Voted Subjective of course I thing 2nd standard padikkumbodhunnu ninaikkiREn. I was involved in a fistfight in defence of Kamal against a Rajini fan classmate. Anjali range-ku katti puraNdu saNdai. I don't even recall what Rajini film I had watched earlier than that. But all I remember was that he started with some unwarranted comments about Satya. I take it that my repartee about PaNakkAran was too good for him to respond in the verbal plane after that. After losing the left pocket of my school uniform and getting into trouble at home (inimE yaarum naan kaLappaNiyila eedupadalainnu sollakkoodaadhu) I naturally chanelled my ennoyance towards Rajini. An elder cousin and a sort of preceptor of Kamal-fanness goes, fanned my misgivings gleefully and assured me Rajini was incapable of impressing. But I remembered being readily impressed by Thalapadhi. Felt a little guilty about liking it. "They changed the ending" my cousin said in way of mutual pacification. "Only our man will dare die on screen." It was much later that I saw AvargaL and other older performances of Rajini. By the time I enjoyed Dhalapathi performance for what it was. More on that as this thread expands. Just wanted to first log the personal significance of Dhalapathi, because reasoning is usually a pretence that follows rather than preceeds what are inexplicably instinctive personal preferences.