TAMIL HEARTTHROBS

With Manirathnam's Alaipayuthey, its hero Madhavan has quickly become the latest young star to set the hearts of girls aflutter in TamilNadu. The tell-tale signs of his overnight ascent to heartthrob status are all there - he is mobbed by his female fans whenever he shows up in public; he is inundated with movie offers(one news item pegged the number at 73!); his posters are selling like hot cakes; and young women are gushing over him(and his infectious, toothy grin) in interviews. Ofcourse, none of this is new. Tamil Cinema has had its fair share of male heartbreakers over the years and this article briefly looks at the three most prominent among them.

The article has a rather late starting point - the late 80s. Not that none of the actors before then caught the fancy of the women. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar had several women fans. MGR, Sivaji and 'Kaadhal Mannan' Gemini Ganesan all appealed to the womenfolk during their times. And Kamalhassan's appeal to the fairer sex right from his youth, is legendary. But I am going to limit myself to those heartthrobs that I have seen the girls in my agegroup fawn over. In other words, these are the actors who made the girls in my school, college and later go "Oh he's so cute yaa!"

As far as I can recall, the first actor who made the girls in my school go ga-ga over him, was Karthik. No, not the effeminate, immature youngster in Alaigal Oyvadhillai and Ninaivellaam Nithyaa. Manirathnam brought him back to the tamil screen for a guest appearance in the classic Mouna Raagam, as a brash, forthright, rowdy but good-hearted loverboy. He couldn't have hoped for a better break. What we now know as trademark Manirathnam routines - like cleverly manipulating Revathi to have a coffee with him and proposing to her over the PA system in a library - were performed with an impish charm. Girls swooned over his looks and attitude in the movie and his "Chandramouli" routine was undeniably cute. A new heartbreaker was born.

He played essentially the same character in following movies like Varusham 16 and Agni Natchathiram and their success provided him with a firm foothold in the industry. The very fact that he has lasted over 15 years in this industry, which has a notoriously short memory span, is testimony enough to his appeal. He has had a spotty career with huge hits like Kizhakku Vaasal and Ullathai Alli Thaa offset by several flops that fell by the wayside. He has stuck the role of the lively, fast-talking loverboy(with a unique style of dialog delivery) in most of these. It is only recently that he has opted for more serious roles that offer more oppurtunity for histrionics in movies like Unnidathil Ennai Koduthen and Sandhitha Velai. But he still enjoys a fairly large women fan base(most of my friends whom I query about their favorite actors still include Karthik in their list) and I sincerely feel he owes it all to Manirathnam and Mouna Raagam.

Manirathnam was also responsible for the next heartthrob on the tamil screen. Arvind Swamy. Introduced in Thalapathy, he managed to get noticed inspite of being sandwiched between two titans in Rajnikanth and Mammootty. But it was Roja that really catapulted him into heartthrob status. With his fair, chocolate-faced, boyishly handsome looks and cute and romantic acts(like placing a lighted cigarette in Madhubala's mouth and scooting away after patting her head), again courtesy Manirathnam, he captured the hearts of the girls with one fell swoop.

Unfortunately, he has been unable to hold on his status. A thinning, receding hairline, increasing girth and a bad choice of movies (he was a laughing stock in Minsaara Kanavu and what exactly made him take on En Swaasa Kaatre?!) have effectively pushed him out of the reckoning, not just as a heartthrob but as a movie star. His miniscule role in his godfather Manirathnam's Alaipayuthey and his pairing with Kushboo, who is clearly over the hill now, are telling signs of how far he has fallen and his current status in Kodambakkam. The forever-in-the-making Engineer, where he is paired with Madhuri Dixit, seems to be only movie on his plate right now.

Kathir's Kaadhal Desam saw the emergence of Abbas, who quickly became a craze and invoked a kind of frenzy that hadn't been seen before among girls in Madras. Cine magazines were rife with reports of him being mobbed by girls, being paged incessantly by them and receiving marriage proposals by the hundreds. All this was even more admirable since the movie was no super-duper hit like either Mouna Raagam or Roja. But his was a short reign at the top. Poochooda Vaa was a modest hit but he came a cropper with his other movies and was quickly shoved aside. He still shows up in the occasional movie (a Padaiyappa here, a Kandukonden Kandukonden there) but is effectively out as a heartthrob.

Tamil cinema seems to be distinct from its Hindi counterpart in this arena. Hindi cinema has had more than its fair share of heartthrobs. Actors like Aamir Khan and Salman Khan became overnight sensations with their debut movies (Quayamat Se Quayamat Tak and Maine Pyar Kiya respectively). Surprisingly, they have maintained their status as heartthrobs and grew to be the top heroes in the Hindi field. Not so in Tamil cinema. The actors at the forefront today are Ajith, Vijay and Prashanth and each of them has a sizeable female fan base. But the surprising fact is that none of these three actors started off as a heartthrob. It took an Aasai, Poove Unakkaaga and Jeans respectively for them to be noticed by the fairer sex.

Now the crown is on Madhavan's head. Primed by his stint in several Hindi serials, he seemed at ease in front of the camera in his first feature. His handsome face, genuine smile and boy-next-door looks have earned him a place in the hearts of the ladies. But alongwith with all the unabashed adulation from the womenfolk comes a whole lot of expectations. Lets hope that he builds on this dream start to enjoy a successful career in tamil cinema.