Name: Rajinikanth
Profession: Actor, filmmaker, producer, playback singer
Born: December 12, 1950 (Bangalore, Karnataka, India)
Nationality: Indian
Known for: Billa, Baasha, Sivaji, Enthiran, Jailer, unique mannerisms and stylized line delivery
Biography:
Shivaji Rao Gaikwad, known professionally as Rajinikanth, was born into a Marathi family in Bangalore, Karnataka. His father, Ramoji Rao Gaekwad, worked as a police constable, and his mother, Jijabai, was a homemaker.
He is the youngest of four siblings, including two elder brothers, Satyanarayana Rao and Nageshwara Rao, and a sister, Aswath Balubhai. Rajinikanth’s early life was marked by financial struggles after his mother’s death when he was just nine years old.
Before joining the entertainment industry, he was employed as a bus conductor in Bangalore Transport Service. He joined the Madras Film Institute in 1973 with the help of his friend Raj Bahadur, a fellow bus driver, and completed a basic course in acting.
His transition from working as a bus conductor to cinema began when he moved to Madras (now Chennai) in the early 1970s to join the Madras Film Institute, where he trained as an actor.
He made his debut in 1975 under the stage name Rajinikanth, playing a minor role in Katha Sangama (“Confluence of Tales”), a film directed by Kannada director Puttanna Kanagal.
That same year he achieved a major breakthrough when he was offered the role of a villain in K. Balachander’s Tamil-language film Apoorva Raagangal (“Rare Melodies”). The film was directed by K. Balachander, who is constantly referred to by Rajinikanth as his “guru” or “mentor”.
For the next three years, Rajinikanth continued to play characters considered morally dubious within the ethical framework of conventional Tamil cinema. He had a successful partnership with actor Kamal Haasan in films such as Moondru Mudichu (1976; “The Three Knots”), in which Haasan played the protagonist and Rajinikanth the antagonist.
He played dual roles in the action thriller Billa (1980), which was a remake of the Bollywood film Don (1978). It was his biggest commercial success to that point and gave him the action hero image. He starred in triple role in Moondru Mugam (1982), which earned him a special prize at the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards ceremony.
The Suresh Krissna-directed Baashha, in which he played a crime boss, was a major commercial success in his career and earned him a “demigod” status in Tamil Nadu. Later that year he acted in K. S. Ravikumar’s Muthu, which was dubbed into Japanese. In Japan, the film grossed a record US$1.6 million in 1998 and was largely instrumental in creating a fan-base for Rajinikanth in the country
Rajinikanth was paid ₹26 crore for his role in S. Shankar’s Sivaji (2007), which made him the second-highest paid actor in Asia after Jackie Chan. He played dual roles, as a scientist and an andro-humanoid robot, in the science fiction film Enthiran (2010). It was India’s most expensive production at the time of its release, and is among the highest-grossing Indian films of all time.
After a two-year absence from big screen, his 169th film is Jailer, which was directed by Nelson Dilipkumar. He played a retired jailer in the film and it was released on 10 August 2023.
The film received predominantly positive reviews upon its release and achieved tremendous commercial success, grossing over ₹600 crores worldwide. In 2024, he appeared in T. J. Gnanavel’s action drama film Vettaiyan and did a guest appearance in his daughter’s (Aishwarya Rajinikanth) sports drama film Lal Salaam.
Rajinikanth married Latha Rangachari, a student of Ethiraj College for Women who interviewed him for her college magazine. The marriage took place on 26 February 1981, in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. The couple has two daughters: Aishwarya and Soundarya. Both daughters work in the Tamil film industry as directors and producers.
The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 2000 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2016, India’s third and second highest civilian honours respectively, and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2019, the highest Indian award in the field of cinema, for his contributions to Indian cinema.
It was speculated that Rajinikanth would enter politics in 1995. He decided against it and declared that if he entered politics now, it would result in a lot of confusion and that he would not be able to serve the people and fulfil their expectations.
In 2017 Rajinikanth finally announced that he would enter politics and launched a party called Rajini Makkal Mandram. However, shortly before the 2021 Tamil Nadu assembly election, he dissolved the party and revised his decision to embark on a political career.
Awards and Accolades:
- Padma Bhushan (2000)
- Padma Vibhushan (2016)
- Dadasaheb Phalke Award (2019)
- National Film Award
- Seven Tamil Nadu State Film Awards
- Filmfare Award
- Two Maharashtra State Film Awards
Interesting Facts:
- His unique acting style is characterized by trademark gestures such as flipping a cigarette in the air and catching it with his mouth.
- Writing for Slate, Grady Hendrix called him the “biggest movie star you’ve probably never heard of.”
- In Japan, his film Muthu grossed a record US$1.6 million in 1998 and was largely instrumental in creating a fan-base for Rajinikanth in the country.
Social Media:
- Instagram: @rajinikanth
- Twitter: @rajinikanth
