50 YEARS OF RAJINIKANTH: THE FILMMAKERS WHO MADE THE STAR

With Rajinikanth wrapping up five decades of being in front of the camera, we look at the directors whose contributions proved pivotal for the actor to not only stay relevant, but thrive as one of Asia's biggest stars

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Recently, an image of Rajinikanth with a bunch of his recent directors went viral. Clicked on the sets of the actor's upcoming film, Jailer 2, it had the film's director Nelson along with Karthik Subbaraj (Petta) and Lokesh Kanagaraj (whose film with Rajini, Coolie, will be the actor's next release). What is interesting to note is that none of the three directors were even born when Rajini made his debut in 1975, with K. Balachander's Apoorva Raagangal. 50 years later, on the same release date as the yesteryear film, Rajini's Coolie will hit theatres.

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The transition from working with established industry legends to fresh blood has been a tried and tested process for Rajini. Just like a film, the making of a star is also not a one-person job. Over the years, Rajini has teamed with a variety of filmmakers with varying levels of experience. Let's look at some of the directors who catapulted this actor into stardom.

An actor in the making

Along with fellow talents like Kamal Haasan, Chiranjeevi, Jaya Prada, Sridevi and Jayasudha, Rajini was also nurtured by the legendary Balachander who, after Apoorva Raagangal, gave him his subsequent Tamil films Moondru Mudichu and Avargal. Interestingly, all these films co-starred Kamal Haasan. Over the years, Balachander would work multiple times with the actor in films like Thappu Thalangal, Ninaithale Inikkum and Thillu Mullu.