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Rajinikanth

January 01, 1970

For his biography, see Rajinikanth: The Definitive Biography. For the 2013 Indian film, see Rajani Kantha. For other uses, see Rajini (disambiguation).

Shivaji Rao Gaikwad[a] (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth (/rəˌdʒɪnɪˈkɑːnt/ rə-JIN-ih-KAHNTH),[b] is an Indian actor who works mainly in Tamil cinema.[5] In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 169 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, and Malayalam. He is widely regarded to be one of the most successful and popular actors in the history of Indian cinema.[6][7] Known for his uniquely styled lines and idiosyncrasies in films, he has a huge fan base internationally and has a cult following. The Government of India honoured him with Padma Bhushan in 2000, Padma Vibhushan in 2016, India's third and second highest civilian honours, and highest award in the field of cinema Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2019 for his contributions to Indian cinema.[8][9]

Rajinikanth
Rajnikanth in 2018
Born
Shivaji Rao Gaikwad

(1950-12-12) 12 December 1950 (age 73)[1]
Bangalore, Mysore State, India
Alma materAdyar Film Institute
OccupationActor
Years active1975–present
WorksFull list
Spouse
​
(m. 1981)​
Children
RelativesSee Rajinikanth family
AwardsDadasaheb Phalke Award (2019)[2]
Padma Vibhushan (2016)[3]
NTR National Award (2016)
Padma Bhushan (2000)
Kalaimamani (1984)
(See full list)

Following his debut in K. Balachander's 1975 Tamil drama Apoorva Raagangal, Rajinikanth's acting career commenced with a brief phase of portraying antagonistic characters in Tamil films. His major positive role as a scorned lover in S. P. Muthuraman's Bhuvana Oru Kelvi Kuri (1977), 1978's Mullum Malarum and Aval Appadithan received him critical acclaim; the former earned him a Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize for Best Actor.[10][11] By the end of the decade, he had worked in all South Indian film industries and established a career in Tamil cinema. He then played dual roles in the action thriller Billa (1980), a remake of the Hindi film Don (1978). It was his biggest commercial success to that point, earned him stardom and gave him the action hero image.[12] He starred in triple role in Moondru Mugam (1982), which earned him a special prize at the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards ceremony. The following year, he made his Bollywood debut with T. Rama Rao's top grossing Andhaa Kaanoon (1983).[13] Nallavanukku Nallavan (1984) won him that year's Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actor.[14] In the latter half of the 1980s, he starred in several successful films in Tamil and Hindi, including Geraftaar (1985), Padikkadavan (1985), Mr. Bharath (1986), Velaikaran (1987), Manithan (1987), Dharmathin Thalaivan (1988), ChaalBaaz (1989), Hum (1991) and Phool Bane Angaray (1991).[15][16]

In 1991, Mani Ratnam's Tamil crime film Thalapathi, earned him major critical acclaim for his performance.[17] He collaborated with Suresh Krissna for many films including Annaamalai (1992) and Baashha (1995); the latter was the biggest commercial success in his career yet as well as the highest-grossing film in Tamil for many years.[18] His other success includes P. Vasu's Mannan (1992), Uzhaippali (1993) and K. S. Ravikumar's Muthu (1995) and Padayappa (1999); the latter which went on to become his and Tamil cinema's highest-grossing movie, exceeding Baashha.[19]

After a few years of hiatus, he returned to acting with the comedy horror film Chandramukhi (2005); it went on to become again the highest-grossing Tamil film. His next, S. Shankar's Sivaji (2007) was the third Indian film to enter the 100 Crore Club. He played dual roles, as a scientist and an andro-humanoid robot, in the science fiction film Enthiran (2010) and its sequel 2.0 (2018), both being India's most expensive productions at the time of their release, and among the highest-grossing Indian films of all time.[c] In 2023, his most recent blockbuster Jailer, made a significant impact in the Tamil film industry, earning over 600 crores and establishing him as the sole actor with two 500 crores movies in the industry.[21][22] He also once again became the highest paid actor in India with Jailer, earning a total of 210 crores for the single film.

He has won many awards including, one National Film Award, seven Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, a Nandi Award and one Filmfare Award. Rajinikanth was also named one of the most influential persons in South Asia by Asiaweek.[23][24] He was also named by Forbes India as the most influential Indian of the year 2010.[25]

Early life and background

Rajinikanth was born as Shivaji Rao Gaikwad on 12 December 1950 in a Marathi Hindu family in Bangalore, Mysore State (present day Karnataka).[26][1][27] His mother was a homemaker,[d] and his father Ramoji Rao Gaekwad was a police constable.[1] His ancestors hailed from Mavadi Kadepathar, Pune, Maharashtra.[29][30] He is the youngest of four siblings in a family consisting of two elder brothers (Satyanarayana Rao and Nageshwara Rao) and a sister (Aswath Balubhai).[31][26] After his father's retirement from work in 1956, the family moved to the suburb of Hanumantha Nagar in Bangalore and built a house there.[26] He lost his mother at the age of nine.[32]

Rajinikanth had his primary education at the Gavipuram Government Kannada Model Primary School in Bangalore.[33] As a child, he was "studious and mischievous" with a great interest in cricket, football and basketball. During this time, his brother enrolled him at the Ramakrishna Math, a Hindu monastery set up by the Ramakrishna Mission. In the math, he was taught Vedas, tradition and history, which eventually instilled a sense of spirituality in him.[34] In addition to spiritual lessons, he also began acting in plays at the math. His aspiration towards theatre grew at the math and was once given an opportunity to enact the role of Ekalavya's friend from the Hindu epic Mahabharata. His performance in the play received praise from the Kannada poet D. R. Bendre.[26] After sixth grade, Rajinikanth was enrolled at the Acharya Pathasala Public School and studied there till completion of his pre-university course.[34] During his schooling at the Acharya Pathasala, he spent a lot of time acting in plays.

Upon completion of his school education, Rajinikanth performed several jobs including that of a coolie,[35] before getting a job in the Bangalore Transport Service as a bus conductor.[36][37] He continued to take part in plays after the Kannada playwright Topi Muniappa offered him a chance to act in one of his mythological plays. He decided to take up an acting course in the newly formed Madras Film Institute after coming across an advertisement.[38] Though his family was not fully supportive of his decision to join the institute,[38] his friend and co-worker Raj Bahadur motivated him to join the institute and financially supported him during this phase.[39][40] During his stay at the institute, he was noticed by the Tamil film director K. Balachander.[41] Balachander provided Rajinikanth with his stage name to avoid confusion with fellow actor Sivaji Ganesan, having taken it from a character's name in his earlier film Major Chandrakanth.[42][43] The director advised him to learn to speak Tamil, a recommendation that Rajinikanth quickly followed.[44] Though he can read the language, he cannot write in it.[45]

Acting career

1974–1977: Early career

"Rajinikanth claims that I am his school. But I must admit that this wasn't the Rajinikanth I introduced. He has evolved on his own merits and strengths. I gave him an opportunity and unveiled him to the world. He went and conquered it."

—K. Balachander about Rajinikanth[46]

Rajinikanth began his film career with the Tamil film Apoorva Raagangal (1975), directed by K. Balachander.[47] He was cast in a small role as the ex-husband of the female lead played by Srividya.[47][48][49] The film explored relationships between people with wide age differences and was deemed controversial upon release.[50] However, it received critical acclaim and won three National Film Awards including the Award for the Best Tamil Feature at the 23rd National Film Awards in 1976.[51] A review from The Hindu noted that: "Newcomer Rajinikanth is dignified and impressive".[52] His next release was Puttanna Kanagal's Kannada anthology film Katha Sangama (1976).[53] Rajinikanth appeared in the last segment of the film; he played the role as a village ruffian who rapes a blind woman in the absence of her husband.[54] Balachander cast him in a pivotal role in Anthuleni Katha (1976), the Telugu remake of his own Tamil film Aval Oru Thodar Kathai (1974).[54] In Moondru Mudichu—the first Tamil film to feature him in a prominent role—he played a character that "blithely row[s] away" when his friend drowns accidentally in the lake only to fulfill his desire to marry the former's girlfriend.[55] His style of flipping the cigarette in the film made him popular among the audience.[56] In his final release of the year, Baalu Jenu, he was cast as the main antagonist who troubles the female lead.[54] He played similar roles in Balachander's Avargal (1977),[57] and Bharathiraja's 16 Vayadhinile (1977).[54][58] The same year, he made his first-ever appearance as a lead actor in the Telugu film Chilakamma Cheppindi (1977), which earned him his only nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu.[59][60] S. P. Muthuraman experimented Rajinikanth in a positive role in Bhuvana Oru Kelvi Kuri (1977).[61] The success of the film brought the duo together for 24 more films till the 1990s.[61] Rajinikanth played supporting and "villainous" roles in most of the films released during the year.[55] In Gaayathri he was cast as a pornographer who secretly films his relationship with his wife without her knowledge and in Galate Samsara he played the role of a married man who develops an affair with a cabaret dancer.[62] He had 15 of his films released during the year.[63]

1978–1989: Experimentation and breakthrough

In 1978, Rajinikanth had 20 releases across Tamil, Telugu and Kannada.[64][65] His first film of the year was P. Madhavan's Shankar Salim Simon, in which he was among the three leads. Following that, he co-starred alongside Vishnuvardhan in the Kannada film Kiladi Kittu. He played the second lead in Annadammula Savaal, which starred Krishna; Rajinikanth reprised his role from the Kannada original. He then played an important role in the supernatural thriller Aayiram Jenmangal. In Maathu Tappada Maga, he was the main antagonist. Bairavi, directed by M.Bhaskar, was the first Tamil film to cast Rajinikanth as a solo hero.[66][67] It was for this film that he earned the sobriquet "Superstar".[67] S. Thanu, one of the film's distributors, set up a 35 feet (11 m) high cut-out of Rajinikanth.[68] His next appearance Ilamai Oonjal Aadukirathu, a quadrangular love story written and directed by C. V. Sridhar, saw him play the role of a man who sacrifices his love for his friend, played by Kamal Haasan. The film's success prompted Sridhar to remake the film in Telugu, Vayasu Pilichindi, which retained the original cast of the Tamil film.[citation needed]

His next film, Vanakkatukuriya Kathaliye, had an introductory song to mark his entry, a trend that would soon catch on in with his later films.[67] Mullum Malarum, released during the same period, received critical acclaim, and earned him his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil nomination.[69] The film marked the directional debut of Mahendran, with a screenplay adapted from a novel of the same name published in Kalki.[67] It won the Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Film and a Special Prize (Best Actor) for Rajinikanth at the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards.[67] Following this, he made a foray into Malayalam cinema with I. V. Sasi's fantasy film Allauddinum Albhutha Vilakkum, which was based on a story from the Arabian Nights. The same year, he acted in Dharma Yuddam, in which he played a mentally-ill person avenging the death of his parents. He then co-starred with N. T. Rama Rao in Tiger. Upon completion of Tiger, Rajinikanth had acted in 50 films over a period of four years, and in four languages. Some other popular films released during this period are the youthful entertainer Ninaithale Inikkum, the Tamil–Kannada bilingual Priya, the Telugu film Amma Evarikkaina Amma and the melodrama Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai. Priya, based on a detective novel by Sujatha, had the distinction of being the first film of Rajinikanth to be shot mostly outside India, mainly in Southeast Asia.[67] Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai earned him his second nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil.

