Had the masochistic pleasure of watching the ageing Vijaykanth mouthing politically charged punchlines in his latest potboiler Sudesi. Didn't get to see the entire film - just the relevant clips which were sent to us for a story. But one thing was clear even with my limited grasp of Tamil - the Captain is no Rajnikant.

The scenes were so ludicrous - making it one heck of a hilarious experience. The camera angles et al...just forget it. The crowning glory is of course the ear-blowing title music....with Sudesi Sudesi chanting in the background as our demigod takes his measured steps.

I confess I am not too familiar with Vijaykanth the actor but he simply cannot hold a candle to Rajni. Age isn't exactly on Rajni's side either, but last year in Chandramukhi he showed he was still right up there. And all those impossible gravity-defying antics of his may be silly at one level, but then comes with the stamp of class. I still can't stop raving about the Ramya Krishnan-Rajni chair hierarcchy sequence in Padayappa. Male chauvinism at one level but what a riot!

Wonder how Vijaykanth deals with comedy - as I haven't sat through a full Vijaykanth film yet. But from what I have surmised - a Rajnikant-Vijaykanth comparison is just a case of class mediocrity versus crass mediocrity. Simply cannot imagine the Captain conquering Tamil Nadu on his own steam. Comparisons to MGR and NTR...ridiculous.

A certain two-bit actor dubbed the Errol Flynn of B-movies did become the President of the USA. But I simply cannot imagine Ronald Reagan being replicated by this poor man's Rajnikant - his right man at the right time spiel in Sudesi notwithstanding. Let's leave the last word to Rajni -or rather his punchline more than a decade ago in Basha - nann oru tharava sonna, nooru tharava sonna mathiri (My saying once is like saying a 100 times) .