From Telugupedia

Rajinikanth (Marathi:रजनीकांत; Tamil:ரஜினிகாந்த்; Kannada: ರಜನೀಕಾಂತ್) (born Shivaji Rao Gaekwad on December 12, 1949) is a popular actor in the Indian film industry. As an experienced actor and a national celebrity, he received India's third highest civilian honour, the Padmabhushan for his work in Indian cinema in 2000. Rajinikanth performs predominantly in leading roles ranging from comedies, drama, action and thrillers.

• Superstar Rajinikanth Filmography

Contents 1 Early life 2 Personal 3 Acting career 3.1 1975-1979 3.2 1980-1989 3.3 1990 to 1999 3.4 2000 to Present 3.5 Other work 4 Awards and honours 5 Politics 5.1 Political Controversies 6 Punch Dialogues 7 Philanthropic Activities 8 See Also

[edit] Early life

Rajinikanth was born in a Maratha Family in Bangalore, Karnataka. He was the fourth child of his parents, Jijabai and Ramoji Rao. His original name was Shivaji Rao Gaekwad. He lost his mother at the age of five. He had his schooling at the Acharya Pathshala in Bangalore and then at the Vivekananda Balak Sangh, a unit of the Ramakrishna Mission. Although his mother tongue is Marathi, he has not acted in Marathi movies yet.

He began his career doing various jobs in Karnataka. He also attended a theatre for stage plays. Before starting his career in the film industry, he served as a bus conductor for the transport corporation in Bangalore. It was during this time that he nurtured his acting interests by performing in various stage plays.

[edit] Personal

Rajinikanth married Latha on February 26, 1981, at Tirupathi and they have two children: Aishwarya and Soundarya. Latha is currently the principal of a school named - The Ashram. Aishwarya married actor Dhanush on November 18, 2004 and they have a 6 month old son, Yathra.

[edit] Acting career

For more details on this topic, see Rajinikanth (filmography). He joined the Madras Film institute in 1973 with the help of a friend and completed basic acting course.

[edit] 1975-1979

In Tamil cinema he was initially cast in supporting roles, with his first being that of a cancer patient in Apoorva Raagangal (1975), directed by K. Balachander. But his first film happens to be in kannada, Katha sangama directed by Puttanna kanagal (1975). It was Balachander who assigned him his stage name Rajinikanth. 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 ditched 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. But its box-office success made Rajinikanth popular among women audience. 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 weep. The acceptance of Rajinikanth sans his mannerisms proved he had at last become an "actor" from a "star."

His film roles were mainly as a villain during the period 1975 to 1977, usually with Kamal Hassan as the hero, in movies like 16 Vayadhinilae and Avargal (both 1977).

[edit] 1980-1989

At this crucial phase in his career when he was reaching dizzying heights, Rajinikanth abruptly chose to quit acting, and was coaxed back. As an answer to critics who were claiming that "Rajini was finished" came Billa, a remake of the 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 Pokkiri Raja, Thanikattu Raja, Naan Mahaan Alla and Moondru Mugam. Even two decades after its release, the last continues to be a box-office draw. K. Balachander’s first home production, Netrikan proved to be yet another milestone in Rajini’s career. Rajinikanth's reputation continued to solidify in the 80's primarily due to movies remade from Amitabh Bachchan's Bollywood hits. Amitabh hits such as Khud-Daar, Namak Halaal, Lawaaris, Trishul, and Kasme Vaade, were remade into hit Rajinikanth starrers Padikkadavan, Velaikaran, Panakkaran, Mr. Bharath, and Dharmathin Thalaivan, respectively. He even acted as himself alongside Meena, who was a child actor then, in the movie Anbulla Rajinikanth (1984) In his 100th movie, Sri Raghavendra, he played the Hindu saint Raghavendra Swami.

[edit] 1990 to 1999

The vast majority of his movies released during the nineties were extremely successful, notably Thalapathy, Mannan, Annamalai, Uzhaippali, Veera, Baasha, Muthu, Arunachalam and Padayappa. Rajinikanth wrote his first screenplay for the film Valli (1993). His cult classic Baasha, released in 1995, went on to become a massive blockbuster and is routinely touted by his fans and critics alike as the movie which elevated him from being just another very popular actor with loads of charisma to an almost demigod status in the eyes of the masses. His film Muthu was the first Tamil film to be dubbed into Japanese as Muthu: The Dancing Maharajah and became very popular in Japan. Throughout this decade, Rajinikanth established himself as an unparalleled box office phenomenon; all of the films mentioned in this era were all formulaic mass entertainers which routinely created box office records. It can be argued that it was also during this time that Rajinikanth and the political world began to converge, whether that confluence was voluntary or involuntary is debatable, but the objective fact cannot be disputed that as his films began to take on a whole new dimension in terms of expectations, hype and revenue, his political clout also steadily rose with the cinematic tide as well. This trend began with the release of Annamalai in 1992 and arguably climaxed during the time of Padayappa's release in 1999.

