Rajinikanth saga: From Bengaluru bus conductor to Tamil cinema superstar

The Rajanikanth saga is a rags to riches story.

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Despite exposing his “real looks” as opposed to his “reel looks” publicly, the superstar continues to retain his charismatic hold on his adoring masses

It is the tale of how a Bus Conductor Shivaji Rao from Bengaluru in India’s Karnataka state came to the Tamil Nadu state capital Chennai and became the celebrated cinema super star Rajinikanth. It is against this backdrop therefore that this column moves away from politics this week and focuses on superstar Rajinikanth.

Interestingly, Rajinikanth, though a highly popular actor in Tamil cinema, is ethnically not a Tamil. He is not even a South Indian. Though born in Bangalore, now known as Bengaluru. Rajinikanth is a Maratha whose family hails from Mavadi Kadepathar in the State of Maharashtra. His given name is Shivaji Rao Gaekwad.

The Gaekwads are of Kshatriya warrior clan lineage. His family moved to Bangalore/Bengaluru in the southern state of Karnataka during the British period. Rajini’s given name at birth Shivaji Rao was derived from the legendary Maratha warrior-king ‘Chatrapathi Shivaji Rao’.

Shivaji Rao Gaekwad was born on 12 December 1950 at the Vanivilas hospital on Krishnarajendra road in Bengaluru. His father Ranoji Rao was a Police constable and mother Ramabai a homemaker. Shivaji was the youngest of four siblings. He lost his mother at the age of nine. The sister Aswath Balubai looked after him like a foster mother. The family lived in the Bengaluru suburb of Hanumantha Nagar.