Raijinikanth, who credited Hindi film star Amitabh Bachchan as his inspiration,[70] began playing Amitabh Bachchan's roles in Tamil remakes of his films.[71] This began with Shankar Salim Simon (1978), a remake of Amar Akbar Anthony (1977), followed by Naan Vazhavaippen (1979), a remake of Majboor (1974).[72] He was subsequently cast in a series of roles modelled after Amitabh Bachchan in Tamil remakes of his films.[71] Rajinikanth starred in eleven Tamil remakes of Amitabh Bachchan films,[73] as well as a Telugu remake of Amar Akbar Anthony, Ram Robert Rahim (1980), alongside Sridevi.[72] The most successful of these were remakes of Salim–Javed films, such as Billa (1980), Thee (1981) and Mr. Bharath (1986).[73]

During this phase of his career, Rajinikanth abruptly chose to quit acting, but was coaxed to return[74] with the Tamil film Billa (1980), a remake of the Bollywood blockbuster Don (1978), written by Salim-Javed and starring Amitabh Bachchan. Billa had Rajinikanth playing dual roles and eventually became his first ever commercial success. His pairing with Sridevi continued in Johnny, where he was once again cast in a double role, earned him his third nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. He also starred in Murattu Kaalai which was a commercial success.[61] The success of Billa was a turning point in Rajinikanth's career, disproving detractors that claimed Rajnikanth was "finished" and which saw him accepted as a full-fledged hero.[74] The success of Billa established Rajinikanth as the top star of Tamil cinema, overtaking Kamal Haasan.[75]

In 1981, he appeared in Garjanai which was shot simultaneously in Kannada and Malayalam, making it his last film in those two languages up until 2023. In K. Balachander's first home production, Netrikan, he played dual roles as a womanising father and a responsible son.[61] His first full-length comedy was Thillu Mullu, directed by K. Balachander. He agreed to it solely due to the strong suggestion by his mentor that he should do non-commercial roles, to break the stereotyped action-hero mould by which he was getting famous at the time. Thillu Mullu earned him his fourth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil.[76] 1981 also saw the release of Thee, a remake of the 1975 Bollywood blockbuster Deewaar, also originally written by Salim-Javed and starring Amitabh Bachchan; in Thee, Rajinikanth reprised the role of Bachchan in the original.[77] In 1982, he starred in Pokkiri Raja, Moondru Mugam, Thanikattu Raja, Puthukavithai and Enkeyo Ketta Kural. Moondru Mugam which starred Rajinikanth playing three different roles for the first time, earned him his fifth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil.[78]

By 1983, he was a popular actor across South Indian cinema, including Telugu and Kannada films.[79] In 1983, he starred in his first Bollywood film, Andha Kanoon, alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini. The film went on to become one of the highest-grossing films of that time.[80] His 1984 film Naan Mahaan Alla, was directed by Muturaman and produced by K. Balachander. He acted in his first cameo role in the film Anbulla Rajinikanth.[81] He played a triple role in John Jani Janardhan. His performance in Nallavanuku Nallavan earned him his first and only Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil.[82] In his 100th film Sri Raghavendra (1985), he played the Hindu saint Raghavendra Swami.[83]

In the second half of the 1980s, Rajinikanth acted in commercially successful films such as Naan Sigappu Manithan (1985), Padikkathavan (1985), Mr. Bharath (1986), Velaikaran (1987), Manithan (1987), Guru Sishyan (1988) and Dharmathin Thalaivan (1988), with Velaikaran earning him his seventh nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. In 1988, he made his only American film appearance in Bloodstone, directed by Dwight Little, in which he played an English-speaking Indian taxi driver.[84][85] Rajinikanth finished the decade with films including Rajadhi Raja, Siva, Raja Chinna Roja and Mappillai while also starring in a few Bollywood productions. Raja Chinna Roja was the first Indian film to feature live action and animation.[86][87]

1990–2001: Commercial stardom

 
Rajinikanth with Kamal Haasan

By the 1990s, Rajinikanth established himself as a commercial entertainer. Almost all the films released during this period were highly successful at the box office.

He began the decade with a blockbuster in Panakkaran (1990), which was a remake of Amitabh Bachchan's 1981 film Laawaris. The film earned him his eighth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. His next two Tamil films, the fantasy comedy Athisaya Piravi, (a remake of Chiranjeevi's 1988 film Yamudiki Mogudu) which also released in 1990 and the family drama Dharmadorai (1991), did above-average business at the box office. His stint with Bollywood continued since the past decade as he went on to star in more Hindi films. Hum released in 1991 saw him doing the second main lead with Amitabh Bachchan became an inspiration for Baashha.[88] In 1991, he worked with Mani Ratnam in Thalapathi, which was heavily inspired by the Mahabharata.[89][90] in which he co-starred with actor Mammooty; the film dealt with the friendship between two unknown characters based on Karna and Duryodhana, respectively,[89] and was set in a more contemporary milieu and was both critically acclaimed and successful upon release.[83] He received his ninth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil for the film. He went on to appear in remakes of films from other languages, mostly from Hindi and Telugu. Annamalai, which released in 1992, was yet another friendship-centric film and was loosely based on the 1987 Bollywood film Khudgarz. The film was the first to have a Super Star Title Graphic Card. He received his tenth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil for the film. Mannan, directed by P. Vasu, a remake of Kannada actor Rajkumar's 1986 blockbuster Anuraga Aralithu, also was released in 1992 and became a box office success. Rajinikanth wrote his first screenplay for the film Valli (1993), in which he also made a special appearance. He also starred in the film Yajaman, in which he played the role of Vaanavaraayan, a village chieftain. His romantic-comedy Veera (1994) was controversial for its climax but went on to become one of the highest-grossing films in 1994.[91] That year, he earned his eleventh nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil for the action-drama Uzhaippali.

He joined hands with Suresh Krishna for Baashha (1995), which emerged as an industry record,[92] and is routinely touted by fans and critics alike as a major-hit, as the film elevated him from being just another very popular actor to nearly demigod status among the masses.[93] He made a cameo in Peddarayudu for his friend Mohan Babu and also helped him in obtaining the remake rights. The same year, he acted in yet another gangster film, Aatank Hi Aatank with Aamir Khan which was also his last Hindi film in a major role till date. His film Muthu, a remake of Mohanlal's blockbuster Malayalam film Thenmavin Kombathu, was another commercial success, directed by K. S. Ravikumar and produced by K. Balachander, and became the first Tamil film to be dubbed into Japanese, as Mutu: Odoru Maharaja.[94] The film grossed a record US$1.6 million in Japan in 1998 and was responsible for creating a large Japanese fan-base for the actor.[95] Muthu's success in Japan led American news magazine Newsweek to comment in a 1999 article that Rajinikanth had "supplanted Leonardo DiCaprio as Japan's trendiest heartthrob".[96] During a visit to Japan in 2006, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh acknowledged the success of Muthu in the country during a speech, justifying the positive relationship between the two nations.[97] He received his twelfth and thirteenth nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil for his performances in Baashha and Muthu.

He also entered Bengali cinema through Bhagya Debata, which was released at the end of 1995. 1997's Arunachalam, another commercial success, earned him his fourteenth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. Rajinikanth released his last film of the millennium with Padayappa (1999), which went on to become a blockbuster success, and earned him his fifteenth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. It starred Ramya Krishnan and Soundarya, the former critically acclaimed for her performance. It was also the last prominent role for veteran Tamil actor Sivaji Ganesan.

2002–2010: Struggles, resurgence and acclaim

After a brief pause, Rajinikanth starred in Baba in 2002, for which he had also written the screenplay.[98] Released with much fanfare and hype at the time, the film featured a story revolving around the reforming of a gangster, later revealed to be the reincarnation of the Hindu saint Mahavatar Babaji, and fights against political corruption.[98] It fell short of market expectations and the high bids reportedly translated to heavy losses for the distributors. Rajinikanth himself repaid the losses incurred by the distributors.[99][100] The film was received with comments such as "the bloom was off the rose" and that "the gold does not glitter any more".[101] Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader S. Ramadoss condemned him for smoking and posing with beedis in the film. He was criticised for spoiling the Tamil youth by glorifying smoking and drinking. PMK volunteers attacked the theatres which screened the film and usurped film rolls and burned them.[102]

Two years later, Rajinikanth signed up for P. Vasu's Chandramukhi (2005), a remake of the Malayalam film Manichitrathazhu. Upon release the film was highly successful at the box office, and in 2007 it set the record of being the longest running Tamil film.[103] Chandramukhi was also dubbed in Turkish and in German as Der Geisterjäger and released in the respective nations.[104] Following Chandramukhi's release, it was reported that AVM Productions was set to produce a film directed by Shankar starring Rajinikanth – the largest collaboration yet for a Tamil film. The film was titled Sivaji and was released in the summer of 2007, following two years of filming and production. It became the first Tamil film to be charted as one of the "top-ten best films" of the United Kingdom and South Africa box offices upon release.[105][106] Rajinikanth received a salary of ₹260 million (equivalent to ₹780 million or US$9.8 million in 2023), for his role in the film highest in his film career at that time.[107][108][109] He received his sixteenth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil for his performance in the film. During the production of Sivaji, Soundarya Rajinikanth announced her intention of producing a computer-generated imagery film starring an animated version of her father titled Sultan: The Warrior. The film was set for release in 2008,[110][111] however, it entered development hell, and its development status would become unknown over the next few years.[112]

 
Rajinikanth at the Enthiran (2010) soundtrack release event in Mumbai

He worked with P. Vasu again for Kuselan, a remake of the Malayalam film Kadha Parayumbol, which was made simultaneously in Telugu as Kathanayakudu, in which Rajinikanth played an extended cameo role as Ashok Kumar, a film star in the Indian cinema, and as a best friend to the film's protagonist. According to Rajinikanth, the film somewhat narrated his early life.[113] The film, however, performed poorly at box offices and led to many distributors incurring major losses.[114] Rajinikanth also stated that he would work with Pyramid Saimira again to compensate for Kuselan.[115][116]

"Is there anything left to be said about a man who, at 61, still manages to star in one of the most successful films of the year, not just in the south, but across India? Superstar Rajni once again proved that he is the actor with the Midas touch with the sci-fi flick Endhiran, where he played an ambitious scientist, a naive robot and an evil android bent on destroying the world [...] He did it with such aplomb that he's been the talk of the town for months. He might do one film in two years, but when he does, he pulls out all the stops."

—Rediff.com on Rajinikanth's performance in Enthiran (2010)[117]

Rajinikanth worked again with Shankar for the science fiction film Enthiran.[118] The film was released worldwide in 2010 as the most expensive Indian film ever made, ultimately becoming the second highest-grossing film in India of its time.[119][120][121] Rajinikanth was paid a remuneration of ₹450 million (equivalent to ₹1.0 billion or US$13 million in 2023) for the film.[122] He received his seventeenth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil for his performance in the film. The film's success lead to the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad to use the film as a case study to analyse the business of cinema and its success story in a post-graduate elective management course called Contemporary Film Industry: A Business Perspective. The course would also study Muthu.[123]

2011: Hospitalisation and return

In January 2011, Rajinikanth was slated to appear in Rana, a period film to be produced by Soundarya Rajinikanth and directed by K. S. Ravikumar, who would work with the actor for a third time.[78] During the principal photography of the film on 29 April 2011, he suffered a mild foodborne illness on the sets, which led to vomiting, dehydration, and exhaustion.[124] He was treated at St. Isabel's Hospital for a day before being discharged.[125] Five days later, he was rushed to the same hospital again after suffering from breathlessness and fever.[126] He was diagnosed with bronchitis and was kept at the hospital for a week, while also spending a few days in an intensive care unit.[127] Several conflicting reports of discharge dates arose, as well as claims of Rajinikanth's health deteriorating.[128] Two days after his last discharge, Rajinikanth was admitted to the Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute on 16 May 2011 for recurring respiratory and gastrointestinal problems.[129] The hospital maintained that Rajinikanth was in stable condition and showed positive response to treatment.[128] It was widely reported that he required a kidney transplantation, which was later denied by Dhanush.[130]

On 21 May 2011, Aishwarya Rajinikanth released a photo of her and Rajinikanth in his hospital ward, both posing with a thumbs-up, responding to fans' negative reaction to news reports.[131] The hospital restricted unauthorised visitors.[132] Rajinikanth's brother, Sathyanarayana Rao Gaekwad, reported that the cause of the sudden illness was due to stress from rapid weight-loss and changes in diet, as well as withdrawal of alcohol consumption and smoking cessation.[133] After addressing fans in a 4-minute digitally recorded voice message to the media, Rajinikanth, under the advice of Amitabh Bachchan, travelled from Chennai to Singapore with his family on 21 May 2011, where he was to undergo further treatment for nephropathy at Mount Elizabeth Hospital.[134][135] After spending over two weeks at the hospital, he was finally discharged on 15 June 2011 and continued to recuperate in Singapore, before returning to Chennai on 13 July 2011.[136][137]

2011–present: Commercial expansion and continued success

Despite several failed attempts to restart Rana upon his return, Rajinikanth reprised his Enthiran character, Chitti, in the Bollywood science-fiction film Ra.One (2011) in a guest appearance alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor.[138] In November 2011, it was decided that Rana would be shelved in favour of a new project, titled Kochadaiiyaan.[139] The film became a huge disaster at the box office.[140] The motion capture film, which is the first of its kind in India, was released in 2014 to positive reviews.[141] Kochadaiiyaan, and the 3D release of Sivaji in 2012,[142] made Rajinikanth the first Indian actor to have appeared in four different forms of world cinema: black-and-white, colour, 3D and motion capture.[143] Following the completion of Kochadaiiyaan, Rajinikanth began work in Ravikumar's next directorial venture, titled Lingaa. [144][145] The film was released on 12 December 2014, coinciding with his birthday,[146] and received mixed reviews from critics.[147]

After a two-year absence from big screen, Rajinikanth's next film was director Pa. Ranjith's crime drama Kabali, produced by S. Thanu. The film was released in July 2016.[148] The film became the highest grossing Tamil film of the year grossing over ₹300 crore (equivalent to ₹353 crore or US$44 million in 2023) and became the fifth highest-grossing Tamil film of all time before being surpassed by his another film 2.0.[n 1] Also, at the Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards, the film was nominated at five categories winning all of them,[157] and also won five awards, at the Edison Awards, and two nominations at the 6th South Indian International Movie Awards.[158] He also received his eighteenth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil for his performance in the film.

