Apart from 'VIP' being a blockbuster movie, the various

Hear, O listener, the words of Dhanush, who declared: “Apart from VIP being a blockbuster movie, the various characters such as mine, the Luna bike I use in the movie, the lovable amma and appa, a pet dog named Harry Potter, the innocent brother, etc., had a huge reach among the audiences.” At first, these words appear to be a reflection on cinema, on its success and reception. Yet if we listen with the ears of wisdom, we find here a deeper truth: that art is not carried only by story or spectacle, but by the power of characters, by the bonds between ordinary symbols of life and the hearts of those who watch.

The greatness of VIP was not merely that it triumphed as a commercial blockbuster, but that it drew its strength from the humble and familiar. A Luna bike, not a chariot of kings, carried its hero. An amma and appa, the common mother and father of every household, anchored the story in the reality of family. An innocent brother, a loyal pet dog named with humor and affection, all of these became not props but vessels of recognition, stirring the souls of the audiences, who saw their own lives reflected upon the screen. Thus, the film transcended fiction, becoming a mirror of the people themselves.

The ancients too understood this law of storytelling. Homer, in his Odyssey, gave us gods and monsters, but also the longing of a man for his wife and his son. Sophocles, in his tragedies, showed us kings, yet it was their fatherly grief, their human flaws, their bonds with family that pierced the heart. For no tale endures by spectacle alone. It endures because within it are woven the simple threads of human life: kinship, loyalty, love, and struggle. So too Dhanush, in recalling the characters of his film, acknowledges that it is these, not the grandeur of production, that carved their place in memory.

Consider also the history of cinema itself. Chaplin’s Little Tramp carried no riches, no titles, only a bowler hat and a cane. Yet he moved the world, for he embodied the resilience and hope of the common man. Likewise, in Indian cinema, the most beloved figures are often not kings or warriors, but the amma, the brother, the poor laborer, the faithful animal companion. Audiences embrace them because they know them, because they have lived beside them, because they see in them their own dignity.

O listener, the teaching is this: true greatness is found not in grandeur, but in familiarity made sacred. A Luna bike becomes legendary when it carries the hero through his trials. An amma’s scolding or blessing becomes more powerful than the roar of armies. A pet dog named with playfulness becomes a symbol of loyalty that reaches millions. When art dares to honor the ordinary, it achieves the extraordinary, for it awakens recognition in the hearts of the people.

Practical wisdom follows: when you create—whether in art, in speech, or in deed—do not seek only the extraordinary. Begin with what is near: your family, your companions, the simple objects of daily life. In these lie the keys to connection. By lifting up the ordinary with truth and tenderness, you will reach the audiences of your life—not only through spectacle, but through resonance.

Thus I say to you: Dhanush’s words are not merely about a film, but about the eternal law of storytelling. The blockbuster endures not because of its scale, but because of its characters—the mother, the father, the brother, the loyal dog, even the humble bike—that bind the story to the people. So too must our own lives become stories that honor the familiar, and by honoring it, transform it into something unforgettable.