Escaping with Rajinikanth and Ariana Grande

It’s been an exhausting few days for pop culture vultures

On Thursday, superstar Rajinikanth’s new release, 2.0, made ₹70 crore on its opening day and became the highest opener of 2018 . Then, on Friday night, the music video for Ariana Grande’s song “Thank U, Next” dropped and within 17 hours, it had more than 40 million views. What I’m trying to say is that it’s been an exhausting few days for pop culture vultures. It’s a lot to process.

If you thought escapism is easy, it really isn’t. (HT File)

If you thought escapism is easy, it really isn’t. Just ask directors like Hannah Lux Davis, who directed “Thank U, Next”, and Shankar, the director of 2.0. On one hand, through the television and the internet, we consume more stories than ever before, whether it’s news, fiction or propaganda. It’s getting harder to leave us awestruck.

On the other hand, there’s reality. Almost every news alert is depressing and usually drives home the point that the more you care, the less agency you’re likely to have.

Take for example the farmers’ march to New Delhi. All the rest of us can do is stand witness and read the flyer that was distributed last week, in which the farmers apologised for causing disruptions in Delhi’s daily life. People who are literally dying of hardship apologised for traffic jams. This is the reality that fantasies are up against.

Still, Shankar’s 2.0 does a decent job of making real life retreat. No one in their right mind expects logic in a Shankar-Rajini film, but phones that behave like magnetic Lego bricks are a new level of cuckoo. Just as Pakshirajan uses phones improbably to construct objects that send out a warning to the world, Shankar does the same with his digital Rajinikanths.

There is an enviable, child-like innocence to the world Shankar creates. Here, sparrows do CPR for newborns and one man’s rage can bring the powerful to heel. Whether it’s the beautiful scene in which Pakshirajan is reanimated by (mostly exotic) birds (that are illegal in India. Is Pakshirajan actually a smuggler pretending to be an ornithologist?) or the climax with thousands of Chittis, Shankar creates some great moments.

Yet there are limits to Shankar’s imagination, as is evident from Dr Vaseegaran’s new creation, NILA, played by Amy Jackson. We’re told NILA is a “domestic” robot and her name is an acronym in which N stands for “nice”. Instead of thumping the lights out of randy males, the robot that can effortlessly scale walls, uses her muscle power to serve a soft drink to the student who hits on her and to later remain motionless when she’s molested by bad Chitti.

Despite possessing the ability to build a new (male) robot, all NILA does is follow orders and nurse broken men (robots) back to normal. It doesn’t strike anyone that NILA could take on Pakshirajan.

The idea that a woman may be a man’s equal is apparently more fantastical to Shankar than millions of mini Rajinis (who can turn into cellphones) riding on pigeons.

It’s safe to say pop culture-loving feminists were pinning their hopes not on Shankar, but on Grande, whose song “Thank U, Next” has become an anthem. Teaser clips released by Grande suggested she was going to take some classic chick flicks for a spin in the video, which raised levels of both anticipation and excitement.

Unfortunately, the video, which contains odes to films like Mean Girls, 13 Going on 30 and Clueless, fails the song. What we get are recreations that feel plastic, self-conscious and consumed with a need to be pretty. The video relies upon the old films’ appeal and if you’re ready to think deep thoughts on shallow things, then you’ll see that this underscores how desperately our visual imagination needs an upgrade because this nostalgia fails to reflect the contemporary concerns, anxieties and fantasies.

Grande’s song broke with the tradition of love songs that emphasise vulnerability and are sung by heartbroken balladeers whose wounds are perennially raw. The lyrics of “Thank U, Next” emphasise evolution and strength. Yet when it came to visually depicting them, the music video fell back on tired stereotypes. And Grande having a fit on her bed, with pom poms (because that somehow signifies self-love?). More worryingly, it points out that even an Ariana Grande video looks backwards instead of forwards.

It’s time we came up with new stories that will do what the old ones did for their time — have fun, poke holes, turn tables dream big and make a noise. Thank you, next.