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Post # 011

The Hero

I am not the typical, crazy, Rajini fan. My wife is. My friend, Subbu, is. A lot of people are. I have always tolerated them with a smile and a small shake of my head. In turn, I saw them smile back at me with a smaller shake of their head. This went on for a while. But with time, I have realized that some people thouroughly deserve the adulation they get. Rajinikanth, aka Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, lives a life as large as his natural-laws-defying roles and stunts in movies. Here are a few bytes from his life I found worth sharing:

1. As a child, he studied, for a while, in Ramakrishna Math, where "he learnt Vedas, tradition, spirituality" and started acting in plays.

2. His initial film roles were villanous - abusive husband, rapist, womanizer and such.

3. In 1978, the year I was born, 20 Rajini movies were released in three languages - Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. Twenty movies, in one year!

4. Amitabh Bachchan was his role model and inspiration. He worked in three movies along with Big B - Andha Kanoon, Giraftaar and Hum. He played the lead role in Shankar, Salim, Simon (Tamil) and Ram, Robert, Rahim (Telugu) - both remakes of Amar Akbar Anthony and many such remakes - Zanjeer, Laawaris, Don etc.

5. Wikipedia says that Rajini's first commercial success was in 1980, five years after he started acting, for a movie called Billa - a remake of Big B's Don. It also says that Billa was the turning point in Rajini's career and made him a bigger star than Kamal Hassan. There was no looking back from there. I simply hope Wikipedia is right. It is such a great story of hope and perseverance.

6. In 1998, his film Muthu was dubbed into Japanese and grossed US$ 1.6 million in Japan. American magazine Newsweek commented that Rajini had surpassed Leonardo Depacrio as Japan's heartthrob. Imagine!

7. Chandramukhi, one movie I simply cannot stand, was dubbed in Turkish and German.

8. Rajini was paid a salary of INR 45 crores for the movie - Enthiran, in 2010, which has the amazing distinction of being the most expensive Indian film made till that time, and also the second highest grossing film of its time. IIM, Ahmedabad, did a case study on it. Phew!

9. Sometimes, I wondered. But the following statistics shut me up. Rajini has won 6 Tamil Nadu state awards and one Filmfare award. He is a Padma Bhushan and a Padma Vibhushan. He beat SRK for Indian Entertainer of the Year in 2007, and was named one of the most influencial people in South Asia and India by magazines Asiaweek and Forbes respectively. And then I saw Dalapathi, and thought, "Yes, this guy can act." This blog is my humble tribute to the one and only - Thalaiva!

10. This last one is a killer. He met his future wife, Latha, while giving her an interview. During the interview, he fell in love with her. Immediately after the interview, he did not propose to her! He informed her that he was marrying her and left. Rajini and Latha are married for something like close to 40 years. Click on the below link for masala details.