[edit] 2000 to Present

The new millennium began very well for Rajinikanth; his last film Padayappa came out in 1999 and had rewritten box office records and all things seemed perfect. Finally, after more than a three year sabbatical from cinema, at 53 years of age, he starred in his home production, Baba, which released on August 15, 2002 amidst much fanfare and extreme hype. The film failed miserably to meet the expectations due to a very weak screenplay, which Rajinikanth himself had written, his second stint at screenplay writing after Valli. The thin screenplay revolved around spirituality and when compared to his previous film, Padayappa, it was a colossal disappointment. Although the film grossed enough to cover its budget, it was viewed as a tremendous loss when compared to his previous box office successes throughout his career. It fell short of market expectations and the high bids reportedly translated to heavy losses for the distributors. It is rumoured that Rajinikanth himself repaid the losses incurred by the distributors who possessed immense faith in him. After the Baba debacle, Rajinikanth mulled over numerous scripts with many directors, including K.S. Ravikumar and finally chose to make a film with director P. Vasu and thus the film Chandramukhi was born. Many people within and without the industry had written Rajinikanth off after the Baba fiasco, essentially saying 'the bloom was off the rose" and that "the gold does not glitter anymore". In essence, many viewed Chandramukhi as Rajinikanth's comeback film, his make or break movie and in the end, when it was released on April 14, 2005, it went on to create new box office records and smashed his own previous records and once and for all removed any doubt within the industry with regards to Rajinikanth's box office clout and incomparable appeal to the masses. His most recent release, Sivaji: The Boss, directed by S. Shankar released on June 15, 2007 and subsequently went on to become a blockbuster of mammoth proportions and sky rocketed Rajinikanth onto the national scene even more so than ever before; Sivaji became the first Tamil movie to make the UK and South Africa box office Top 10 upon release.

[edit] Other work

Apart from Tamil, Rajinikanth has acted in over 160 movies, including Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi and Bengali movies. 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', Hum. He also had a brief stint in Hollywood with the movie Bloodstone in 1988.

[edit] Awards and honours

Rajinikanth was named as one of the influential persons in South Asia by Asiaweek. He has won the Filmfare Best Actor award and many awards during his career for his acting.

In the years between 1977 and 2005 Rajinikanth has received awards from many organizations, like Cinema Express, Filmfans Association, Filmfare etc., for his on-screen performances and off-screen abilities in writing and producing. He has received awards in the Best Actor category for his performance in the films Padayappa, Peddarayudu, Basha, Muthu, Annamalai, Thalapathy, Velaikaran, Sri Raghavendra, Nallavanuku Nallavan, Moondru Mugam, Enkeyo Ketta Kural, Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai, Mullum Malarum and 16 Vayathinile. He received award for Best Actor in 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) from Government of India, Kalaichelvam Award (1995) from the Nadigar Sangam, Oshobismit Award (1995) for Spirituality from Rajinish Ashram, MGR Award (1989) and Kalaimamani Award (1984) from the Government of Tamilnadu.

[edit] Politics

• 1995 Announced that he is willing to support the Congress party after meeting Prime Minister Narasimha Rao. 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".

• 1998 Rajinikanth supported the DMK-TMC alliance in parliamentary elections. 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 one day fasting condemning Karnataka's decision to not to release Cauvery water to Tamilnadu. Announced that he would contribute 10 Million rupees towards interlinking of Indian rivers scheme. He met Prime Minister Vajpayee and many experts to canvass support for Interlinking Indian rivers scheme.

• 2004 Supported BJP-AIADMK alliance in Parliamentary elections and quoted PMK's violence and BJP's support to interlinking of Indian rivers as reason for his support. But the alliance failed to win any seats.

• 2008 - Similar to the Cauvery fast in 2002, on April 4, Rajinikanth took part in a hunger strike organized by the entire Tamil film industry protesting Karnataka's opposition in the Hogenakkal water project and its result, the security of Tamils and the boycott of Tamil films in the state of Karnataka. Rajinikanth had warned Karnataka politians to make decisions with justice in his speech. In response, Kannada activist Vatal Nagaraj demanded an apology from Rajinikanth and threatened that he will not be allowed in the state of Karnataka and all his films will be boycotted.

[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.
• 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. 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. 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.
• During the recent hunger strike organized by the Tamil film stars in support of the Hogenekkal drinking water project, he blasted Karnataka politicians over the water project. "I unequivocally condemn Karnataka for this reprehensible act of denying us what is rightfully ours. Those who are raising the issue are doing it for the elections. A national political party I respect is forcing me to wonder by its despicable acts whether there is (rule of law) in this country (guaranteed by) the Supreme Court and Who they will listen to." Without naming B.S. Yeddyurappa, Rajni said "It was a cheap act by a leader of a big national party and an election gimmick. I do not approve it. The party’s (BJP) Tamil Nadu unit is keeping quiet", he added. Further, he appealed to the leaders like M. Karunanidhi, H.D. Deve Gowda, H.D. Kumaraswamy, Yeddyurappa and Siddaramaiah and to not to flame up this issue for political gains. Rajinikanth requested the Tamil Nadu leaders including Kalaignar that, this issue should be nipped in the bud. Rajini urged the Karnataka politicians to speak the 'Truth' and warned them that the people would teach them lesson if they continue to play with the issue for political gains. "People are equal to God. They cannot be fooled and will not remain silent if you continue to act in such manner", thundered the Superstar.
• Leader of the Pro-Kannada group Karnataka Rakshana Vedike Vatal Nagaraj demanded an apology from Rajinikanth and threatened that he will not be allowed in the state of Karnataka and all his films will be boycotted for Rajinikanth's speech against Kannada politicians.

