Rajnikanth the superstar, who neither believes in superstardom and all its trappings nor behaves like a superstar in public
Writing about Rajnikanth is always an exciting experience as there is a lot I can say. The story can go on and on. But this time let Lingaa be the focus. A video clip featuring Rajnikant from the video coverage of the actor’s Press conference on the eve of the release of Robot in Mumbai had gone viral on various social connect media. It is relevant to mention it now as the actor gears up for the release of Lingaa because it gives an amusing and revealing insight into the mind of Rajnikant, the super star who neither believes in superstardom and all its trappings nor behaves like a super star in public. In the clip he relates an incident from his life when he visited a relative’s house in Rajasthan. A neighbor dropped in hoping to meet a super star in flesh and blood. To the neighbor’s surprise he met a simple , ordinary looking man with a bald pate. He asked Rajni how he spent his time and Rajni told him he had just completed a movie starring Aiswarya Rai in the lead. The visitor then asked him who the hero of the film was. Rajni answered that he was the hero. The man stared at him in disbelief. The visitor had brought his young son along and Rajni saw the boy nudge his gaping father and tell him in a whisper: “daddy, he is the hero. You should just keep quiet”. The man remained silent and in a daze all through the visit after that.
That’s Rajnikant in real life. He is completely different when he goes before the cameras with his make up , wig and costume because he knows that week after week repeat audiences will spend their hard earned money to buy admission tickets to applaud his amazing screen persona. His eagerly awaited December release, Lingaa, in 3 languages ( Tamil, Telugu, Hindi ) is being talked about for the stunts he has performed and his youthful looks in specially tailored suave apparel. He is no doubt as good a match for the film’s young leading ladies Sonakshi Sinha and Anukhsha Shetty as any of the ruling young actors of Tamil and Hindi cinema. In fact, he may well give them all a complex.
Rajnikanth is a fan of Amitabh Bachchan. He also admired Dev Anand a lot. There are some comparitive points that arouse interest between him and Amitabh Bachchan as unrivalled super stars. It is common knowledge that Amitabh will never appear before anybody other than his immediate family members without a wig and he has expressed his awe for Rajni’s boldness in making public appearances revealing his bald pate. Amitabh will never appear in public wearing just a bush shirt over his trousers and walk out of an airport unaccompanied by body guards and his protocol manager. Rajni has no hesitation to come out of an aircraft, go to the luggage bay , collect his baggage and walk out like any airline passenger if nobody has been assigned to take care of him. I have seen him do so while passengers who recognized him watched him with admiration and walked up to him to shake hands with him while he waited for his baggage. He made no attempt to be different from all the others waiting anxiously for their baggage. It is difficult for a lay man to believe at such times that he is THE RAJNIKANT, the country’s biggest super star.
Like Amitabh Bachchan, Rajni came to films without the looks that were mandatory for stardom. While Amitabh managed to create an aura around him with the enormous success his starrers met with at the box office, Rajni made no conscious attempt to build an image. He merely evolved his own individual style of acting and mannerisms which appealed to the masses and gave him a place in their hearts. Both Rajni and Amitabh played characters with grit and idealistic values and compassion for the plight of the downtrodden and poor. The audience of the time, the late Sixties and Seventies, empathized with their screen personalities. Both had Dame Fortune showering unprecedented success in their careers.
While Amitabh made hay during the sunshine period and attained incredible super stardom and gave "darshan" from a distance every day to hundreds of fans who stood outside his bungalow at Juhu in Mumbai, Rajni got down to ploughing back a percentage of his earnings to help the needy who showed up at the gate of his residence in Chennai. He not only obliged his fans who came to get a "darshan" as early as six am by posing for photographs with them , he also had his manager take their requests for monetary help and do the needful. As a result Rajni did not remain just a super star with a stupendous fan following: he became a God for the majority of his admirers. A status no Hindi film hero could ever boast of. And the beauty of the Rajni magic was that he was not doing what he was doing every morning at his residence to gain mileage or a social image as a philanthropist. He was doing it because it was the best way he could think of to thank the Almighty for his bounty.
Each time it is said a film starring Rajni becomes a blockbuster, the star vanishes for a while to some destination known to only a for few to unwind and feel the ground under his feet. He returns with his bald pate shining , his eyes twinkling with inner peace, his smile radiating the goodness within him and picks up the threads of his life and career happily. It was speculated when Narendra Modi visited him prior to the polls that he may join politics at last. But people close to him are certain he won’t. They say he could have been in politics a long time ago if he so desired. His wisdom has always kept him away from the sham world of politics but then who knows what life has in store !
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