The Legend Of Rajini

For 41 years, he has kept audiences and producers happy. And, surprisingly, it is the superstar’s humility and sense of being grounded that best explain his unmatched phenomenon.

- N Madhavan

The first ever shot that Rajinikanth gave as an actor involved throwing open a gate in what was to become his inimitable style. It was for the climax of the 1975 superhit Tamil film Apoorva Raagangal (Rare Melodies) directed by the late K Balachander. “Little did we realise then that he had just opened the gates into the hearts of the Tamil people,” says director SP Muthuraman, who went on to direct the actor in 25 films. Balachander, who gave Shivaji Rao Gaekwad—a Maharashtrian born and brought up in Bengaluru—the break he had been desperately looking for in the Tamil film industry, and was the one who rechristened him Rajinikanth, had an inkling about his rise as an actor from the start. “Wait and watch,” the director had told his assistant after Shivaji gave an audition for the role. “This boy has fire in his eyes. He will be a phenomenon some day.”

Balachander’s words were prophetic. Four decades later, Rajinikanth, 66, is a one-man industry. He has acted in over 160 films and is among the highest paid actors in Asia. Such is his stardom that he can effortlessly carry off the huge budgets of his films—his 2010 film Enthiran (Robot), with its budget of Rs 132 crore, was India’s costliest movie when made, and 2.0,