In black & white

An interesting sidelight from the Kalaignar Karunanidhi funeral that took place in the city on Wednesday was the colour of the attire that the two cinema stars and budding politicians wore. Rajinikanth, who has promised to introduce spiritual politics into Tamil Nadu, came dressed in a white shirt, while his contemporary Kamal Haasan turned out in a black shirt. Both colours have connotations with regard to death and grief in Tamil traditions.

Rajini came very early with his wife, elder daughter Aishwarya and son-in-law Dhanush while Kamal was seen at Rajaji Hall with MNM members like veteran actress Sripriya. The Superstar had exhibited a similar colour preference at Jayalalithaa's funeral whereas Kamal skipped it.

The colour black was a trend that derived from the rationalist Periyar's social movement and is worn not only at funerals but also as a symbol of protest. White was associated with death and widowhood in ancient times but is hardly seen that way in the modern age.

Rajini, perhaps, makes his statement about faith with white while leaving black to those following the atheistic tradition of the Periyar movement like Kamal. Curiously, those hoping to see the two stars combine to provide a united front against corruption and to offer clean governance might be disappointed at the divergence of their views, including in the colour of attire at funerals.