In August 2016, it was announced that Rajinikanth and director Ranjith would work together again for a film with Dhanush as producer, titled Kaala, in which Rajinikanth plays a Dharavi-dwelling gangster who fights against corporate takeover of the slum.[159] The film was officially released on 7 June 2018 and received positive reviews from critics.[160] In 2018 he also appeared in S. Shankar's 2.0 reprising the roles of Dr. Vaseegaran and Chitti, alongside Akshay Kumar and Amy Jackson.[17] The film was released on 29 November 2018 and was commercially successful at the box office. The film earned over ₹117.34 crore (US$15 million) worldwide on its first day, which was the second-highest ever for an Indian film. The film crossed ₹520 crore (equivalent to ₹696 crore or US$87 million in 2023) in its opening weekend to be the highest-grossing film worldwide for that week. The film also grossed over ₹655.81 crore (US$82 million)–₹800 crore (US$100 million) at the box office became the highest-grossing Tamil film of the year and second highest grossing Tamil film of all time.[161] 2.0 is the fourth highest-grossing film in India and is the seventh highest-grossing Indian film worldwide.[162][163] In 2019, Rajinikanth starred in Karthik Subbaraj's Petta, in which his performance received praise for his return to his vintage stereotypical style of acting and grossed over ₹250 crore (US$31 million), becoming the second highest-grossing Tamil film of 2019.[164] The combined gross earnings of Kaala, 2.0 and Petta by the end of January 2019 was determined to be over ₹1000 crore according to trade analysts.[165] Rajinikanth worked with AR Murugadoss in the film Darbar, alongside Nayanthara which released in 2020. He played the role of a police officer after 27 years since his last film as a police officer was the Tamil film Pandian. Despite the film receiving mixed reviews, the film grossed ₹250 crore (US$31 million) crore at the box office,[166][167] making it one of Rajinikanth's highest-grossing films and the highest-grossing Tamil films of 2020.[168] His 168th film of Rajinikanth was with director Siva, the film titled Annaatthe alongside Nayanthara and Keerthy Suresh and where he played role of a protective brother. The film was released on 4 November 2021.[169] The film became a commercial success at the box office by grossing around ₹240 crore (equivalent to ₹269 crore or US$34 million in 2023) beating the collections made by other Tamil films like Master and Maanaadu.[170][171][172]

After a two-year absence from big screen, his 169th film is Jailer, which was directed by Nelson Dilipkumar. He played a retired jailer in the film and it was released on 10 August 2023.[173][174][175] The film received predominantly positive reviews upon its release and achieved tremendous commercial success, grossing over 600 crores worldwide.[176]

Rajinikanth then appeared in an extended cameo appearance in his daughter, Aishwarya Rajinikanth's directorial comeback, Lal Salaam. It was released on 9 February 2024. It also features Vishnu Vishal and Vikranth in prominent lead roles.[177]

Upcoming projects

His 170th film as the lead actor, [178]Vettaiyan, is set to be produced by Subaskaran Allirajah of Lyca Productions and directed by T. J. Gnanavel of Jai Bhim (2021) fame; he will be playing a police officer. Amitabh Bachchan, Fahadh Faasil, Rana Daggubati, Manju Warrier, Ritika Singh and Dushara Vijayan have been roped in as part of the cast and Anirudh Ravichander will be composing the music for the film. The film began shooting on 4 October 2023.[179] It is also scheduled to be released in theatres in the second half of 2024.[180] Sun Pictures officially announced his 171st film with Lokesh Kanagaraj as the director, confirming the rumors of his collaboration with Rajinikanth, which is tentatively titled Thalaivar 171 on 11 September 2023. The music will be composed by Anirudh Ravichander. In a recent interview, Lokesh Kanagaraj disclosed that the principal photography of the film is scheduled to begin either in the last week of March 2024 or in early April 2024. It will reportedly be a standalone film and not a part of the Lokesh Cinematic Universe, as confirmed by Kanagaraj.On 22 April 2024,the title of the project was revealed as Coolie with the teaser release.[181]

Political career

 
Rajinikanth (left) receiving the 2008 NDTV Entertainer of the Year Award from prime minister Manmohan Singh

It was speculated that Rajinikanth would enter politics in 1995. He decided against it and declared that if he entered politics now, it would result in a lot of confusion and that he would not be able to serve the people and fulfil their expectations. However, he added that if Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa's party returns to power in the 1996 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, "even God cannot save the people of the State."[182] Rajinikanth went on to wholeheartedly supported the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Tamil Maanila Congress alliance and asked the people of Tamil Nadu and his fans to vote for that alliance. This alliance had a complete victory in the elections. He also supported the same alliance in the 1996 and 1998 Indian general elections.[183]

Later in 2004, Rajinikanth said he would personally vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but would not extend his support to any front during the upcoming Indian general election.[184] The party, however, failed to win any seats in Tamil Nadu in the Lok Sabha.[185]

Rajinikanth canceled his visit to Sri Lanka in March 2017 at the urging of Tamil Nadu politicians. Leaders of the BJP criticized this choice.[186] In June 2017, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy alleged that Rajinikanth was illiterate and unfit for politics. He also accused Rajinikanth of financial fraud, claiming that he has strong proof of financial irregularities by Rajinikanth that will bring down Rajinikanth's political aspirations.[187][188]

However several political analysts state Rajinikanth has missed his chance and unlike 1996 when he was at his peak it will be very difficult for him to make a significant impact in 2019.[189][190][191]

Rajinikanth announced entry into politics on 31 December 2017 and confirmed his intention to contest in the 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elections in all 234 constituencies. He stated that his party would resign if it was unable to fulfill its electoral promises within three years of coming into power.[192] Rajinikanth dissolved his organisation Rajini Makkal Mandram (RMM) on 12 July 2021 and also said that he has no plans to enter politics in the future.[193]

Public image

 
Rajinikanth at premiere of Kochadaiiyaan (2014)

Rajinikanth is widely regarded as one of the most popular actors in the history of Indian cinema. His popularity has been attributed to his distinctively delivered dialogue and eccentricities showcased in his movies, alongside his political pronouncements and charitable work.[194] Many also cite reasons for Rajinikanth's popularity as coming from his larger-than-life super-hero appearance in many films, supported by gravity-defying stunts and charismatic expressions, all while attempting to maintain modesty in real-life.[195] Almost every film of Rajinikanth has punchlines delivered by him in a distinctive style, and these punchlines often have a message or even warn the film's antagonists.[196][197]

Rajinikanth is one of the highest-grossing actors in Tamil cinema history. After opening his first official Twitter account in 2014, Rajinikanth received over 210,000 followers within 24 hours, which according to The Economic Times was deemed by social media research firms as the fastest rate of followers for any Indian celebrity, as well as among the top-10 in the world.[198] In 2015, a film about his fandom, For the Love of a Man, premiered at the 71st Venice International Film Festival.[199]

Comments on social issues

 
Rajinikanth with Vijay at a Kaveri water sharing protest by the Nadigar Sangam in 2018

In 2002, Rajinikanth undertook a day-long fast to protest the Government of Karnataka's decision to not release Kaveri River water into Tamil Nadu, and announced that he would contribute ₹10 million (US$130,000) toward a plan to interlink Indian rivers.[200] He met with Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and many experts to canvass support for the project.[201] His hunger strike was independent of the Nadigar Sangam, who organised their own solidarity protest for the same cause. Film director Bharathi Raja lashed out against Rajinikanth, alleging that he is dividing the film industry and saying that he was a "traitor who had a tacit understanding with the Karnataka government".[202]

In 2008, Rajinikanth took part in a hunger strike organised by the Nadigar Sangam against Karnataka's stance on the Hogenakkal Falls water dispute, during which he gave a speech against politicians in Karnataka.[203] It led to the state announcing a ban on him and his film Kuselan (2008). The ban was lifted after Rajinikanth appeared on TV9 Kannada and issued an apology for his speech. He later thanked the Government of Karnataka for lifting the ban and allowing the film's release in the state. The apology and subsequent gratitude towards Karnataka led to strong reactions from Nadigar Sangam members R. Sarathkumar, Sathyaraj and Radha Ravi, who called the apology a disgrace to Tamils and opined that his speech never provoked the sentiments of the Kannada people.[204] Rajinikanth's support toward fellow actor Ajith Kumar, who in 2010 condemned the forceful inclusion of Tamil cinema personae in political affairs, broke into a controversy.[205]

In 2020, Rajinikanth quoted a 2017 article from Outlook, which reported that Dravidar Kazhagam founder Periyar E. V. Ramasamy garlanded the idols of Hindu deities Rama and Sita with footwear at an atheist rally in 1971.[206][207] His remarks were criticized by supporters of Periyar.[208][207] In response to the backlash, Rajinikanth stated, "I did not speak on something that didn't happen. I've only spoken on what was reported. It was reported in Outlook also. Sorry, I will not apologise".[209][210] A report on Thoothukudi police firing criticized Rajnikanth's comment on the incident that the whole anti-Sterlite protest was engineered by "anti-social" elements.[211]

Personal life

Relationships

While he was working as a bus conductor in Bangalore, Rajinikanth met a medical student named Nirmala and started a relationship. After seeing him perform in a stage play, she encouraged him to pursue an acting career and sent an application to the Adyar Film Institute on his behalf and unbeknownst to him. Although he took up the offer and proceeded with his acting career, Rajinikanth has since lost contact with her.[212]

Family

Rajinikanth married Latha Rangachari, a student of Ethiraj College for Women who interviewed him for her college magazine.[213][214] The marriage took place on 26 February 1981, in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.[215] The couple has two daughters: Aishwarya and Soundarya. He has four grandchildren through his daughters.[216][217]

Views

Rajinikanth is a practicing Hindu and is a strong believer of spirituality.[218] He is also a practitioner of yoga and meditation. Rajinikanth has religiously visited major Hindu temples prior to the release of each of his films; for instance he visited the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple before the release of Sivaji in 2007 and visited Sathya Sai Baba at Prasanthi Nilayam in Andhra Pradesh before the release of Kuselan the following year.[219] He also occasionally leaves for pilgrimage to the Himalayas.[220]

He has often referred to Ramakrishna Paramahamsa,[221] Swami Satchidananda, Ragavendra Swami,[222] Mahavatar Babaji,[223] and Ramana Maharshi[221] as his favourite spiritual leaders.

