Introduction

Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor who works primarily in Tamil cinema. In addition to acting, he has also worked as a producer and screenwriter. He has won many awards throughout his Cine-Life.

Following his debut in K. Balachander's 1975 Tamil drama Apoorva Raagangal, Rajinikanth's acting career commenced with a brief phase of portraying antagonistic characters in Tamil films. With Baashha (1995) in which Rajinikanth played a crime boss,his career propelled and earned him a 'God-Like' Status in Tamil Nadu. His Sivaji (2007) was the third Indian film to enter the 100 Crore Club. He played dual roles, as a scientist and an andro-humanoid robot, in the science fiction film Enthiran (2010) and its sequel 2.0 (2018), both being India's most expensive production at the time of their release, and among the one of Highest-Grossing Indian Films of all time.

Rajinikanth is widely regarded as one of the popular actors in the history of Indian cinema. His popularity has been attributed to his uniquely styled dialogues and idiosyncrasies in films, as well as his political statements and philanthropy. Rajinikanth is the only Indian actor to be featured in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) syllabus,in a lesson titled From Bus Conductor to Superstar. On 31 December 2017, he announced entry into politics and confirmed his intention to contest in the 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elections in all 234 constituencies but later withdrew due to health conditions.

Early life

Rajinikanth was born as Shivaji Rao Gaekwad on 12 December 1950 in a Marathi family in Bangalore, Mysore State (present day Karnataka). He was named after the Maratha Empire king Shivaji, and was brought up speaking Marathi at home and Kannada outside. His mother was a housewife, and his father Ramoji Rao Gaekwad was a police constable.He is the youngest of four siblings. After his father's retirement from work in 1956, the family moved to the suburb of Hanumantha Nagar in Bangalore and built a house there. He lost his mother at the age of nine.

Rajinikanth had his primary education at the Gavipuram Government Kannada Model Primary School in Bangalore. As a child, he was "studious and mischievous" with a great interest in cricket, football and basketball. His brother enrolled him at the Ramakrishna Math,a Hindu monastery, where he was taught Vedas, tradition and history, hich eventually instilled a sense of spirituality in him.In addition to spiritual lessons, he also began acting in plays at the math. His aspiration towards theatre grew at the math and was once given an opportunity to enact the role of Ekalavya's friend from the Hindu epic Mahabharata. Later,Rajinikanth was enrolled at the Acharya Pathasala Public School and studied there till completion of his pre-university course.In this duration he had enacted multiple plays.

Upon completion of his school education, Rajinikanth performed several jobs including that of a coolie, before getting a job in the Bangalore Transport Service (BTS) as a bus conductor. He continued to take part in various plays during this time too. He decided to take up an acting course in the newly formed Madras Film Institute after coming across an advertisement. During his stay at the institute, he was noticed by the Tamil film director K. Balachander.

And Thus, Began the Legend's Journey!

Career Life

Rajinikanth began his film career with the Tamil film Apoorva Raagangal (1975), directed by K. Balachander. He was cast in a small role,but he was welcomed by the Audience.Review from The Hindu noted that: "Newcomer Rajinikanth is dignified and impressive!".Rajini, then went on to act in many films, few including 'Moondru Mudichu','16 Vayadhinile',etc. He then went on to make his first-ever appearance as a lead actor in the Telugu film 'Chilakamma Cheppindi'.

In the 80s, Rajinikanth began to experiment with his films and also earned a loyal fandom. Bairavi, directed by M.Bhaskar, was the first Tamil film to cast Rajinikanth as a solo hero, and it was for this film that he earned the sobriquet "Superstar". His film, Mullum Malarum, released during the same period, received critical acclaim. It won that year's Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Film and a Special Prize (Best Actor) for Rajinikanth at the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. Following this, he made a foray into Malayalam cinema. Rajinikanth had acted in 50 films over a period of four years, and in four languages. In the second half of the 1980s, Rajinikanth acted in commercially successful films such as Naan Sigappu Manithan (1985), Padikkathavan (1985), Mr. Bharath (1986), Velaikaran (1987), Guru Sishyan (1988) and Dharmathin Thalaivan (1988). In 1988, he made his only American film appearance in Bloodstone, directed by Dwight Little, in which he played an English-speaking Indian taxi driver.

Commercial Stardom

By the 1990s, Rajinikanth established himself as a commercial entertainer. Almost all the films released during this period were highly successful at the box office. His stint with Bollywood continued, and he went on to star in more Hindi films. In this period he acted in many films such as 'Thalapthi', 'Annamalai', 'Mannan', 'Veera', etc. He joined hands with Suresh Krishna for Baashha (1995), which emerged as an industry record, and is routinely touted by fans and critics alike as a major-hit, as the film elevated him from being just another very popular actor to nearly Demi-God Status among the masses! His film Muthu,was another commercial success,and became the first Tamil film to be dubbed into Japanese. The film grossed a record US$1.6 million in Japan in 1998 and was responsible for creating a large Japanese fan-base for the actor. 1997's Arunachalam was another commercial success. Rajinikanth released his last film of the millennium with Padayappa (1999), which went on to become a blockbuster success.

Early 2000s!

The Early 2000s had been a bit of a struggle for Thalaivar, as few films reported losses. With P. Vasu's Chandramukhi (2005), Rajini created another highly Successful film which set the record for the Longest Running Tamil film! Th film Sivaji, one of the crowd favourites, was also released in 2007. But his next film, Kuselan fared poorly in the box-office.
But Ups and downs are a part of life right?
Superstar Rajni once again proved that he is the actor with the Midas touch with the Sci-Fi Flick Enthiran, where he played an ambitious scientist, a naive robot and an evil android bent on destroying the world.
He did it with such aplomb that he's been the talk of the town for months!

To the Present Day Thalaivar!

In January 2011, Rajinikanth had fell ill and was diagnosed with bronchitis. He was hospitalised and started to take treatment.Rajinikanth, under the advice of Amitabh Bachchan, travelled from Chennai to Singapore with his family on 21 May 2011, where he was to undergo further treatment for nephropathy at Mount Elizabeth Hospital. After spending over two weeks at the hospital, he was finally discharged on 15 June 2011.

Rajini came back on track with his films releasing.Kochadaiiyaan,the motion capture film, which is the first of its kind in India, was released in 2014 to positive reviews. Then the 3D release of Sivaji in 2012,made Rajinikanth the first Indian actor to have appeared in four different forms of world cinema: black-and-white, colour, 3D and motion capture.

Rajini acted in many other Films including Lingaa,Kabali,Kaala. In 2018 he also appeared in S. Shankar's 2.0, the sequel fo Enthiran,reprising the roles of Dr. Vaseegaran and Chitti. In 2019, Rajinikanth starred in Karthik Subbaraj's Petta, in which his performance received praise for his return to his vintage stereotypical style of acting.


Personal Details

Real Name	Shivaji Rao Gaekwad
Date of Birth	12^th December 1950
Place of Birth	Bangalore, Mysore State(Present-Day Karnataka, India)
Occupation	Actor,Film Producer
Years Active	1975-Present
Father's Name	Ramoji Rao Gaekwad
Mother's Name	Jijabai
Spouse's Name	Latha Rajinikanth


Contact Details
Address	18, Raghavaveera Avenue, Poes Garden, Chennai 600086, Tamil Nadu, India
Contact Number	+91 88702-02833
Social Media

Photos

Enthiran-Rajinikanth

Present-Day Rajinikanth

Rajinikanth and his Characters.

Super Star Rajinikanth

Story of His Life

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