Rajinikanth

Rajinikanth (born 12 December 1950 as Shivaji Rao Gaikwad) is an Indian film actor, media personality, and cultural icon.[2] He made his debut as an actor in the National Film Award–winning motion picture Apoorva Raagangal (1975), directed by K. Balachander, whom the actor considers his mentor.

After a brief phase of portraying antagonistic characters in Tamil films, he gradually rose to become an established film actor. Within a few years of his career, he was claimed to be the superstar of Tamil cinema and has since continued to hold a matinee idol status in the popular culture of India. His mannerisms and stylised delivery of dialogue in films contribute to his mass popularity and appeal While working in other regional film industries of India, he also appeared in the cinemas of other nations, including in that of the United States. After being paid INR26 crore (US$5.9 million) for his role in Sivaji (2007), he became the highest paid actor in Asia after Jackie Chan. He is one of the most influential actors in the film industry due to his overwhelming back-driven influence on politics in Tamil Nadu.

Rajinikanth has worked in over 150 films across various film industries of India. He has won a Filmfare Best Tamil Actor Award and six Tamil Nadu State Film Awards—four Best Actor Awards and two Special Awards for Best Actor. He was bestowed the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour, in the year 2000 for his contribution to Indian cinema. Other than acting, Rajinikanth has also worked as a producer and screenwriter.

Early life and career beginnings: 1950–77

Rajinikanth was born as Shivaji Rao Gaikwad in a Maharashtrian family, to mother Jijabai and father Ramoji Rao Gaikwad, on 12 December 1950 in the Indian city of Bangalore in Mysore State, present-day Karnataka. He was the youngest of four siblings and has two brothers and a sister. After the death of his mother at his age of 5, he struggled with an impoverished lifestyle during his childhood. During that time, he often did odd jobs as a coolie in his community. He attended the Government Model Primary School at Gavipuram, Bangalore, where he had his elementary education in Kannada.

Between 1966 and 1973 he worked in many places in Chennai and Bangalore. He performed various jobs before joining the then Bangalore Transport Service (BTS) as a bus conductor in Bangalore. He began to take part in stage plays after Kannada playwright and director Topi Muniappa offered him a chance to act in mythological moral plays, out of which the most notable role performed by him was that of the villainous Duryodhana. In 1973, his friend and co-worker Raj Bahadur motivated him to join the Madras Film Institute and also financially supported him for two years during his studies. His performance in a stage play eventually caught the eye of film director K. Balachander. The director advised him to learn to speak Tamil, a recommendation that Rajinikanth quickly followed and which proved to be extremely useful in his career.



In 1975, Rajinikanth began his career in cinema through the Tamil movie Apoorva Raagangal. Starring Kamal Haasan, the film was directed by K. Balachander, who gave Rajinikanth a relatively small role as an abusive husband of Srividya. The film went on to win the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil at the following year's ceremony. His second film, a Kannada film, Katha Sangama, was directed by Puttanna Kanagal and released in 1976. His next film Anthuleni Katha, a Telugu film directed by K. Balachander which was a remake of his own Tamil film Aval Oru Thodar Kathai (1974), had Rajinikanth playing a more pivotal role. In the following years, he continued to perform a variety of negative roles: a sadistic husband of Sujatha in Avargal, a womaniser in Moondru Mudichu, and a lust-filled village rowdy in P. Bharathiraja's 16 Vayadhinile. In 1977, he accepted his first-ever lead role in the Telugu film Chilakamma Cheppindi. Though Rajinikanth always refers to K. Balachander as his mentor, it was S. P. Muthuraman who revamped his image. Muthuraman first experimented with him in a positive role in Bhuvana Oru Kelvikkuri (1977), as a failed lover in the first half of the film and a protagonist in the second half. The duo went on to work in 25 films till the 1990s.

Experimentation and breakthrough: 1978–89

 Rajinikanth was born as Shivaji Rao Gaikwad in a Maharashtrian family, to mother Jijabai and father Ramoji Rao Gaikwad, on 12 December 1950 in the Indian city of Bangalore in Mysore State, present-day Karnataka.[1] He was the youngest of four siblings and has two brothers and a sister. After the death of his mother at his age of 5,[10] he struggled with an impoverished lifestyle during his childhood. During that time, he often did odd jobs as a coolie in his community. He attended the Government Model Primary School at Gavipuram, Bangalore, where he had his elementary education in Kannada.[11]

Between 1966 and 1973 he worked in many places in Chennai and Bangalore. He performed various jobs before joining the then Bangalore Transport Service (BTS) as a bus conductor in Bangalore. He began to take part in stage plays after Kannada playwright and director Topi Muniappa offered him a chance to act in mythological moral plays, out of which the most notable role performed by him was that of the villainous Duryodhana.[14] In 1973, his friend and co-worker Raj Bahadur motivated him to join the Madras Film Institute and also financially supported him for two years during his studies. His performance in a stage play eventually caught the eye of film director K. Balachander.[14] The director advised him to learn to speak Tamil, a recommendation that Rajinikanth quickly followed and which proved to be extremely useful in his career.

In 1975, Rajinikanth began his career in cinema through the Tamil movie Apoorva Raagangal. Starring Kamal Haasan, the film was directed by K. Balachander,  who gave Rajinikanth a relatively small role as an abusive husband of Srividya. The film went on to win the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil at the following year's ceremony. His second film, a Kannada film, Katha Sangama, was directed by Puttanna Kanagal and released in 1976. His next film Anthuleni Katha, a Telugu film directed by K. Balachander which was a remake of his own Tamil film Aval Oru Thodar Kathai (1974), had Rajinikanth playing a more pivotal role. In the following years, he continued to perform a variety of negative roles: a sadistic husband of Sujatha in Avargal,[21] a womaniser in Moondru Mudichu, and a lust-filled village rowdy in P. Bharathiraja's 16 Vayadhinile. In 1977, he accepted his first-ever lead role in the Telugu film Chilakamma Cheppindi. Though Rajinikanth always refers to K. Balachander as his mentor,[3] it was S. P. Muthuraman who revamped his image. Muthuraman first experimented with him in a positive role in Bhuvana Oru Kelvikkuri (1977), as a failed lover in the first half of the film and a protagonist in the second half.[25] The duo went on to work in 25 films till the 1990s.