[edit] Punch Dialogues

Rajinikanth's films are known for their "punch" dialogues. These are rhyming lines of dialogue delivered by the Rajinikanth to indirectly express his principles or position on political issues. Tamil magazines sometimes conduct competitions to predict possible punch dialogues for his forthcoming films. These dialogues are repeated many times in his movies and most of these have significance to the political situation at the time of release of relevant movies. Listed below are some notable "punch" dialogues:

Moondru Mugam(1982)

• Ekambaram: "Ekambaramnu sonna vayithula irukura kozhandhai kooda vaaya moodum." (ஏகாம்பரம்: "ஏகாம்பரம்னு சொன்னா, வயித்துல இருக்கிற குழந்தை கூட வாயை மூடும்") - "Say the name 'Ekambaram' and even an unborn child will shut its mouth and hush up."
• Alex Pandian: "Adhe kozhandhai kitta Alex Pandiyannu sonna, innoru kaiyale avanga amma vaayayum moodum!" ( அலெக்ஸ் பாண்டியன்: "அதே குழந்தைகிட்டே அலெக்ஸ் பாண்டியன்னு சொன்னா, இன்னொரு கையாலே அவங்க அம்மா வாயையும் சேர்த்து மூடும்") - "Well, if you say the name 'Alex Pandian' to that same unborn child, it will even close its mother's mouth with its other hand!"

Annamalai (film) (1992)

• "Naan solrathaiyum seiven, sollaathathiyum seiven." (நான் சொல்கிறதையும் செய்வேன், சொல்லாததையும் செய்வேன்) - "I will do what I say, may also do what I don't say."

Basha (film) (1995)

• "Naan oru dharavai sonna nooru dharavai sonna maadhiri." (நான் ஒரு தடவை சொன்னால் நூறு தடவை சொன்ன மாதிரி) - "If i say it once, it's like I've said it a hundred times."

Muthu (film) (1995)

• "Naan eppa varuven, eppadi varuvennu yarukkum theriyadhu, aana varavendiya neratthil correct-aga varuven." (நான் எப்ப வருவேன், எப்படி வருவேன்னு யாருக்கும் தெரியாது, ஆனா வருவேன்டிய நேரத்தில் கரெக்டா வருவேன்) - "When I will arrive, or how I will arrive, nobody will know, but I will arrive when I ought to."

Arunachalam (1997)

• "Andavan solran. Arunachalam seiran." (ஆண்டவன் சொல்றான், அருணாச்சலம் செய்றான்) - "God commands, Arunachalam executes."

Padayappa (1999)

• "En vazhi – thani vazhi." (என் வழி; தனி வழி) - "My way is a unique way."

Baba (2002 film) (2002)

• "Khatham, gatham." (க்ஹதம் கதம்) - "The past is past."

Sivaji: The Boss (2007)

• "Sivaji pera ketale chumma adhurudhulla" - "As soon as you hear my name you will feel the tremors"
• "Kanna panninka thaan koottama varum, sinkam single-a thaan varum!" - "Swine come in packs; a lion comes alone!"

Punch dialogue delivered by Vivek:

• "Boss" - "Bachelor of Social Service"
• "Sixkku appuram seven da, Sivajikku appuram yevenda" - "After six there is seven, after Sivaji there is no one."
• "Kuzhanthaigal paakurathu pogo, sivajikita vendaam go go" - "Children watch pogo, dont come near sivaji, go go"
• "Chittoor Thaandina Kaatpaadi, Sivajiya cheendinaa Dead Body!" - "If you cross Chittoor you will reach Kaatpaadi, If you tease Sivaji you will become a Deadbody!"

[edit] Philanthropic Activities

Rajinikanth is known for philanthropic activities.

• Recently he converted his Raghavendra Marriage Hall to a charitable trust to help the needy.
• He shared his income from the film "Arunachalam" with eight other people from the film industry as profit shares .
• He is planning to construct a new hospital and a new school on a piece of land near Chennai.
• He has distributed Rs 12 Lakhs as relief to the family members of the bereaved in the Coimbatore bomb blast.

[edit] See Also

• Telugu Films
• Telugu Film Stars
• Telugu Film Technicians
• Playback Singers
• Music Directors
• Lyrics
• Tollywood
• Tollywood Studios
• Andhra Pradesh Film Chamber of Commerce
• Theaters in Andhra Pradesh
• Nandi Awards
• Raghupathi Venkaiah Award
• Telugu Filmfare Awards
• Santosham Film Awards
• Other Film Awards

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