Rajinikanth (Kannada:ರಜನೀಕಾಂತ್, Tamil: ரஜினிகாந்த், Marathi: रजनीकांत (born Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, December 12,[1] 1949) is one of the most influential and bankable movie stars in the Indian film industry, a superstar in the Tamil and Telugu films. He received India's third highest honour, the Padma Bhushan, for his contribution to Indian cinema in 2000.[2] He was reportedly paid Rs. 16 crores for his latest blockbuster Sivaji.[3]
Early life
Rajinikanth[4][5][6] was born to a Marathi family in Karnataka.[7][8] He was the fourth child of his parents, Jijabai and Ramojirao Gaekwad.[1] He was named Shivajirao Gaekwad. Gaekwad is a family name among the Marathas. He lost his mother at the age of five. He did his schooling at the Acharya Paatashala in Bangalore and then at the Vivekananda Balaka Sangha,[9] a unit of the Ramakrishna Mission. Rajnikanth struggled a lot during his early age because of poverty. Although his mother-tongue is Marathi,[9][10] he has not acted in any Marathi movies yet.
He began his career doing various jobs in Bangalore. He also attended a theatre for stage plays. Before starting his career in the film industry, he worked as a bus conductor for the Bangalore Transport Service in Bangalore[11] It was during this time that he nurtured his acting interests by performing in various stage plays.
Personal
He married Latha on February 26, 1981, at the age of 31 in Tirumala - Tirupati and they have two children: Aishwarya and Soundarya. Latha currently runs a school named - The Ashram.
His daughter Aishwarya married actor Dhanush on November 18, 2004 and they have one son, Yathra
Acting career
He joined the Madras Film institute in 1973 with the help of a friend and completed a basic course in acting.1975-1979
Rajnikanth's first film was in Kannada, Katha Sangama directed by Puttanna Kanagal in the year 1976. In Tamil cinema he was initially cast in the supporting roles, the first being that of a cancer patient in Apoorva Raagangal (1975), directed by the director K. Balachander.[14] Though Rajinikanth persistently refers to K. Balachander as his "guru" or mentor, it was director S. P. Muthuraman who actually revamped Rajinikanth’s image entirely. Muthuraman first experimented with him in a positive role in Bhuvana Oru Kelvikkuri (1977), as a villain in the first half and a do-gooder in the second, accepting a woman with a child abandoned by her lover.Around this time Mullum Malarum (1978), directed by J. Mahendran, established Rajinikanth on the Tamil film arena. The success of Bhuvana Oru Kelvikkuri prompted Muthuraman to make a mushy melodrama with Rajinikanth as a hero sacrificing everything for his siblings in Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai (1979). Even while the film was in the making, Rajinikanth had misgivings about whether the audience would accept him in tear jerkers of this kind[citation needed]. But its box-office success made Rajinikanth popular among women audience[citation needed]. These films were the turning points in Rajinikanth’s career — he changed from an actor who merely enthralled the audiences, to one who could also make them cry. The acceptance of Rajinikanth sans his mannerisms proved he had at last become a "star" from a "common actor." His film roles were mainly as a villain during the period 1975 to 1977, frequently with Kamal Hassan as the hero, in movies like Pathinaaru Vayadhinilae , Moondru Mudichu and Avargal (all 1977).
1980-1989
During this phase of his career when he was reaching dazzling heights, Rajinikanth abruptly chose to quit acting, but was coaxed back.[15] He started again with Billa, which was a remake of Amitabh Bachchan starrer Don. With its phenomenal success he was accepted as a full-fledged hero. Billa was followed by a row of hits like Murattukaalai,Pokkiri Raja, Thanikattu Raja, Naan Mahaan Alla and Moondru Mugam. K. Balachander’s first home production, Netrikan proved to be yet another milestone in Rajini’s career. . He even acted as himself alongside Meena, who was a child actor then, in the movie Anbulla Rajinikanth (1984). More box-office hits dominated the 80's with Padikkathavan, Thee, Velaikkaran, Dharmathin Thalaivan, Mr. Bharath, Maaveeran, few of them were re-makes of hit Bollywood Amitabh Bachchan starrers.[16] In his 100th movie, Sri Raghavendra, he played the Hindu saint Raghavendra Swami.
1990 to present
Most of his movies during the nineties were also successful, like Mannan, Muthu,[17] Baashha, Annamalai , Veera and Padayappa. Rajinikanth wrote his first screenplay for the film Valli (1993). His film Muthu was the first Tamil film to be dubbed into Japanese as Muthu: The Dancing Maharajah and became very popular in Japan.[18][19] When he was 53, Baba released amidst much fanfare. Although the film grossed enough to cover its budget, it was viewed as one of the miserable movies in his career. It fell short of market expectations and high bids reportedly accumulating to heavy losses for the distributors. It is also rumoured that Rajinikanth repaid the losses incurred by the distributors who laid immense faith in him.[20][21] His latest film, Sivaji: The Boss[22][23] , directed by S. Shankar released on June 15, 2007, has become the first Tamil movie to make the UK and South Africa Top 10. Rajnikanth will now be lending his voice to the lead character (based on himself) in an animation film for Adlabs titled Sultan:The Warrior to be directed by his daughter Soundarya Rajinikanth. The movie is scheduled for a 2008 release.[24] Rajnikanth's next movie with Kavithalaya Productions and produced by his mentor director K.Balachander.This movie is named as "Kuselan". Rajnikanth is going to make another film with Shankar. Robot will be produce by Ayngaran International and EROS. He is one actor who has one of the largest fan following in India [25]
Other work
Apart from acting in Tamil, Rajinikanth[26] has acted in 173 movies, including Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi and Bengali. Rajinikanth made a foray into Bollywood with Andha Kanoon but couldn't make as much of an impact as he had in the south. He still made a few films in Hindi, like Chaalbaaz with Sridevi, 'Uttar Dakshin', Girafthar and Hum. He also had a brief stint in Hollywood with the movie Bloodstone in 1988.