Philanthropy

According to Naman Ramachandran, the author of Rajinikanth: The Definitive Biography, most of Rajinikanth's philanthropic activities went unpublicised because he chose to keep them undisclosed. In the 1980s, when superstitious beliefs in Tamil Nadu created a stigma towards eye donation, Rajinikanth took the case of campaigning in support of corneal transplantation via television and public speeches.[224] In 2011, Rajinikanth announced his support for the anti-corruption movement led by Anna Hazare and offered his commercial wedding venue, the Raghavendra Kalyana Mandapam, in Chennai free of cost for the India Against Corruption members to hold their fast.[225][226] He also provided lodging in the venue for sanitary workers hired to clean up after the 2015 South India floods.[227] Rajinikanth's fan associations regularly organise blood donation and eye donation camps and distribute food during his birthday.[228]

Money lending allegation

Rajinikanth declared ₹6.11 million (equivalent to ₹22 million or US$280,000 in 2023), ₹17 million (equivalent to ₹60 million or US$750,000 in 2023) and ₹3.39 million (equivalent to ₹12 million or US$140,000 in 2023) as earnings for the years 2002–2003, 2003–2004 and 2004–2005, respectively. However, the Income Tax Department observed that he had claimed a considerable sum of professional expenses and thus carried out a survey in 2005 at his residence at Poes Garden. During the survey, the IT-Department found out that he had accounted for a lost of costs as his professional costs and it was also discovered that not even one-tenth of the residential property was allocated to professional purposes.[229] Moreover, when Rajinikanth was questioned by the I-T department if he's in the money lending business, he initially denied it. Later, though, he admitted to the IT-Department that he was indeed a money lender, and that he had loaned money as a source of profit at an interest rate of 18 percent. Later, for all three years in dispute, Rajinikanth was forced to submit revised reports, confessing he had earned more than what was reported in the initial report on 14 February 2005.[230] But the I-T department penalized him ₹6.6 million (equivalent to ₹7.8 million or US$97,000 in 2023), since he filed revised returns only after they surveyed him.[231][232]

This was challenged by Rajinikanth and his lawyers, and in January 2020 the I-T department wrote off the fine, due to its recent decision to withdraw from appeals in cases below ₹10 million (equivalent to ₹12 million or US$150,000 in 2023).[233] The news that Rajinikanth told the Income Tax department that he was lending money at an 18 per cent interest rate has earned outrage and criticism for his high interest rate loans, which is a big problem in Tamil Nadu.[231]

Filmography

Main article: Rajinikanth filmography

Rajinikanth appeared in over 169 films, predominantly in Tamil cinema.[234] He began his film career by playing antagonistic and supporting roles before graduating to a lead actor.[235] He has also worked in other Indian film industries such as Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Bengali.

Awards, honours and recognition

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Rajinikanth
 
President Pranab Mukherjee presenting the Padma Vibhushan to Rajinikanth at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi on 12 April 2016

Rajinikanth has received numerous awards for many of his films, mostly in Tamil. He received his first and only Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actor in 1984 for Nallavanuku Nallavan.[82] Later he received Filmfare Award nominations for his performances in Sivaji (2007) and Enthiran (2010). As of 2014, Rajinikanth has received six Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for his performances in various films.[236] He also received numerous awards from Cinema Express and Filmfans' Association for his on-screen performances and off-screen contributions in writing and producing.[236] [237]

Rajinikanth received the Kalaimamani award in 1984 and the M. G. R. Award in 1989, both from the Government of Tamil Nadu. In 1995, the South Indian Film Artistes' Association presented him with the Kalaichelvam Award. He was honoured with the Padma Bhushan (2000) and the Padma Vibhushan (2016) by the Government of India.[8][9] He was selected as the Indian Entertainer of the Year for 2007 by NDTV, competing against the likes of Shahrukh Khan.[238] The Government of Maharashtra honoured him with the Raj Kapoor Award the same year. He received the Chevalier Sivaji Ganesan Award for Excellence in Indian Cinema at the 4th Vijay Awards.[239] Rajinikanth was also named one of the most influential persons in South Asia by Asiaweek.[23][24]

 
Vice President Venkaiah Naidu presenting the Dadasaheb Phalke Award to Rajinikanth at the 67th National Film Awards, New Delhi on 25 October 2021.

He was named by Forbes India as the most influential Indian of the year 2010.[25] In 2011, he was awarded the Entertainer of the Decade Award by NDTV for the year 2010 by the then Indian Minister for Home Affairs P. Chidambaram.[240] In December 2013, he was honoured by NDTV as one among the "25 Greatest Global Living Legends".[241] In 2014, he was presented with the Indian Film Personality of the Year Award at the 45th IFFI.[242][243] Rajinikanth received Dadasaheb Phalke Award at the 67th National Film Awards presentation ceremony, at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, Monday, 25 October 2021.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ There are numerous variant spellings of the name. These include Gaikwad, Gaykwad, Gaikawad, and, Gaykawad.
  2. ^ There are numerous variant spellings of the name. These include Rajanikant, Rajni Kanth, Rajanikanth and Rajanikant.[4]
  3. ^ The film grossed ₹2.89 billion (equivalent to ₹4.2 billion or US$52 million in 2023) worldwide, surpassing Sivaji's collection of ₹1.55 billion (equivalent to ₹2.2 billion or US$28 million in 2023). As of June 2016, it remains the highest-grossing Tamil film.[20]
  4. ^ While Naman Ramachandran's 2012 biography of Rajinikanth identifies his mother's name as Ramabai,[1] journalist Ramachandra Rao, a childhood friend of the actor, said in 2012 that her name was Jijabai.[28]
  1. ^ Box office gross values of ₹650 crore were reported for Kabali in the first 13 days by several organisations including Financial Express and Indian Express,[149][150] which were more than double the estimates made by other sources.[151] International Business Times (IBT) and Firstpost criticized these estimates as inflated, explaining the discrepancy as due in part to the addition of "pre-release business" figures, such as music and satellite rights sales of ₹200 crore,[152] being factored into the box office sales totals.[151] Firstpost wrote, "More conservative estimates put Kabali's collections at around Rs 300 crores from worldwide ticket sales."[152] IBT's analysts in August 2016 estimated the film's worldwide gross total of its first 13 days at around ₹350 crore (US$52.09 million).[153]
    Figures given in December 2016 by Financial Express indicated an estimated domestic gross of ₹215 crore and an overseas gross of ₹262 crore, which total ₹477 crore.[154] A figure of USD$77 million given by Forbes in May 2017 converted to approximately ₹493–499 crore.[155] According to International Business Times in October 2017, Kabali's final worldwide gross was around ₹286 crore (US$36 million).[156]

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Bibliography

Further reading

  • Rao, A.N.Prahlada (2013). Nanna Daari Vibhinna Daari: Rajanikanth Kannada. Bangalore, Karnataka: Nava Bharat Publication. ISBN 978-1-85286-770-6. OL 25437576M.
  • Krishnamoorthy, Raja (2012). Rajini's Punchtantra: Business and Life Management the Rajinikanth Way. Rupa & Co. p. 124. ISBN 9788129119995. from the original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  • Ramakrishnan, Ram N (2012). Grand Brand Rajini: Brand Management the Rajinikanth Way. Rupa Publications India. p. 149. ISBN 9788129120595. from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2016.

