Azeez, Maszlee turn on ‘Rajni style’ to woo Indian voters

 

Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim (left) with Rajnikanth in 2017, while Maszlee Malik uses the Tamil star’s typical style of flipping his sunglasses to canvass for votes.

PETALING JAYA: Two politicians are capitalising on the popularity of top Tamil movie star Rajnikanth to woo Indian voters in the Johor elections.

While Umno’s Baling MP Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim has been using Rajnikanth’s name since the 2013 general election, calling himself by hit screen names of the highest-paid actor in India, PKR’s Simpang Renggam MP Maszlee Malik just released a Tik Tok video of himself impersonating the actor.

Azeez told a predominantly Indian crowd in Johor Bahru a few days ago that he started off as Basha, the role Rajnikanth played as the hero bashing up villains and smashing underworld kingpins who had been stealing from the people. The movie was released in 1995 but still remains popular.

“Today, I come here as Annaatthe (Rajnikanth’s latest hit movie) to save the community. I speak in your mother tongue. The only difference (between us) is our religion.

“If Barisan Nasional wins, I will come back to help,” he told a cheering crowd in fluent Tamil.

In the last election, he had told rallies where there was huge Indian presence that he was known as Padayappa, another box office hit of the Tamil movie icon.

Maszlee, in his clip, was seen speaking Tamil and asking the people to vote for him, ending the clip in typical Rajnikanth style, flipping his sunglasses before putting them on. He followed this with the actor’s trademark sign-off with his forefinger, accompanied by a swishing sound.

When contacted, Azeez joked that he was the original while Maszlee appeared to be a “copycat”.

“I believe in Rajnikanth because all his movies preach family and filial values and he fights for the downtrodden. He also depicts characters who hold gratitude in high esteem and value friendship.

“I believe very much in all these traits.

“He lives a humble life in Chennai despite being a superstar with loads of money.

“I met him five years ago when I was 90kg. Following his advice, I now weigh 72kg,” he told FMT.

Asked if his ‘style’ would influence Indians to vote for BN, Azeez said most of them were fans of Rajnikanth’s movies as the issues that the star champions in the storylines were close to the hearts of the community. He believed that his ‘Rajni style’ would be a hit with them. -FMT