Rajinikanth

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er than studying. Besides his pranks and naughtiness compelled his elder brother to shift him to a Vedic school so that his naughtiness comes to an end he learns moral values. Hence Rajinikanth was admitted to Ramakrishna Math, a Hindu monastery set up by Ramakrishna Mission. Here he learned spiritualism and this curtailed his misbehavior. However, he was inclined to acting and did good performances in plays held at Math as cultural activities. He could do a variety of roles like the obedient Ekalavya's friend from the Hindu epic Mahabharata or a villain like Duryodhana in the play Kurukshetra. Even after his school education he continued his passion for acting and did stage plays. He was later noticed by Kannada playwright Topi Muniappa, who allowed him to perform in one of his mythological plays. Rajinikanth did many odd jobs before becoming a film star Since Rajinikanth left studies after class XII to support his family he had a hard time securing a good job. Hence to make ends meet he did many odds jobs and sometimes even became a cool or a carpenter. Eventually, he got a job at Bangalore Transport Service (BTS) as a bus conductor. It’s reported that during his tenure as bus conductor, he caught the fancy of the bus travellers with his mannerisms and style of issuing tickets. Once Rajini happened to see an advertisement for an Acting Film Institute and decided to join the M.G.R. Film and Television Institute of Tamil Nadu. Aspiring to become an actor, he moved to Chennai. It was here that he caught the eye of K. Balachander, a director known for introducing talented, new faces into the Tamil film industry.

Rajinikanth made his debut with a cameo in K Balachander’s film Balachander gave Rajinikanth a small role - as the wicked husband of Srividya - in Aboorva Raagangal (1974) and the rest, as they say, is history. In his debut film, Rajinikanth got the opportunity to work opposite Superstar Kamal Haasan. Despite being a newcomer Rajinikanth gave a confident performance that was at par with Kamal Haasan. Film critics wrote rave reviews and the audience went bonkers at Rajinikanth’s unique mannerisms and innovative style. Rajinikanth became the ‘First Villain’ who was cheered by the audience Rajinikanth soon graduated to playing a main villain and his style, swagger and casually unique brand of villainy were applauded by the movie buffs. Be it the sadistic husband of Sujatha in Avargal or the wolf in sheep's clothing in Moondru Mudichu the lust-filled village rowdy in Bharathiraja's 16 Vayadhinile etc. In the history of the South Film Industry Rajinikanth became the First villain who was cheered by the audience. He became the darling of the audience and his entry on screen was much awaited the movement he made entry he was welcomed with echoes thundering claps, whistles and the cine audience went crazy. In short, Rajinikanth became the First villain, whom the people loved to hate. Rajinikanth was soon elevated to Hero from Villain Stunned at the awesome magic of Rajinikanth over film buffs, soon filmmakers decided to bank on the tremendous popularity of Rajinikanth and he soon escalated from villain to hero in Bhairavi (1978). The film was a huge hit and in a span of just three years, Rajinikanth rose from villain to Hero. Rajinikanth firmly captured the vacant, action-hero slot in Tamil movies with a series of movies where he routinely bashed up the bad guys who had done him injustice in one way or the other. Once in a while, he did movies like Aarulirundhu Arubadhu Varai or Johnny (he played a dual role) which gave us glimpses of his acting potential. In fact, in the 80’s, he played a Hindu saint in his 100th movie, Sri Raghavendra. And later he played an out-and-out comedy in 'Thillu Mullu', a remake of the Bollywood hit Golmaal. But action was what the fans expected from a Rajini movie and action was what he gave them. Rajinikanth owes a major part of his success to remakes of Amitabh Bachchan’s Bollywood hits Amitabh Bachchan has played a key role in the success of Rajinikanth as readers will be surprised to know that when Amitabh Bachchan took over Rajesh Khanna in the 70’s and became superstar at the same time Rajinikanth in South was climbing the ladders of success. However, in Rajinikanth’s success Amitabh Bachchan has a lion’s share because when Bachchan’s movies were creating box office records in Bollywood, Rajinikanth was cleverly remaking these films in South language and consolidating his star status. Among the umpteen Amitabh Bachchan movies remade into Rajinikanth films are Majboor (1974) as Naan Vazhavaippen (1979); Deewaar (1975) as Thee (1981), Khoon Pasina (1977) as Siva (1989); Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) as Shankar Salim Simon (in Tamil) and Ram Robert Rahim ( in Telugu); Don (1978) as Billa (1980); Kasme Vaade (1978) as Dharmathin Thalaiavan (1988); Laawaris (1981) as