External links

 
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January 01, 1970
rajinikanth, biography, definitive, biography, 2013, indian, film, rajani, kantha, other, uses, rajini, disambiguation, shivaji, gaikwad, born, december, 1950, known, professionally, ɑː, kahnth, indian, actor, works, mainly, tamil, cinema, career, spanning, ov. For his biography see Rajinikanth The Definitive Biography For the 2013 Indian film see Rajani Kantha For other uses see Rajini disambiguation Shivaji Rao Gaikwad a born 12 December 1950 known professionally as Rajinikanth r e ˌ dʒ ɪ n ɪ ˈ k ɑː n t re JIN ih KAHNTH b is an Indian actor who works mainly in Tamil cinema 5 In a career spanning over five decades he has done 169 films that includes films in Tamil Hindi Telugu Kannada Bengali and Malayalam He is widely regarded to be one of the most successful and popular actors in the history of Indian cinema 6 7 Known for his uniquely styled lines and idiosyncrasies in films he has a huge fan base internationally and has a cult following The Government of India honoured him with Padma Bhushan in 2000 Padma Vibhushan in 2016 India s third and second highest civilian honours and highest award in the field of cinema Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2019 for his contributions to Indian cinema 8 9 RajinikanthRajnikanth in 2018BornShivaji Rao Gaikwad 1950 12 12 12 December 1950 age 73 1 Bangalore Mysore State IndiaAlma materAdyar Film InstituteOccupationActorYears active1975 presentWorksFull listSpouseLatha Rajinikanth m 1981 wbr ChildrenAishwarya SoundaryaRelativesSee Rajinikanth familyAwardsDadasaheb Phalke Award 2019 2 Padma Vibhushan 2016 3 NTR National Award 2016 Padma Bhushan 2000 Kalaimamani 1984 See full list Following his debut in K Balachander s 1975 Tamil drama Apoorva Raagangal Rajinikanth s acting career commenced with a brief phase of portraying antagonistic characters in Tamil films His major positive role as a scorned lover in S P Muthuraman s Bhuvana Oru Kelvi Kuri 1977 1978 s Mullum Malarum and Aval Appadithan received him critical acclaim the former earned him a Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize for Best Actor 10 11 By the end of the decade he had worked in all South Indian film industries and established a career in Tamil cinema He then played dual roles in the action thriller Billa 1980 a remake of the Hindi film Don 1978 It was his biggest commercial success to that point earned him stardom and gave him the action hero image 12 He starred in triple role in Moondru Mugam 1982 which earned him a special prize at the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards ceremony The following year he made his Bollywood debut with T Rama Rao s top grossing Andhaa Kaanoon 1983 13 Nallavanukku Nallavan 1984 won him that year s Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actor 14 In the latter half of the 1980s he starred in several successful films in Tamil and Hindi including Geraftaar 1985 Padikkadavan 1985 Mr Bharath 1986 Velaikaran 1987 Manithan 1987 Dharmathin Thalaivan 1988 ChaalBaaz 1989 Hum 1991 and Phool Bane Angaray 1991 15 16 In 1991 Mani Ratnam s Tamil crime film Thalapathi earned him major critical acclaim for his performance 17 He collaborated with Suresh Krissna for many films including Annaamalai 1992 and Baashha 1995 the latter was the biggest commercial success in his career yet as well as the highest grossing film in Tamil for many years 18 His other success includes P Vasu s Mannan 1992 Uzhaippali 1993 and K S Ravikumar s Muthu 1995 and Padayappa 1999 the latter which went on to become his and Tamil cinema s highest grossing movie exceeding Baashha 19 After a few years of hiatus he returned to acting with the comedy horror film Chandramukhi 2005 it went on to become again the highest grossing Tamil film His next S Shankar s Sivaji 2007 was the third Indian film to enter the 100 Crore Club He played dual roles as a scientist and an andro humanoid robot in the science fiction film Enthiran 2010 and its sequel 2 0 2018 both being India s most expensive productions at the time of their release and among the highest grossing Indian films of all time c In 2023 his most recent blockbuster Jailer made a significant impact in the Tamil film industry earning over 600 crores and establishing him as the sole actor with two 500 crores movies in the industry 21 22 He also once again became the highest paid actor in India with Jailer earning a total of 210 crores for the single film He has won many awards including one National Film Award seven Tamil Nadu State Film Awards a Nandi Award and one Filmfare Award Rajinikanth was also named one of the most influential persons in South Asia by Asiaweek 23 24 He was also named by Forbes India as the most influential Indian of the year 2010 25 Contents 1 Early life and background 2 Acting career 2 1 1974 1977 Early career 2 2 1978 1989 Experimentation and breakthrough 2 3 1990 2001 Commercial stardom 2 4 2002 2010 Struggles resurgence and acclaim 2 5 2011 Hospitalisation and return 2 6 2011 present Commercial expansion and continued success 3 Political career 4 Public image 4 1 Comments on social issues 5 Personal life 5 1 Relationships 5 2 Family 5 3 Views 5 4 Philanthropy 5 5 Money lending allegation 6 Filmography 7 Awards honours and recognition 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 11 Bibliography 12 Further reading 13 External linksEarly life and backgroundRajinikanth was born as Shivaji Rao Gaikwad on 12 December 1950 in a Marathi Hindu family in Bangalore Mysore State present day Karnataka 26 1 27 His mother was a homemaker d and his father Ramoji Rao Gaekwad was a police constable 1 His ancestors hailed from Mavadi Kadepathar Pune Maharashtra 29 30 He is the youngest of four siblings in a family consisting of two elder brothers Satyanarayana Rao and Nageshwara Rao and a sister Aswath Balubhai 31 26 After his father s retirement from work in 1956 the family moved to the suburb of Hanumantha Nagar in Bangalore and built a house there 26 He lost his mother at the age of nine 32 Rajinikanth had his primary education at the Gavipuram Government Kannada Model Primary School in Bangalore 33 As a child he was studious and mischievous with a great interest in cricket football and basketball During this time his brother enrolled him at the Ramakrishna Math a Hindu monastery set up by the Ramakrishna Mission In the math he was taught Vedas tradition and history which eventually instilled a sense of spirituality in him 34 In addition to spiritual lessons he also began acting in plays at the math His aspiration towards theatre grew at the math and was once given an opportunity to enact the role of Ekalavya s friend from the Hindu epic Mahabharata His performance in the play received praise from the Kannada poet D R Bendre 26 After sixth grade Rajinikanth was enrolled at the Acharya Pathasala Public School and studied there till completion of his pre university course 34 During his schooling at the Acharya Pathasala he spent a lot of time acting in plays Upon completion of his school education Rajinikanth performed several jobs including that of a coolie 35 before getting a job in the Bangalore Transport Service as a bus conductor 36 37 He continued to take part in plays after the Kannada playwright Topi Muniappa offered him a chance to act in one of his mythological plays He decided to take up an acting course in the newly formed Madras Film Institute after coming across an advertisement 38 Though his family was not fully supportive of his decision to join the institute 38 his friend and co worker Raj Bahadur motivated him to join the institute and financially supported him during this phase 39 40 During his stay at the institute he was noticed by the Tamil film director K Balachander 41 Balachander provided Rajinikanth with his stage name to avoid confusion with fellow actor Sivaji Ganesan having taken it from a character s name in his earlier film Major Chandrakanth 42 43 The director advised him to learn to speak Tamil a recommendation that Rajinikanth quickly followed 44 Though he can read the language he cannot write in it 45 Acting career1974 1977 Early career Rajinikanth claims that I am his school But I must admit that this wasn t the Rajinikanth I introduced He has evolved on his own merits and strengths I gave him an opportunity and unveiled him to the world He went and conquered it K Balachander about Rajinikanth 46 Rajinikanth began his film career with the Tamil film Apoorva Raagangal 1975 directed by K Balachander 47 He was cast in a small role as the ex husband of the female lead played by Srividya 47 48 49 The film explored relationships between people with wide age differences and was deemed controversial upon release 50 However it received critical acclaim and won three National Film Awards including the Award for the Best Tamil Feature at the 23rd National Film Awards in 1976 51 A review from The Hindu noted that Newcomer Rajinikanth is dignified and impressive 52 His next release was Puttanna Kanagal s Kannada anthology film Katha Sangama 1976 53 Rajinikanth appeared in the last segment of the film he played the role as a village ruffian who rapes a blind woman in the absence of her husband 54 Balachander cast him in a pivotal role in Anthuleni Katha 1976 the Telugu remake of his own Tamil film Aval Oru Thodar Kathai 1974 54 In Moondru Mudichu the first Tamil film to feature him in a prominent role he played a character that blithely row s away when his friend drowns accidentally in the lake only to fulfill his desire to marry the former s girlfriend 55 His style of flipping the cigarette in the film made him popular among the audience 56 In his final release of the year Baalu Jenu he was cast as the main antagonist who troubles the female lead 54 He played similar roles in Balachander s Avargal 1977 57 and Bharathiraja s 16 Vayadhinile 1977 54 58 The same year he made his first ever appearance as a lead actor in the Telugu film Chilakamma Cheppindi 1977 which earned him his only nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor Telugu 59 60 S P Muthuraman experimented Rajinikanth in a positive role in Bhuvana Oru Kelvi Kuri 1977 61 The success of the film brought the duo together for 24 more films till the 1990s 61 Rajinikanth played supporting and villainous roles in most of the films released during the year 55 In Gaayathri he was cast as a pornographer who secretly films his relationship with his wife without her knowledge and in Galate Samsara he played the role of a married man who develops an affair with a cabaret dancer 62 He had 15 of his films released during the year 63 1978 1989 Experimentation and breakthrough In 1978 Rajinikanth had 20 releases across Tamil Telugu and Kannada 64 65 His first film of the year was P Madhavan s Shankar Salim Simon in which he was among the three leads Following that he co starred alongside Vishnuvardhan in the Kannada film Kiladi Kittu He played the second lead in Annadammula Savaal which starred Krishna Rajinikanth reprised his role from the Kannada original He then played an important role in the supernatural thriller Aayiram Jenmangal In Maathu Tappada Maga he was the main antagonist Bairavi directed by M Bhaskar was the first Tamil film to cast Rajinikanth as a solo hero 66 67 It was for this film that he earned the sobriquet Superstar 67 S Thanu one of the film s distributors set up a 35 feet 11 m high cut out of Rajinikanth 68 His next appearance Ilamai Oonjal Aadukirathu a quadrangular love story written and directed by C V Sridhar saw him play the role of a man who sacrifices his love for his friend played by Kamal Haasan The film s success prompted Sridhar to remake the film in Telugu Vayasu Pilichindi which retained the original cast of the Tamil film citation needed His next film Vanakkatukuriya Kathaliye had an introductory song to mark his entry a trend that would soon catch on in with his later films 67 Mullum Malarum released during the same period received critical acclaim and earned him his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor Tamil nomination 69 The film marked the directional debut of Mahendran with a screenplay adapted from a novel of the same name published in Kalki 67 It won the Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Film and a Special Prize Best Actor for Rajinikanth at the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards 67 Following this he made a foray into Malayalam cinema with I V Sasi s fantasy film Allauddinum Albhutha Vilakkum which was based on a story from the Arabian Nights The same year he acted in Dharma Yuddam in which he played a mentally ill person avenging the death of his parents He then co starred with N T Rama Rao in Tiger Upon completion of Tiger Rajinikanth had acted in 50 films over a period of four years and in four languages Some other popular films released during this period are the youthful entertainer Ninaithale Inikkum the Tamil Kannada bilingual Priya the Telugu film Amma Evarikkaina Amma and the melodrama Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai Priya based on a detective novel by Sujatha had the distinction of being the first film of Rajinikanth to be shot mostly outside India mainly in Southeast Asia 67 Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai earned him his second nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor Tamil Raijinikanth who credited Hindi film star Amitabh Bachchan as his inspiration 70 began playing Amitabh Bachchan s roles in Tamil remakes of his films 71 This began with Shankar Salim Simon 1978 a remake of Amar Akbar Anthony 1977 followed by Naan Vazhavaippen 1979 a remake of Majboor 1974 72 He was subsequently cast in a series of roles modelled after Amitabh Bachchan in Tamil remakes of his films 71 Rajinikanth starred in eleven Tamil remakes of Amitabh Bachchan films 73 as well as a Telugu remake of Amar Akbar Anthony Ram Robert Rahim 1980 alongside Sridevi 72 The most successful of these were remakes of Salim Javed films such as Billa 1980 Thee 1981 and Mr Bharath 1986 73 During this phase of his career Rajinikanth abruptly chose to quit acting but was coaxed to return 74 with the Tamil film Billa 1980 a remake of the Bollywood blockbuster Don 1978 written by Salim Javed and starring Amitabh Bachchan Billa had Rajinikanth playing dual roles and eventually became his first ever commercial success His pairing with Sridevi continued in Johnny where he was once again cast in a double role earned him his third nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor Tamil He also starred in Murattu Kaalai which was a commercial success 61 The success of Billa was a turning point in Rajinikanth s career disproving detractors that claimed Rajnikanth was finished and which saw him accepted as a full fledged hero 74 The success of Billa established Rajinikanth as the top star of Tamil cinema overtaking Kamal Haasan 75 In 1981 he appeared in Garjanai which was shot simultaneously in Kannada and