His dialogues pack that extra punch and his mannerisms are mimicked by the young and old alike. He is the 'Superstar' the crowds swear by. As he turns a year older today, we attempt to decode the magic that is Rajinikanth.
With “Endhiran/Robot” Rajinikanth has once again proved that he can give all the Khan's, the Deols and the Bachchan's of Bollywood and some popular names in Indian movie industry a run for their money any day. And that is perhaps why Rajinikanth is the ultimate word when it comes to super stardom.
This birthday is special for Rajinikanth. In keeping with the traditions, he has tied the knot with his wife once again.
According to the reports he will not be throwing a huge big bash nor address his fans as he usually does. He will spend it with his family, which has seen two additions this year, his new son-in-law, Ashwin and his daughter Aishwarya's baby.
Rajini's rise to stardom has all the elements of a perfect movie script. The year was 1975. Rajinikanth, a bus conductor by profession, decided to go down to Chennai with the dream of making it big in movies. He was spotted by none other than K Balachandar who is reported to have said, “There is fire in this young man's eyes. One day, he will take Tamil cinema by storm”. Rajini has in the last three decades proved K Balachandar is right.
Rajinikanth's roles were critically acclaimed right from his first flick “Apoorva Ragangal”. He was cast in supporting roles and has paired up with Kamal Hassan in many movies. While Kamal went on to be a great actor and Rajini set his own trailblazing trend. In the beginning he played the villain role with so much of ease that the women kept away from him.
He entered Telugu cinema through “Anthuleni Katha”, which was directed by K. Balachander, whom Rajinikanth has called his guru (Mentor). Though Rajinikanth refers to director K. Balachander as his mentor, it was director S. P. Muthuraman who revamped Rajinikanth’s image entirely
Typical Rajini mannerisms became a craze. His dialogues were on every ones lips. He made his Bollywood debut with “Andha Kanoon” alongside Amitabh Bachchan.
Rajini had arrived. And, the Indian movie industry was not the only one which was watching. His film “Muthu” was dubbed into Japanese. This brought him international acclaim. Newsweek dubbed him as one of the trendiest heartthrob. Back home, he was busy, with each of his flicks “Baba”, “Chandramukhi”, “Sivaji - The Boss” were all super hits.
Even though he did not have too many major releases this decade, there has never been a dip for this actor's popularity. Remember the articles you read before, about fans camping out a day in advance infront of movie halls, the arties and special pujas they offered to their hero’s cutout, before “Robot” was released then, you can follow what we are trying to say.
Even with for all this fanfare, Rajinikanth is a simple man. A compassionate humanitarian, a doting father, a good husband and over all a star who always has time to spare for the causes of the common man.
He is one of those superstars who maintain close bonds with the friends he has made in the industry. He has been quoted as saying that Amitabh Bachchan is one of the actors he is inspired by.
The celebrations have begun officially with the traditional functions which are open just to close friends and family. And we wish him a pleasant year ahead.