Awards and honours
Rajinikanth was named as one of the influential persons in South Asia by Asiaweek.[27] He has won the Filmfare[28] Best Actor award and many other awards [29] during his acting career.[30]
Between 1977 and 2005 Rajinikanth received awards from several organizations, like Tamil Nadu State Government Award, Cinema Express, Filmfans Association, Filmfare etc., for his on-screen performances and off-screen contributions in writing and producing. He has received awards in the Best Actor category for his performance in the films Sivaji,Chandramukhi,Padayappa, Peddarayudu, Basha, Muthu, Annamalai, Thalapathy, Velaikaran, Sri Raghavendra, Nallavanuku Nallavan, Moondru Mugam, Engeyo Ketta Kural, Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai, Mullum Malarum and 16 Vayathinile. He received an award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Bhuvana Oru Kelvi Kuri. He has also received awards in Best Story Writer and Best Producer categories for Valli.
He has also received other honours such as Raj Kapoor Award (2007) from the Government of Maharastra, Padma Bhushan (2000)[2] from Government of India, Kalaichelvam Award (1995) from the Nadigar Sangam[citation needed], Oshobismit Award (1995) for Spirituality from Rajinish Ashram[citation needed], MGR Award (1989)[citation needed] and Kalaimamani Award (1984) from the Government of Tamilnadu[citation needed].
Recently (September 2007) Rajinikanth won the Best Actor award, given by the Government of Tamil Nadu for his role in the film Chandramukhi(2005). Recently, he has been selected as best movie entertainer in India for the year 2007 by NDTV
His fans all over the world are gathering support to place a life size wax statue in the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum New York , New York City. The fans are excepting that this highest paid and a huge fan admiration actor should be given this high honour as like Amitabh, Shah rukh khan and Aishwarya rai whose statues are also present in this museum.
Politics
- 1995 Announced that he is willing to support the Congress party after meeting Prime Minister Narasimha Rao.[31] An opinion poll conducted by Kumudam magazine predicted that Congress with Rajinikanth support may win up to 130 seats in Tamilnadu Assembly
- 1996 Congress decided to align with AIADMK. Rajinikanth supported DMK-TMC alliance. The TMC used the Bicycle as their election symbol and used Rajinikanth's riding Bicycle in Annamalai movie in their posters. Rajinikanth uttered "Even God cannot save Tamilnadu if AIADMK returns to power".[31]
- 1998 Rajinikanth supported the DMK-TMC alliance in parliamentary elections.[32] SUN TV broadcast Rajini's speech throughout the day of the election. AIADMK-BJP alliance won around 30 out of 39 seats riding on sympathy wave generated by Coimbatore bomb blasts.
- 2002 Rajinikanth undertook a day-long fast to protest Karnataka's decision to not to release Cauvery water to Tamilnadu.[33] Announced that he would contribute 10 Million rupees towards interlinking of Indian rivers scheme.[34] He met Prime Minister Vajpayee and many experts to canvass support for Interlinking Indian rivers scheme.
- 2004 Supported BJP-AIADMK alliance in Parliamentary elections[31] and quoted PMK's violence and BJP's support to interlinking of Indian rivers[35] as reason for his support. But the alliance failed to win any seats.
[edit] Political Controversies
- He did not participate in the agitation sponsored by Tamil film artists in Neyveli protesting against Karnataka's refusal to release Cauvery water. Instead he participated in token fasting at Chennai. Bharathiraja who organized agitation attacked him vehemently and assigned bad intentions for his non participation in the agitation.[36]
- PMK leader Ramadas condemned him for smoking and posing with Beedi's in his film Baba. He was criticised for spoiling Tamil youth by glorifying smoking and drinking. PMK volunteers attacked theatres which screened the movie Baba and usurped film rolls and burnt it.[37] Famous film producers like M. Saravanan accused that cigarette smoking and drinking are shown in all movies and Rajini's film was chosen by the PMK leader because of his popularity in Vanniar areas which is considered PMK bastion.[citation needed] To stop the controversies, Rajini announced that in his future films, he won't act in scenes involving him smoking or drinking. In keeping with his words, he didn't include a single scene of smoking or drinking in his recent films like Chandramukhi and Sivaji - The Boss.
[edit] Philanthropic Activities
Rajinikanth [38] is known for philanthropic activities. [18]
- Recently he converted his Raghavendra Marriage Hall to a charitable trust to help the needy.[39]
- He shared his income from the film "Arunachalam" with eight other people from the film industry as profit shares.[40]
- He is planning to construct a new hospital and a new school on a piece of land near Chennai.[41]
- He has distributed Rs 12 Lakhs as relief to the family members of the bereaved in the Coimbatore bomb blast.[42]
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