Superhero, Superstar

- Neeti Jaychander

Rajinikanth’s life story is more dramatic and extraordinary than the plot of any of his movies. Born in Bangalore in a Maharastrian family of modest means, he was named Shivaji Rao Gaekwad after the great Maratha warrior. Sixty-six years later, he’s the superstar of Tamil cinema, and a living legend in every sense of the word.

Life before cinema

Raj Bahadur, Rajinikanth’s childhood friend, reminisces, “Losing his mother when he was young, Rajini was raised at Ramakrishna Math, with his education sponsored by the charitable trust. In 1970, we were working together at the Bangalore Transport Service. I was a driver and he was a conductor. We worked for three years on bus route 10A shuttling between Srinagar and Majestic Bus Station, Bangalore. Even if there was an empty bus ahead of us, people would wait to board 10A—it was a pleasure watching Rajini whistle and distribute tickets with style. He had a huge fan base even then.”

To Bahadur, who remembers that acting was even then a part of Rajinikanth’s life, the superstar is still his old friend Shivaji Rao. “We have 45 years of friendship behind us. I forced him to shift to Chennai and join the Madras Film Institute to sharpen his skills. I convinced him that he had in him the fire to become a big actor and assured him that I would take care of his expenses for two years.”

A star is born