Panakkaran (1990); Khud Daar (1982) as Padikkadavan (1985); Namak Halaal (1982) as Velaikaran; Mard (1985) as Maaveeran (1986) etc. Rajinikanth’s success is due to his commitment and devotion to films Rajinikanth’s devotion to his work is applauded by all. It’s believed the actor indulges completely in any movie he does. Unlike Bollywood where directors often complain about actors interfering in the movie, in the South, the directors themselves invite Rajinikanth to participate in story sessions to music. Readers won’t believe Rajinikanth has a fan club from whom the actor takes suggestions and as per their taste he delivers the best. Another interesting fact that readers may not know is that in each movie the actor delivers a punch line like … En vazni, thani vazni, seen a! (My path is diverse; do not dare to come in between!) or Naan oru thadava sonna nooru thadava sonnamathiri ( My one statement is equivalent to a hundred times) These punch lines are picked by a poll contest which is held each time a new movie is announced and from the innumerous punch lines received, Rajinikanth himself selects the best line. Rajinikanth outshines the Bollywood Superstars With Rajinikanth’s ‘Sivaji’ - The Boss, he, becomes the nation’s highest-paid actor as he has reportedly charged an exorbitant Rs.16 crores! A fee is not available even to Bollywood’s superstars. What makes Rajinikanth ‘Tall’ amongst Bollywood biggies is the fact that considering Rajinikanth, who is just a four-state star, with his commercial influence limited to the four southern states, the sale of his movies go up to Rs 70-75 cr and this is truly mind-boggling! In addition to this, readers would be surprised to know that when his much-publicized movie ‘Baba’ fell short of market expectations accumulating heavy losses for its distributors. Rajinikanth himself returned the losses to the distributors, a feat never witnessed in Bollywood! It is believed the whole affair cost him dear but the Superstar recovered it all with his next release Chandramukhi, which is claimed to be one of the most successful Tamil films to date as it ran in theatres for over 600 days! As for the remuneration, Rajinikanth's formula is a combination of a fee plus a share in profits, it is learnt. For his last film Kabali, he took Rs 45 crore for acting and an additional 40 crore from the movie’s box office collection. Overall he took a whopping Rs 85 crore. For his coming film Robot 2.0, he has reportedly charged Rs 50 crore. Rajinikanth’s foray into Bollywood In the mid-80s 80 Rajinikanth made his debut in Bollywood with Amitabh Bachchan’s Andha Kanoon (1983) and like South, he was accepted with open hands in North India. With the movie being hit many South filmmakers re-released Rajinikanth’s films dubbed in Hindi like Jeet Hamari, Meri Adaalat, Gangvaa, John Jani Janardhan, Mahaguru etc but when these films failed. Hence the trend stopped. After Andha Kanoon, Rajinikanth did another Bollywood film Bewafai (1986) with Rajesh Khanna as hero and Rajinikanth as villain. Interestingly the film was a huge hit it was Rajinikanth’s 101 film after the failure of his 100th film Tamil film Sri Raghavendra, in which he played Hindu spiritual Guru Sri Raghavendra but alas the film failed. After the success of Bewafai, Rajinikanth did only selected Bollywood films and was able to give many hit films like Bhagwan Dada( With Rakesh Roshan), Chaalbaaz (With Sridevi), Hum (Amitabh Bachchan), Phool Bane Angaray (with Rekha), Aatank Hi Aatank (With Aamir Khan) and Geraftaar, in which 3 top stars of Indian cinema came together – Rajinikanth, Amitabh Bachchan and Kamal Haasan! Will Rajinikanth join Politics? For the last two decades, speculations have on that Rajinikanth will enter politics but Rajinikanth has been denying it and keeping off from politics. People feel Rajinikanth is the best choice for chief ministership because he has basic integrity and simplicity, a quality which is very rare these days. But the down-to-earth actor maintains a diplomatic silence, when pressed, he answers in his inimitable style, “Yesterday I was a conductor, today I’m a star, tomorrow what I’ll be only Almighty knows!” However, in the past few weeks, the matter has taken momentum and now India’s leading newspaper has reported that Rajinikanth’s brother Satyanarayana Rao Gaikwad who resides in Bengaluru has asserted that Rajinikanth may announce his party by July end 2017. He said Rajinikanth is planning to enter politics by public demand. Down to Earth personality Ego and starry airs are unknown to Rajinikanth. During breaks, he hardly ever rushes to his air-conditioned makeup room. Instead, he prefers to sleep on the sets, even without a pillow, merely covering his eyes with a wet cloth. He never comes to functions with a retinue behind him and even prefers to drive his car. Warm, friendly and affable, he’s the sort who deserves all the superstardom he’s earned. Such men, indeed, are rare.