Who is Super Star Rajinikanth

Image Courtesy: Rajinikanth.com

Rajinikanth has worked as an actor in more than 200 films, which includes Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, English and Bengali films. Rajinikanth made a venture into Bollywood with Andha Kanoon but did not make as much of an impression as he had in the south. He still acted in several Hindi films, such as Chaalbaaz, Uttar Dakshan, Giraftaar and Hum. He made his entrance in an American film, in a supporting role, with the movie Bloodstone in 1988 with much fanfare in India at the time of its release. However, the movie was failed in the United States. He also made brief spell in German- and Japanese film industries. One of his film Muthu was dubbed into Japanese. In 2005, another film Chandramukhi was dubbed in German and released in all German-speaking nations.

Rajinikanth's first film was in Tamil, where he was at the start casted in supporting roles, acting as a cancer patient in Apoorva Raagangal in 1975. The film was directed by K. Balachander, who is always referred to by Rajinikanth as his own "Guru". The next year, Rajinikanth worked in his first Kannada film, Katha Sangama, directed by Puttanna Kanagal. However Rajinikanth refers to director K. Balachander as his Guru, it was director S. P. Muthuraman who actually refurbished Rajinikanth's image totally. Muthuraman first tested with him in a positive role in Bhuvana Oru Kelvikkuri (1977), as a villain in the first half of the film and a hero in the second. Around this period Mullum Malarum (1978), directed by J. Mahendran, recognized Rajinikanth in the Tamil film field as a film hero. The success of Bhuvana Oru Kelvikkuri encouraged Muthuraman to make a soft melodrama with Rajinikanth as a hero giving up everything for his siblings in the film Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai (1979). These films were the turning points in Rajinikanth's profession; he changed from an actor who simply fascinated the audiences to one who could also evoke emotions.

Rajinikanth decided to act in director P. Vasu's Tamil remake of Manichithrathazhu, Chandramukhi. Many people within the film industry had written Rajinikanth 'over' after the film Baba debacle, more or less saying "the bloom was off the rose" and that "the gold does not glitter anymore". But the film Chandramukhi was released on April 14, 2005, and went on to generate new box office records such as being the longest running Tamil film, as of 2007. Just after Chandramukhi's release, it was stated that the well known production company AVM were to produce a film directed by S. Shankar starring Rajinikanth. The film was titled 'Sivaji, The Boss' and released on June 15, 2007 went on to become placed among other most important Bollywood and Hollywood releases of the year. Sivaji projected as one of the top-ten best films of United Kingdom and South Africa box-offices upon release.

Between 1977 and 2005, Rajinikanth received a number of awards from Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, Filmfare Awards, Cinema Express and Filmfans Association for his film performances and off-screen contributions like writing and producing. He has received awards in the Best Actor class for his show in the films Sivaji, Chandramukhi, Padayappa, Peddarayudu, Baasha, Muthu, Annamalai, Thalapathy, Velaikaran, Sri Raghavendra, Nallavanuku Nallavan, Moondru Mugam, Enkeyo 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 Writer and Best Producer categories for the film Valli.

He has also received other credit such as the Raj Kapoor Award in 2007 from the Government of Maharashtra. He was named and honoured with the Padma Bhushan award, (India's third highest civilian honour) in 2000 from the Government of India. In September 2005, Rajinikanth won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor for his role in the film Chandramukhi. Freshly, he was selected as the Indian Entertainer of the Year for 2007 by NDTV, competing against the likes of Shah Rukh Khan.