Hundreds of comedy and mimicry artists across the country are in for a shock as South India’s superstar Rajinikanth has cracked the whip on them through a public notice.
The artists eking out a living by mimicking and imitating Rajinikanth are banned from doing so, according to the public notice issued by Rajinikanth through his lawyer Subbiah Elambharathi on Saturday.
The superstar, popularly addressed as ‘Style Mannan (King of Styles)’, ‘Thalaivar (leader)’, and ‘Badshah (emperor)’ is one of the leading Indian personalities caricatured by mimicry artists in the country. No comedy shows would be complete without the portrayal of Rajinikanth, and there are artists specialising in mimicking and caricaturing the superstar. “Our client is an actor of humongous reputation having acted in films across languages for decades. His charisma and nature as an actor and a human being has earned him the title “Superstar” called upon by millions of his fans worldwide. The sheer proportion of his fan base and his respect across the film industry is unmatched and indisputable. Any damage or violation to his reputation or persona would entail great loss to our client having its effect over many spheres,” says the notice. It warns the general public that their client is the only person who has control over the commercial utilization of his personality, name, voice, image, likeness and other characteristics that are uniquely identifiable with their client and no one can utilize or misappropriate or imitate any facets of their client’s personality and exploit the same commercially in any manner whatsoever without the consent and express authorization from him. “It has come to our client’s notice that various platforms and mediums and also various product manufacturers are misappropriating our client’s name, voice, image, photographs and caricature image, artistic image, computer Artificial Intelligence generated images and other characteristics to create popularity amongst the public and to entice member of the public to purchase their products and to have access their platform and medium. Our client is popularly known as Superstar,” the notice continues.
The advocate concluded the notice with the warning that of anyone was found infringing their client’s rights, the violator would have to face civil and criminal charges in accordance with the law.
Rajinikanth’s dialogue delivery and mannerisms are the most sought-after items in mimicry shows. There are many artists who caricature the superstar as chief minister and army commander much to the delight of the audience. One of the mobile phone manufacturers had named a signature phone series after a Kochadiiyaan a character portrayed by the superstar. In 2015, Rajinikanth patented the mannerism of the character he portrayed in ‘Baba’, a movie in which he played the lead role.
Salim Kumar, who bagged the national award for best actor, said one cannot blame the superstar for his decision to issue a notice like this. “It is his personal decision. What I understand is that some of the comedy artists have spoofed him and it is bound to have hurt him. Mimicking should not end up in spoofing anybody,” Salim Kumar, who himself was a leading mimicry artist before entering the film industry told The Pioneer.