Malayalam making it his last film in those two languages up until 2023 In K Balachander s first home production Netrikan he played dual roles as a womanising father and a responsible son 61 His first full length comedy was Thillu Mullu directed by K Balachander He agreed to it solely due to the strong suggestion by his mentor that he should do non commercial roles to break the stereotyped action hero mould by which he was getting famous at the time Thillu Mullu earned him his fourth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor Tamil 76 1981 also saw the release of Thee a remake of the 1975 Bollywood blockbuster Deewaar also originally written by Salim Javed and starring Amitabh Bachchan in Thee Rajinikanth reprised the role of Bachchan in the original 77 In 1982 he starred in Pokkiri Raja Moondru Mugam Thanikattu Raja Puthukavithai and Enkeyo Ketta Kural Moondru Mugam which starred Rajinikanth playing three different roles for the first time earned him his fifth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor Tamil 78 By 1983 he was a popular actor across South Indian cinema including Telugu and Kannada films 79 In 1983 he starred in his first Bollywood film Andha Kanoon alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini The film went on to become one of the highest grossing films of that time 80 His 1984 film Naan Mahaan Alla was directed by Muturaman and produced by K Balachander He acted in his first cameo role in the film Anbulla Rajinikanth 81 He played a triple role in John Jani Janardhan His performance in Nallavanuku Nallavan earned him his first and only Filmfare Award for Best Actor Tamil 82 In his 100th film Sri Raghavendra 1985 he played the Hindu saint Raghavendra Swami 83 In the second half of the 1980s Rajinikanth acted in commercially successful films such as Naan Sigappu Manithan 1985 Padikkathavan 1985 Mr Bharath 1986 Velaikaran 1987 Manithan 1987 Guru Sishyan 1988 and Dharmathin Thalaivan 1988 with Velaikaran earning him his seventh nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor Tamil In 1988 he made his only American film appearance in Bloodstone directed by Dwight Little in which he played an English speaking Indian taxi driver 84 85 Rajinikanth finished the decade with films including Rajadhi Raja Siva Raja Chinna Roja and Mappillai while also starring in a few Bollywood productions Raja Chinna Roja was the first Indian film to feature live action and animation 86 87 1990 2001 Commercial stardom nbsp Rajinikanth with Kamal Haasan By the 1990s Rajinikanth established himself as a commercial entertainer Almost all the films released during this period were highly successful at the box office He began the decade with a blockbuster in Panakkaran 1990 which was a remake of Amitabh Bachchan s 1981 film Laawaris The film earned him his eighth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor Tamil His next two Tamil films the fantasy comedy Athisaya Piravi a remake of Chiranjeevi s 1988 film Yamudiki Mogudu which also released in 1990 and the family drama Dharmadorai 1991 did above average business at the box office His stint with Bollywood continued since the past decade as he went on to star in more Hindi films Hum released in 1991 saw him doing the second main lead with Amitabh Bachchan became an inspiration for Baashha 88 In 1991 he worked with Mani Ratnam in Thalapathi which was heavily inspired by the Mahabharata 89 90 in which he co starred with actor Mammooty the film dealt with the friendship between two unknown characters based on Karna and Duryodhana respectively 89 and was set in a more contemporary milieu and was both critically acclaimed and successful upon release 83 He received his ninth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor Tamil for the film He went on to appear in remakes of films from other languages mostly from Hindi and Telugu Annamalai which released in 1992 was yet another friendship centric film and was loosely based on the 1987 Bollywood film Khudgarz The film was the first to have a Super Star Title Graphic Card He received his tenth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor Tamil for the film Mannan directed by P Vasu a remake of Kannada actor Rajkumar s 1986 blockbuster Anuraga Aralithu also was released in 1992 and became a box office success Rajinikanth wrote his first screenplay for the film Valli 1993 in which he also made a special appearance He also starred in the film Yajaman in which he played the role of Vaanavaraayan a village chieftain His romantic comedy Veera 1994 was controversial for its climax but went on to become one of the highest grossing films in 1994 91 That year he earned his eleventh nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor Tamil for the action drama Uzhaippali He joined hands with Suresh Krishna for Baashha 1995 which emerged as an industry record 92 and is routinely touted by fans and critics alike as a major hit as the film elevated him from being just another very popular actor to nearly demigod status among the masses 93 He made a cameo in Peddarayudu for his friend Mohan Babu and also helped him in obtaining the remake rights The same year he acted in yet another gangster film Aatank Hi Aatank with Aamir Khan which was also his last Hindi film in a major role till date His film Muthu a remake of Mohanlal s blockbuster Malayalam film Thenmavin Kombathu was another commercial success directed by K S Ravikumar and produced by K Balachander and became the first Tamil film to be dubbed into Japanese as Mutu Odoru Maharaja 94 The film grossed a record US 1 6 million in Japan in 1998 and was responsible for creating a large Japanese fan base for the actor 95 Muthu s success in Japan led American news magazine Newsweek to comment in a 1999 article that Rajinikanth had supplanted Leonardo DiCaprio as Japan s trendiest heartthrob 96 During a visit to Japan in 2006 Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh acknowledged the success of Muthu in the country during a speech justifying the positive relationship between the two nations 97 He received his twelfth and thirteenth nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor Tamil for his performances in Baashha and Muthu He also entered Bengali cinema through Bhagya Debata which was released at the end of 1995 1997 s Arunachalam another commercial success earned him his fourteenth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor Tamil Rajinikanth released his last film of the millennium with Padayappa 1999 which went on to become a blockbuster success and earned him his fifteenth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor Tamil It starred Ramya Krishnan and Soundarya the former critically acclaimed for her performance It was also the last prominent role for veteran Tamil actor Sivaji Ganesan 2002 2010 Struggles resurgence and acclaim After a brief pause Rajinikanth starred in Baba in 2002 for which he had also written the screenplay 98 Released with much fanfare and hype at the time the film featured a story revolving around the reforming of a gangster later revealed to be the reincarnation of the Hindu saint Mahavatar Babaji and fights against political corruption 98 It fell short of market expectations and the high bids reportedly translated to heavy losses for the distributors Rajinikanth himself repaid the losses incurred by the distributors 99 100 The film was received with comments such as the bloom was off the rose and that the gold does not glitter any more 101 Pattali Makkal Katchi PMK leader S Ramadoss condemned him for smoking and posing with beedis in the film He was criticised for spoiling the Tamil youth by glorifying smoking and drinking PMK volunteers attacked the theatres which screened the film and usurped film rolls and burned them 102 Two years later Rajinikanth signed up for P Vasu s Chandramukhi 2005 a remake of the Malayalam film Manichitrathazhu Upon release the film was highly successful at the box office and in 2007 it set the record of being the longest running Tamil film 103 Chandramukhi was also dubbed in Turkish and in German as Der Geisterjager and released in the respective nations 104 Following Chandramukhi s release it was reported that AVM Productions was set to produce a film directed by Shankar starring Rajinikanth the largest collaboration yet for a Tamil film The film was titled Sivaji and was released in the summer of 2007 following two years of filming and production It became the first Tamil film to be charted as one of the top ten best films of the United Kingdom and South Africa box offices upon release 105 106 Rajinikanth received a salary of 260 million equivalent to 780 million or US 9 8 million in 2023 for his role in the film highest in his film career at that time 107 108 109 He received his sixteenth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor Tamil for his performance in the film During the production of Sivaji Soundarya Rajinikanth announced her intention of producing a computer generated imagery film starring an animated version of her father titled Sultan The Warrior The film was set for release in 2008 110 111 however it entered development hell and its development status would become unknown over the next few years 112 nbsp Rajinikanth at the Enthiran 2010 soundtrack release event in MumbaiHe worked with P Vasu again for Kuselan a remake of the Malayalam film Kadha Parayumbol which was made simultaneously in Telugu as Kathanayakudu in which Rajinikanth played an extended cameo role as Ashok Kumar a film star in the Indian cinema and as a best friend to the film s protagonist According to Rajinikanth the film somewhat narrated his early life 113 The film however performed poorly at box offices and led to many distributors incurring major losses 114 Rajinikanth also stated that he would work with Pyramid Saimira again to compensate for Kuselan 115 116 Is there anything left to be said about a man who at 61 still manages to star in one of the most successful films of the year not just in the south but across India Superstar Rajni once again proved that he is the actor with the Midas touch with the sci fi flick Endhiran where he played an ambitious scientist a naive robot and an evil android bent on destroying the world He did it with such aplomb that he s been the talk of the town for months He might do one film in two years but when he does he pulls out all the stops Rediff com on Rajinikanth s performance in Enthiran 2010 117 Rajinikanth worked again with Shankar for the science fiction film Enthiran 118 The film was released worldwide in 2010 as the most expensive Indian film ever made ultimately becoming the second highest grossing film in India of its time 119 120 121 Rajinikanth was paid a remuneration of 450 million equivalent to 1 0 billion or US 13 million in 2023 for the film 122 He received his seventeenth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor Tamil for his performance in the film The film s success lead to the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad to use the film as a case study to analyse the business of cinema and its success story in a post graduate elective management course called Contemporary Film Industry A Business Perspective The course would also study Muthu 123 2011 Hospitalisation and return In January 2011 Rajinikanth was slated to appear in Rana a period film to be produced by Soundarya Rajinikanth and directed by K S Ravikumar who would work with the actor for a third time 78 During the principal photography of the film on 29 April 2011 he suffered a mild foodborne illness on the sets which led to vomiting dehydration and exhaustion 124 He was treated at St Isabel s Hospital for a day before being discharged 125 Five days later he was rushed to the same hospital again after suffering from breathlessness and fever 126 He was diagnosed with bronchitis and was kept at the hospital for a week while also spending a few days in an intensive care unit 127 Several conflicting reports of discharge dates arose as well as claims of Rajinikanth s health deteriorating 128 Two days after his last discharge Rajinikanth was admitted to the Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute on 16 May 2011 for recurring respiratory and gastrointestinal problems 129 The hospital maintained that Rajinikanth was in stable condition and showed positive response to treatment 128 It was widely reported that he required a kidney transplantation which was later denied by Dhanush 130 On 21 May 2011 Aishwarya Rajinikanth released a photo of her and Rajinikanth in his hospital ward both posing with a thumbs up responding to fans negative reaction to news reports 131 The hospital restricted unauthorised visitors 132 Rajinikanth s brother Sathyanarayana Rao Gaekwad reported that the cause of the sudden illness was due to stress from rapid weight loss and changes in diet as well as withdrawal of alcohol consumption and smoking cessation 133 After addressing fans in a 4 minute digitally recorded voice message to the media Rajinikanth under the advice of Amitabh Bachchan travelled from Chennai to Singapore with his family on 21 May 2011 where he was to undergo further treatment for nephropathy at Mount Elizabeth Hospital 134 135 After spending over two weeks at the hospital he was finally discharged on 15 June 2011 and continued to recuperate in Singapore before returning to Chennai on 13 July 2011 136 137 2011 present Commercial expansion and continued success Despite several failed attempts to restart Rana upon his return Rajinikanth reprised his Enthiran character Chitti in the Bollywood science fiction film Ra One 2011 in a guest appearance alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor 138 In November 2011 it was decided that Rana would be shelved in favour of a new project titled Kochadaiiyaan 139 The film became a huge disaster at the box office 140 The motion capture film which is the first of its kind in India was released in 2014 to positive reviews 141 Kochadaiiyaan and the 3D release of Sivaji in 2012 142 made Rajinikanth the first Indian actor to have appeared in four different forms of world cinema black and white colour 3D and motion capture 143 Following the completion of Kochadaiiyaan Rajinikanth began work in Ravikumar s next directorial venture titled Lingaa 144 145 The film was released on 12 December 2014 coinciding with his birthday 146 and received mixed reviews from critics 147 After a two year absence from big screen Rajinikanth s next film was director Pa Ranjith s crime drama Kabali produced by S Thanu The film was released in July 2016 148 The film became the highest grossing Tamil film of the year grossing over 300 crore equivalent to 353 crore or US 44 million in 2023 and became the fifth highest grossing Tamil film of all time before being surpassed by his another film 2 0 n 1 Also at the Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards the film was nominated at five categories winning all of them 157 and also won five awards at the Edison Awards