there was a bloke called MGR (M.G. Ramachandran) who did similar (but with less technology available so the effects were less exciting to watch) in the 70s.
and in northern cinema, possibly, a guy called Amitabachan also did the same.
i think all this came from what bruce lee started.
was this a good thing or not?
not sure myself.
in southern cinema, before this "fad", MGR was still the hero but like errol flynn in robin hood. a swash-buckling styled hero.
MGR was the first to successfully marriage acting with politics in south india.
eventually becoming the top most politician for the state for 10 years until his untimely death.
MGR was not allowed to act to his full repertoire.
by this i mean that his fans pidgeon-holed him as a hero figure and hence he could only play hero roles, could not die, could not be cast as a dodgy character let alone someone evil and so on.
despite this limitation, he still delivered and for about 30 years broke box office record after record.
even today, 20+ years after his death, and despite vhs / dvds / tv etc, people still flock to the cinema to watch re-runs of his films.
so i pick and choose the best of MGR, Sivaji and even Rajini
and avoid all the "silly" movies
hey i do the same for hollywood movies
just knowing the film stars chuck norris (!) or dolph lundgren is enough for me to avoid it like the plague!
but like i said before, each to their own.