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Little Superstar is a viral video of dwarf Indian film actor Thavakalai^[1] breakdancing to MC Miker G & DJ Sven's remix of the Madonna song Holiday, which was a clip from the 1990 Tamil film Adhisaya Piravi, starring Rajinikanth. Various mashups have also appeared on the Internet using tracks from Cypress Hill, Michael Jackson and others.

The video has been featured on YouTube, in Tom Anderson's bulletins on Myspace, on the E! TV show The Soup, the MSNBC shows Countdown with Keith Olbermann and Tucker Carlson, G4TV's Attack of the Show! and elsewhere, as well as having been parodied on Saturday Night Live. Another popular video clip features Thavakalai him slapping a man from the same movie.

In recent years, actor Thavakalai has choreographed a dance scene in a Doritos Tandoori Sizzler! commercial shown in Canada, which was filmed in India. ^[2]

Translation of the Dialogue in the Dance Clip

The language spoken in the clip is Tamil. The rough English equivalent would be:

Mother: Hey, hey. What's with the party early in the morning. Everyone go away, shoo, shoo. (Speaking to Rajinikanth, who's lying on the cot) Why not take some rest, dear.

Rajinikanth: OK Mom (lights up a beedi as she walks away).

Thavakalai: Dude, give me a beedi.

Rajinikanth: Hey! Kids shouldn't smoke.

Thavakalai: Buddy, I'm ten years older than you. Give it to me I say.

Rajinikanth: And if I don't?

Thavakalai: I'll skin you alive.

Rajinikanth: Here you go.

Translation of the Dialogue in the Slapping Clip

Thavakalai: Brother, you shouldn't be bothering for these silly things. I'll take care of this myself (with my hands).

Rajinikanth: Ok.

(Thavakalai clambers up a person's tie and starts slapping him)

Thavakalai: (pauses and looks at Rajinikant) Dude, how (am I doing)?

Rajinikanth: Great!

Rajinikanth: That's enough. He's going to die !

(Thavakalai gets off and returns back to cot)

Rajinikanth: Well, is this enough or do you want a piece of me too?

Misconceptions

• The clips were incorrectly reported as being from Bollywood (which predominently refers to Hindi films) in some places on the web and TV media, such as YouTube, Yahoo and the "Oddball Plays of the Month" segment of Keith Olbermann show on MSNBC. The film is actually from the Tamil film industry based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, otherwise known as Kollywood.

• Thavakalai has been incorrectly described as a child actor in some places. He is actually an adult affected by dwarfism.

• Thavakalai was never known as a "little superstar" in the Tamil film industry and is only the phenomenal title of the clip given by its uploaders. However, the protagonist of the film, Rajinikanth (actor lying on the cot in the video), is known as the "Superstar" in India.

Spoofs and Other Pop Culture References

• A parody version of "Little Superstar" starring porn star Ron Jeremy first started turning up on video sharing websites in March 2007.

• A parody version of "Little Superstar" starring Fred Armisen as Thavakalai and Bill Hader as Rajinikanth aired on Saturday Night Live on April 21, 2007.

• A parody version of "Little Superstar" was made by Nobody's Watching

References

External links

• "Little Superstar" on YouTube
• "Little Superstar Returns" on YouTube
• Doritos Tandoori Sizzlin commercial
• Behind the Scenes Footage of the Doritos Tandoori Sizzler commercial
• Adhisaya Piravi
• Slapping Scene
• Fight scene
• Countdown with Keith Olbermann Sept. 29th 2006
• Tucker Carlson Sept. 28th 2006