and two nominations at the 6th South Indian International Movie Awards 158 He also received his eighteenth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor Tamil for his performance in the film In August 2016 it was announced that Rajinikanth and director Ranjith would work together again for a film with Dhanush as producer titled Kaala in which Rajinikanth plays a Dharavi dwelling gangster who fights against corporate takeover of the slum 159 The film was officially released on 7 June 2018 and received positive reviews from critics 160 In 2018 he also appeared in S Shankar s 2 0 reprising the roles of Dr Vaseegaran and Chitti alongside Akshay Kumar and Amy Jackson 17 The film was released on 29 November 2018 and was commercially successful at the box office The film earned over 117 34 crore US 15 million worldwide on its first day which was the second highest ever for an Indian film The film crossed 520 crore equivalent to 696 crore or US 87 million in 2023 in its opening weekend to be the highest grossing film worldwide for that week The film also grossed over 655 81 crore US 82 million 800 crore US 100 million at the box office became the highest grossing Tamil film of the year and second highest grossing Tamil film of all time 161 2 0 is the fourth highest grossing film in India and is the seventh highest grossing Indian film worldwide 162 163 In 2019 Rajinikanth starred in Karthik Subbaraj s Petta in which his performance received praise for his return to his vintage stereotypical style of acting and grossed over 250 crore US 31 million becoming the second highest grossing Tamil film of 2019 164 The combined gross earnings of Kaala 2 0 and Petta by the end of January 2019 was determined to be over 1000 crore according to trade analysts 165 Rajinikanth worked with AR Murugadoss in the film Darbar alongside Nayanthara which released in 2020 He played the role of a police officer after 27 years since his last film as a police officer was the Tamil film Pandian Despite the film receiving mixed reviews the film grossed 250 crore US 31 million crore at the box office 166 167 making it one of Rajinikanth s highest grossing films and the highest grossing Tamil films of 2020 168 His 168th film of Rajinikanth was with director Siva the film titled Annaatthe alongside Nayanthara and Keerthy Suresh and where he played role of a protective brother The film was released on 4 November 2021 169 The film became a commercial success at the box office by grossing around 240 crore equivalent to 269 crore or US 34 million in 2023 beating the collections made by other Tamil films like Master and Maanaadu 170 171 172 After a two year absence from big screen his 169th film is Jailer which was directed by Nelson Dilipkumar He played a retired jailer in the film and it was released on 10 August 2023 173 174 175 The film received predominantly positive reviews upon its release and achieved tremendous commercial success grossing over 600 crores worldwide 176 Rajinikanth then appeared in an extended cameo appearance in his daughter Aishwarya Rajinikanth s directorial comeback Lal Salaam It was released on 9 February 2024 It also features Vishnu Vishal and Vikranth in prominent lead roles 177 Upcoming projectsHis 170th film as the lead actor 178 Vettaiyan is set to be produced by Subaskaran Allirajah of Lyca Productions and directed by T J Gnanavel of Jai Bhim 2021 fame he will be playing a police officer Amitabh Bachchan Fahadh Faasil Rana Daggubati Manju Warrier Ritika Singh and Dushara Vijayan have been roped in as part of the cast and Anirudh Ravichander will be composing the music for the film The film began shooting on 4 October 2023 179 It is also scheduled to be released in theatres in the second half of 2024 180 Sun Pictures officially announced his 171st film with Lokesh Kanagaraj as the director confirming the rumors of his collaboration with Rajinikanth which is tentatively titled Thalaivar 171 on 11 September 2023 The music will be composed by Anirudh Ravichander In a recent interview Lokesh Kanagaraj disclosed that the principal photography of the film is scheduled to begin either in the last week of March 2024 or in early April 2024 It will reportedly be a standalone film and not a part of the Lokesh Cinematic Universe as confirmed by Kanagaraj On 22 April 2024 the title of the project was revealed as Coolie with the teaser release 181 Political career nbsp Rajinikanth left receiving the 2008 NDTV Entertainer of the Year Award from prime minister Manmohan Singh It was speculated that Rajinikanth would enter politics in 1995 He decided against it and declared that if he entered politics now it would result in a lot of confusion and that he would not be able to serve the people and fulfil their expectations However he added that if Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa s party returns to power in the 1996 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election even God cannot save the people of the State 182 Rajinikanth went on to wholeheartedly supported the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam DMK and Tamil Maanila Congress alliance and asked the people of Tamil Nadu and his fans to vote for that alliance This alliance had a complete victory in the elections He also supported the same alliance in the 1996 and 1998 Indian general elections 183 Later in 2004 Rajinikanth said he would personally vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP but would not extend his support to any front during the upcoming Indian general election 184 The party however failed to win any seats in Tamil Nadu in the Lok Sabha 185 Rajinikanth canceled his visit to Sri Lanka in March 2017 at the urging of Tamil Nadu politicians Leaders of the BJP criticized this choice 186 In June 2017 BJP leader Subramanian Swamy alleged that Rajinikanth was illiterate and unfit for politics He also accused Rajinikanth of financial fraud claiming that he has strong proof of financial irregularities by Rajinikanth that will bring down Rajinikanth s political aspirations 187 188 However several political analysts state Rajinikanth has missed his chance and unlike 1996 when he was at his peak it will be very difficult for him to make a significant impact in 2019 189 190 191 Rajinikanth announced entry into politics on 31 December 2017 and confirmed his intention to contest in the 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elections in all 234 constituencies He stated that his party would resign if it was unable to fulfill its electoral promises within three years of coming into power 192 Rajinikanth dissolved his organisation Rajini Makkal Mandram RMM on 12 July 2021 and also said that he has no plans to enter politics in the future 193 Public image nbsp Rajinikanth at premiere of Kochadaiiyaan 2014 Rajinikanth is widely regarded as one of the most popular actors in the history of Indian cinema His popularity has been attributed to his distinctively delivered dialogue and eccentricities showcased in his movies alongside his political pronouncements and charitable work 194 Many also cite reasons for Rajinikanth s popularity as coming from his larger than life super hero appearance in many films supported by gravity defying stunts and charismatic expressions all while attempting to maintain modesty in real life 195 Almost every film of Rajinikanth has punchlines delivered by him in a distinctive style and these punchlines often have a message or even warn the film s antagonists 196 197 Rajinikanth is one of the highest grossing actors in Tamil cinema history After opening his first official Twitter account in 2014 Rajinikanth received over 210 000 followers within 24 hours which according to The Economic Times was deemed by social media research firms as the fastest rate of followers for any Indian celebrity as well as among the top 10 in the world 198 In 2015 a film about his fandom For the Love of a Man premiered at the 71st Venice International Film Festival 199 Comments on social issues nbsp Rajinikanth with Vijay at a Kaveri water sharing protest by the Nadigar Sangam in 2018 In 2002 Rajinikanth undertook a day long fast to protest the Government of Karnataka s decision to not release Kaveri River water into Tamil Nadu and announced that he would contribute 10 million US 130 000 toward a plan to interlink Indian rivers 200 He met with Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and many experts to canvass support for the project 201 His hunger strike was independent of the Nadigar Sangam who organised their own solidarity protest for the same cause Film director Bharathi Raja lashed out against Rajinikanth alleging that he is dividing the film industry and saying that he was a traitor who had a tacit understanding with the Karnataka government 202 In 2008 Rajinikanth took part in a hunger strike organised by the Nadigar Sangam against Karnataka s stance on the Hogenakkal Falls water dispute during which he gave a speech against politicians in Karnataka 203 It led to the state announcing a ban on him and his film Kuselan 2008 The ban was lifted after Rajinikanth appeared on TV9 Kannada and issued an apology for his speech He later thanked the Government of Karnataka for lifting the ban and allowing the film s release in the state The apology and subsequent gratitude towards Karnataka led to strong reactions from Nadigar Sangam members R Sarathkumar Sathyaraj and Radha Ravi who called the apology a disgrace to Tamils and opined that his speech never provoked the sentiments of the Kannada people 204 Rajinikanth s support toward fellow actor Ajith Kumar who in 2010 condemned the forceful inclusion of Tamil cinema personae in political affairs broke into a controversy 205 In 2020 Rajinikanth quoted a 2017 article from Outlook which reported that Dravidar Kazhagam founder Periyar E V Ramasamy garlanded the idols of Hindu deities Rama and Sita with footwear at an atheist rally in 1971 206 207 His remarks were criticized by supporters of Periyar 208 207 In response to the backlash Rajinikanth stated I did not speak on something that didn t happen I ve only spoken on what was reported It was reported in Outlook also Sorry I will not apologise 209 210 A report on Thoothukudi police firing criticized Rajnikanth s comment on the incident that the whole anti Sterlite protest was engineered by anti social elements 211 Personal lifeRelationships While he was working as a bus conductor in Bangalore Rajinikanth met a medical student named Nirmala and started a relationship After seeing him perform in a stage play she encouraged him to pursue an acting career and sent an application to the Adyar Film Institute on his behalf and unbeknownst to him Although he took up the offer and proceeded with his acting career Rajinikanth has since lost contact with her 212 Family Rajinikanth married Latha Rangachari a student of Ethiraj College for Women who interviewed him for her college magazine 213 214 The marriage took place on 26 February 1981 in Tirupati Andhra Pradesh 215 The couple has two daughters Aishwarya and Soundarya He has four grandchildren through his daughters 216 217 Views Rajinikanth is a practicing Hindu and is a strong believer of spirituality 218 He is also a practitioner of yoga and meditation Rajinikanth has religiously visited major Hindu temples prior to the release of each of his films for instance he visited the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple before the release of Sivaji in 2007 and visited Sathya Sai Baba at Prasanthi Nilayam in Andhra Pradesh before the release of Kuselan the following year 219 He also occasionally leaves for pilgrimage to the Himalayas 220 He has often referred to Ramakrishna Paramahamsa 221 Swami Satchidananda Ragavendra Swami 222 Mahavatar Babaji 223 and Ramana Maharshi 221 as his favourite spiritual leaders Philanthropy According to Naman Ramachandran the author of Rajinikanth The Definitive Biography most of Rajinikanth s philanthropic activities went unpublicised because he chose to keep them undisclosed In the 1980s when superstitious beliefs in Tamil Nadu created a stigma towards eye donation Rajinikanth took the case of campaigning in support of corneal transplantation via television and public speeches 224 In 2011 Rajinikanth announced his support for the anti corruption movement led by Anna Hazare and offered his commercial wedding venue the Raghavendra Kalyana Mandapam in Chennai free of cost for the India Against Corruption members to hold their fast 225 226 He also provided lodging in the venue for sanitary workers hired to clean up after the 2015 South India floods 227 Rajinikanth s fan associations regularly organise blood donation and eye donation camps and distribute food during his birthday 228 Money lending allegation Rajinikanth declared 6 11 million equivalent to 22 million or US 280 000 in 2023 17 million equivalent to 60 million or US 750 000 in 2023 and 3 39 million equivalent to 12 million or US 140 000 in 2023 as earnings for the years 2002 2003 2003 2004 and 2004 2005 respectively However the Income Tax Department observed that he had claimed a considerable sum of professional expenses and thus carried out a survey in 2005 at his residence at Poes Garden During the survey the IT Department found out that he had accounted for a lost of costs as his professional costs and it was also discovered that not even one tenth of the residential property was allocated to professional purposes 229 Moreover when Rajinikanth was questioned by the I T department if he s in the money lending business he initially denied it Later though he admitted to the IT Department that he was indeed a money lender and that he had loaned money as a source of profit at an interest rate of 18 percent Later for all three years in dispute Rajinikanth was forced to submit revised reports confessing he had earned more than what was reported in the initial report on 14 February 2005 230 But the I T department penalized him 6 6 million equivalent to 7 8 million or US 97 000 in 2023 since he filed revised returns only after they surveyed him 231 232 This was challenged by Rajinikanth and his lawyers and in January 2020 the I T department wrote off the fine due to its recent decision to withdraw from appeals in cases below 10 million equivalent to 12 million or US 150 000 in 2023 233 The news that Rajinikanth told the Income Tax department that he was lending money at an 18 per cent interest rate has earned outrage and criticism for his high interest rate loans which is a big problem in Tamil Nadu 231 FilmographyMain article Rajinikanth filmography Rajinikanth appeared in over 169 films predominantly in Tamil cinema 234 He began his film career by playing antagonistic and supporting roles before graduating to a lead actor 235 He has also worked in other Indian film industries such as Hindi Telugu Kannada Malayalam and Bengali Awards honours and recognitionMain article List of awards and nominations received by Rajinikanth nbsp President Pranab Mukherjee presenting