going to jump into politics like other popular actors of South India, he could be formidable opponent to all of the bigwigs of politics, if ever decides to make a foray. It is in this aspect, Rajini outscores Amitabh, taking into account Amitabh's earlier unsuccessful tryst in politics.
But the biggest daddy of all, in my view is M.G. Ramachandran a.k.a M.G.R. For those who don't know M.G.R., he was an icon both in Tamil film industry and Tamil Nadu politics, and he died in late 80s. Even in this age, there are political parties who campaign in the name of M.G.R., and not in the name of the candidates, and end up winning. Now thats what I would call as star power. Value of this star power cannot be estimated in monetary terms, but it is truly a significant number. In my view, M.G.R. is probably more valuable than Elvis !!!
Long live Cool. Long live Kings of Cool...
7 comments:
I disagree with you that Rajini has a bigger fanbase than Amitabh's :) Well..I'm a fan of both...but maybe bigger for AB :)
Yours truly-Manni
Karthi: I disagree with your comment, "Big B's is still a super star in Bollywood, his fan base is not as strong as that of Rajini's" Is it based on only TN fanbase?
Coz the rest of India has bigger fanbase for Big B :)
Manni
dearest manni,
Rajini is bigger than Amitabh, in my view... ofcourse, this is very subjective... Since Amitabh makes movies in Hindi, certainly he has bigger fan-base than Rajini, when it comes to sheer numbers... but when it comes to politics or other aspects of life unrelated to entertainment industry, Rajini does a better job of translating his fan base into support base for his causes... I was only trying to ascertain how much leverage Rajini/Amitabh has when it comes to politics or other issues, based on their impact form their movies alone... certainly, my work is very very subjective and by no means exhaustive... :-) Big B of 70s and 80s is an unparalleled icon in his own way...
I have also ignored other heavyweights like Kannada superstar Rajkumar, Telugu superstars NTR and now Chiranjeevi... This post was just about my views... ofcourse, I would love to hear others with their "Kings of cool"
by "I have also ignored other heavyweights like Kannada superstar Rajkumar, Telugu superstars NTR and now Chiranjeevi...", I mean I have not included these icons in my analysis... but without any doubt they are style icons as well...
hi,
the proverb does justice to the post....was wondering how u were planning to connect finance, movies & the proverb... cool post... :-)...
guess manni is right abt AB fan base, but deservedly or not, who gets to play the HERO still?? ;-), definitely the "parattai"... and karthik, u are talking abt fan base & popularity, but MGR or Rajini cant be really classified into the "angry young man" role, atleast not as much as AB.
talking abt style icons, how dare u leave out Vijay.T.Rajender, huh..??? "angry young man" -check. "style" - check. "global fan base" - check. "politics" - check. :-)
lathu:
both MGR and Rajini have done quite a few "angry young man" roles as well as Amitabh... But it was M.G.R. alone, who has successfully managed to translate his filmy career into a dominant career in politics. He was so dominant, that he was the undisputed king for many years until his death. He was also very influential in national politics by forming an effective coalition with Indira Gandhi when she was in dire trouble. "Aaayirathil Oruvan" is one of M.G.R.'s movies comes to my mind easily. I am sure my dad and/or my periamma can reel out few more powerful movies of M.G.R's generation. The only other Indian actor who had such a stranglehold on masses was a certain N.T. Rama Rao... The Lord Krishna himself ... :-)
You seems to be an expert in this field, good post and keep up the good work, my buddy recommended me your blog.
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