the Padma Vibhushan to Rajinikanth at Rashtrapati Bhavan New Delhi on 12 April 2016 Rajinikanth has received numerous awards for many of his films mostly in Tamil He received his first and only Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actor in 1984 for Nallavanuku Nallavan 82 Later he received Filmfare Award nominations for his performances in Sivaji 2007 and Enthiran 2010 As of 2014 Rajinikanth has received six Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for his performances in various films 236 He also received numerous awards from Cinema Express and Filmfans Association for his on screen performances and off screen contributions in writing and producing 236 237 Rajinikanth received the Kalaimamani award in 1984 and the M G R Award in 1989 both from the Government of Tamil Nadu In 1995 the South Indian Film Artistes Association presented him with the Kalaichelvam Award He was honoured with the Padma Bhushan 2000 and the Padma Vibhushan 2016 by the Government of India 8 9 He was selected as the Indian Entertainer of the Year for 2007 by NDTV competing against the likes of Shahrukh Khan 238 The Government of Maharashtra honoured him with the Raj Kapoor Award the same year He received the Chevalier Sivaji Ganesan Award for Excellence in Indian Cinema at the 4th Vijay Awards 239 Rajinikanth was also named one of the most influential persons in South Asia by Asiaweek 23 24 nbsp Vice President Venkaiah Naidu presenting the Dadasaheb Phalke Award to Rajinikanth at the 67th National Film Awards New Delhi on 25 October 2021 He was named by Forbes India as the most influential Indian of the year 2010 25 In 2011 he was awarded the Entertainer of the Decade Award by NDTV for the year 2010 by the then Indian Minister for Home Affairs P Chidambaram 240 In December 2013 he was honoured by NDTV as one among the 25 Greatest Global Living Legends 241 In 2014 he was presented with the Indian Film Personality of the Year Award at the 45th IFFI 242 243 Rajinikanth received Dadasaheb Phalke Award at the 67th National Film Awards presentation ceremony at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi Monday 25 October 2021 See alsoRajinikanth factsNotes There are numerous variant spellings of the name These include Gaikwad Gaykwad Gaikawad and Gaykawad There are numerous variant spellings of the name These include Rajanikant Rajni Kanth Rajanikanth and Rajanikant 4 The film grossed 2 89 billion equivalent to 4 2 billion or US 52 million in 2023 worldwide surpassing Sivaji s collection of 1 55 billion equivalent to 2 2 billion or US 28 million in 2023 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India Retrieved 29 July 2022 Top All Time India Grossers All Formats 2 0 Second Box Office India Retrieved 25 December 2019 2 0 All India Update Crosses 400 Crore NETT Box Office India Retrieved 25 December 2019 Rs 1000 crore That s how much Rajinikanth s three films grossed at the box office in a span of 7 months timesnownews 2 February 2019 Retrieved 4 November 2019 Rs 1000 crore That s how much Rajinikanth s three films grossed at the worldwide box office in a span of 7 months Entertainment News 2 February 2019 Archived from the original on 2 February 2019 Retrieved 3 February 2019 Darbar box office Film ends up as a colossal flop distributors plan to approach Rajinikanth Hindustan Times 31 January 2020 Retrieved 28 August 2020 Rajinikanth s Darbar is AR Murugadoss failure The Indian Express 14 January 2020 Retrieved 28 August 2020 Darbar enters Rs 200 crore club fifth Rajinikanth film to achieve feat Hindustan Times 21 January 2020 Retrieved 31 December 2020 Rajinikanth s Annaatthe to hit screens on November 4 The Times of India Archived from the original on 26 January 2021 Retrieved 25 January 2021 Rajinikanth Pays Surprise Visit to Annaatthe Director Siruthai Siva Carries This Gift News18 10 December 2021 Retrieved 10 December 2021 Annaatthe Box Office Rajinikanth Starrer Becomes One Of The Biggest Blockbuster of The Year Enters 200 Crore Club www india com 15 November 2021 Retrieved 3 January 2022 K Janani 14 November 2021 Annaatthe box office collection Day 10 Rajinikanth film is still going strong India Today Archived from the original on 14 November 2021 Retrieved 14 November 2021 Rajinikanth teams up with Nelson for Thalaivar 169 The Hindu 10 February 2022 Archived from the original on 10 February 2022 Retrieved 10 February 2022 Nelson Rajinikanth s Thalaivar 169 titled Jailer Cinema Express 17 June 2022 Archived from the original on 19 June 2022 Retrieved 8 July 2022 Thalaivar169 by Nelson Dilipkumar titled Jailer DT Next 17 June 2022 Archived from the original on 17 June 2022 Retrieved 17 June 2022 Jailer box office collection grossed over Rs 600 crore India Today Aishwaryaa Rajinikanth s Lal Salaam gets a release date Times of India 1 October 2023 https timesofindia indiatimes com entertainment tamil movies news thalaivar 170 titled lal salaam rajinikanth takes a cameo role while vishnu vishal and vikranth play leads in aishwarya rajinikanths directorial amp articleshow 95315078 cms Thalaivar 170 pre production work has reached the final stage Times of India 22 September 2023 Bureau The Hindu 2 March 2023 Rajinikanth to team up with Jai Bhim TJ Gnanavel for Thalaivar 170 The Hindu ISSN 0971 751X Retrieved 12 December 2023 Thalaivar 171 is titled Coolie Rajinikanth is back with more power in Lokesh Kanagaraj s next watch teaser The Indian Express 22 April 2024 Retrieved 22 April 2024 Rajnikant not to enter politics now The Hindu 28 September 1995 p 1 Archived from the original on 22 December 1996 Retrieved 14 September 2023 Tamil Cinema 1998 Year Highlights Part 2 Dinakaran 21 January 1998 Archived from the original on 20 June 2008 Retrieved 23 September 2009 Rajnikanth is a firm believer in Hindutva Rediff 28 April 2004 Archived from the original on 30 May 2013 Retrieved 12 June 2013 AIADMK entering Parliament after five years The Times of India 17 May 2009 Archived from the original on 25 October 2012 Retrieved 8 August 2012 Swamy and other BJP leaders criticise Rajinikanth News 25 March 2017 Swamy vs Superstar Rajini has committed financial fraud should not enter politics 24 June 2017 Subramanian Swamy s outbursts on Rajinikanth follows speculations 25 June 2017 Kavitha Muralidharan 16 May 2017 Why Rajinikanth hasn t taken the plunge It is not 1996 anymore The Indian Express Archived from the original on 9 July 2018 Retrieved 24 November 2019 Viju Cherian 12 December 2016 The political opportunity for Rajinikanth has come and gone Hindustan Times Archived from the original on 25 July 2019 Retrieved 24 November 2019 ETB Sivapriyan 17 February 2019 Rajini no political superstar may have missed his day Deccan Herald Archived from the original on 11 October 2020 Retrieved 24 November 2019 Rajnimanth joins politics and announced a new party NDTV 31 December 2017 Archived from the original on 31 December 2017 Retrieved 1 January 2018 D Govardan 12 July 2021 Rajinikanth decides to dissolve Rajini Makkal Mandram The Times of India Retrieved 13 July 2021 Who rules South Cinema Rajinikanth or Kamal Haasan Breakingnewsonline net 28 September 2010 Archived from the original on 23 July 2011 Retrieved 20 April 2011 Hendrix Grady 27 September 2010 Superstar Rajinikanth The biggest movie star you ve probably never heard of By Grady Hendrix Slate Magazine Slate com Archived from the original on 15 March 2011 Retrieved 20 April 2011 Rajini s Punch dialogues thesouthreports com Archived from the original on 25 March 2011 Retrieved 12 April 2011 It doesn t get bigger than Rajinikanth The Times of India India 18 April 2008 Archived from the original on 17 August 2011 Retrieved 12 April 2011 Varuni Khosla 7 May 2014 Superstar Rajinikanth proves his might again notches over 2 4 lakh followers on Twitter debut The Economic Times Archived from the original on 10 May 2014 Retrieved 10 June 2014 Venice Review For the Love of a Man Portrays the Biggest Movie Star You ve Never Heard Of Indiewire 5 September 2015 Archived from the original on 4 February 2016 Retrieved 5 February 2016 Rediff India News Rajinikanth fasts for Kaveri waters Rediff com 13 October 2002 Archived from the original on 30 April 2009 Retrieved 23 September 2009 Rediff India News Rajinikanth to meet Indian PM Rediff 14 October 2002 Archived from the original on 30 April 2009 Retrieved 23 September 2009 Rally exposes politicised film industry 12 October 2002 Archived from the original on 2 November 2007 Retrieved 5 April 2007 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint unfit URL link Rajnikanth blasts Karnataka over water project Thaindian News Thaindian com Archived from the original on 4 May 2009 Retrieved 23 September 2009 Rajini earns the wrath of Tamil cinema Behindwoods Archived from the original on 10 April 2010 Retrieved 9 September 2010 Karunanidhi against bringing politics into film world The Hindu Chennai India 7 February 2010 Archived from the original on 16 June 2010 Retrieved 18 October 2010 Venkateswaran Vikram 23 January 2020 Rajinikanth Takes on Periyar Foot in Mouth or Political Debut TheQuint Archived from the original on 24 January 2020 Retrieved 30 August 2020 a b Rajinikanth Accused of Promoting Enmity Warned With Protests After Slipper Comment on Periyar News18 17 January 2020 Archived from the original on 18 January 2020 Retrieved 30 August 2020 Didn t say anything out of imagination won t apologise Rajinikanth on controversy around remarks against Periyar Hindustan Times 21 January 2020 Archived from the original on 15 February 2020 Retrieved 30 August 2020 I will not apologise for remarks on Periyar incident Rajinikanth www thenewsminute com 21 January 2020 Archived from the original on 21 January 2020 Retrieved 30 August 2020 Rajinikanth refuses to apologise for Periyar remark think and speak urges Stalin The Indian Express 21 January 2020 Retrieved 4 September 2022 Report on Thoothukudi police firing slams Rajinikanth for saying anti social elements had intruded India Today Retrieved 1 September 2023 When Rajinikanth spoke about his first love and what she did to make him a star The Week Archived from the original on 23 October 2019 Retrieved 3 December 2019 Ramachandran 2012 chpt The 1980s At 62 Rajinikanth on his marriage Kamal and Sivaji First Post 12 December 2012 Archived from the original on 16 March 2014 Retrieved 5 February 2014 Rajini s personal life weeksupdate com Archived from the original on 15 July 2011 Retrieved 28 March 2011 Dhanush s son named Linga Tamil Movie News IndiaGlitz Archived from the 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on 23 October 2012 Retrieved 15 June 2011 Manoj Thulasi 23 October 2011 Rajnikanth in Eye Donation Campaign Television production YouTube Retrieved 10 June 2014 dead YouTube link Actor Rajinikanth supports Anna Hazare The Times of India 23 August 2011 Archived from the original on 25 October 2012 Retrieved 8 August 2012 Rajinikanth lends wedding hall for anti corruption fast Team Anna Daily News and Analysis 26 December 2011 Archived from the original on 2 November 2012 Retrieved 24 February 2013 Rajinikanth provides shelter to conservancy workers The Hindu 24 March 2016 Retrieved 5 March 2021 Rajinikanth has a quiet birthday 12 December 2013 Archived from the original on 8 May 2014 Retrieved 12 December 2013 S Mohamed Imranullah 29 January 2020 I T Dept withdraws three cases against actor Rajinikanth The Hindu ISSN 0971 751X Archived from the original on 1 March 2020 Retrieved 11 July 2020 S Mohamed Imranullah 30 January 2020 Rajinikanth told Income Tax Department he was into money lending The Hindu ISSN 0971 751X Archived from the original on 28 February 2020 Retrieved 11 July 2020 a b Shekar Anjana 30 January 2020 Why Rajinikanth became a money lender in 2004 Experts take a guess The News Minute Archived from the original on 11 July 2020 Retrieved 11 July 2020 Lobo Shalini 29 January 2020 I T dept withdraws tax appeal against actor Rajinikanth India Today Archived from the original on 11 July 2020 Retrieved 11 July 2020 I T Dept withdraws appeal against Rajinikanth over penalty businessline 28 January 2020 Archived from the original on 12 July 2020 Retrieved 11 July 2020 Menon Sadanand 18 January 2013 Power of the Dark Sun India Today Archived from the original on 7 January 2017 Retrieved 19 July 2016 Kesavan N 14 April 2016 Villains with heroic pasts The Hindu Archived from the original on 7 January 2017 Retrieved 26 May 2016 a b Ramachandran 2012 chpt Awards Jha Lata 1 April 2021 Tamil actor Rajini gets Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2020 mint Indian Entertainer of the year itimes com Archived from the original on 7 October 2011 Retrieved 28 March 2011 Air supply The Hindu 18 June 2010 Archived from the original on 15 October 2013 Retrieved 24 February 2013 Rajinikanth is the Entertainer of the decade Sify 31 May 2010 Archived from the original on 19 February 2011 Retrieved 9 September 2010 Without Tamil people s love and affection I wouldn t be here Rajini Behindwoods 15 December 2013 Archived from the original on 16 December 2013 Retrieved 16 December 2013 Rajinikanth conferred Centenary Award at IFFI The Hindu 20 November 2014 Archived from the original on 28 November 2014 Retrieved 20 November 2014 IFFI 2014 Stalwarts Amitabh Bachchan Rajinikanth in opening act Daily News and Analysis 20 November 2014 Archived from the original on 22 November 2014 Retrieved 20 November 2014 BibliographyRamachandran Naman 2012 Rajinikanth The Definitive Biography Penguin Books Limited p 244 ISBN 978 81 8475 796 5 Sreekanth Gayathri 2008 The Name is Rajinikanth Om Books International ISBN 978 81 291 1355 9 Archived from the original on 27 July 2020 Retrieved 24 September 2016 Ramachandran Naman 2012 Rajinikanth 12 12 12 A Birthday Special GGKEY A78L0XB1B0X Archived from the original on 8 January 2017 Retrieved 24 September 2016 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a work ignored help Further readingRao A N Prahlada 2013 Nanna Daari Vibhinna Daari Rajanikanth Kannada Bangalore Karnataka Nava Bharat Publication ISBN 978 1 85286 770 6 OL 25437576M Krishnamoorthy Raja 2012 Rajini s Punchtantra Business and Life Management the Rajinikanth Way Rupa amp Co p 124 ISBN 9788129119995 Archived from the original on 27 July 2020 Retrieved 24 September 2016 Ramakrishnan Ram N 2012 Grand Brand Rajini Brand Management the Rajinikanth Way Rupa Publications India p 149 ISBN 9788129120595 Archived from the original on 11 October 2020 Retrieved 24 September 2016 External links nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rajinikanth category nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to Rajinikanth Rajinikanth on Twitter Rajinikanth at IMDb Rajinikanth at Bollywood Hungama Portals nbsp Biography nbsp India nbsp Bollywood nbsp Film nbsp 1950s Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Rajinikanth amp oldid 1220306333, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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