A phenomenon called Rajnikanth

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Rajnikanth was born as Shivaji Rao Gaekwad on December 12, 1949 in Karnataka. He was a bus conductor with KSRTC and used to impress the commuters with his unique style. He wanted to be an actor and so, moved to Madras and joined the film institute. It was here that K. Balachander, the well known director of the Tamil film industry noticed him and offered him a small role - as the husband of Srividya - in Apoorva Raagangal.

Since then, there was no turning back for this gifted actor. His fan following grew immensely and his fame to success was bigger than anyone could ever imagine!

Rajnikanth soon graduated to playing villain roles. Be it the sadistic husband of Sujatha in Avargal, the villain in Moondru Mudichu or the village rowdy in Bharathiraja's 16 Vayadhinile, Rajnikanth was the kind of villain that people loved to hate! From here, it was a long journey, playing the anti-hero and finally, the hero in Bhairavi.

Rajnikanth slowly became an indispensable part of commercial cinema and in between he also did some meaningful scripts in films like Mullum Malarum, Aval Appadithan and Buvana Oru Kelvikuri. But the fans had already branded him as a firebrand action-hero and he had to stick to his image.

Director Rajasekhar dared to tap the comedy potential in Rajnikanth with Thambikku Endha Ooru, which saw Rajni balance the action and the comedy sequences with equal ease. The film went on to become a huge blockbuster and soon films in such action-comedy genre like Nallavanukku Nallavan, Pokkiri Raja, Murattu Kaalai came his way.

All these were mega-hits and consolidated his status as the number one crowd puller in Tamil movies. There was a brief lull when the much-hyped Maaveeran, his own production, flopped at the box-office. But then came Padikkadhaavan, one of his biggest hits. In his next production Valli, Rajni gave all major responsibilities, including direction, to newcomers while playing a cameo role himself. The movie was received well both critically and commercially.

But it was Annamalai, in which he subtly hinted about his plans to enter politics, that made him a superstar. Rajnikanth frequently denied his political ambitions but the political overtones in the dialogues in movies like Uzhaippaali and Yejamaan did nothing to quell the rumours.

As the elections neared, he directly came out against the then CM, thundering that his only goal was to see her removed from office. The undisputed king of Kollywood changed the course of the 1996 assembly elections in Tamilnadu with his televised plea to the electorate to pick the DMK-TMC combine.

He preferred to be a kingmaker rather than a king! Who can forget his famous TV one liner- "Not even God can save Tamilnadu if she is elected!"

Rajnikanth has acted over 150 films in many languages (including one in English- Blood stone) in a career spanning 27 years. Rajnikanth's last three movies, before Baba - Padayappa, Muthu and Badshah collectively brought in over Rs 50 crore, of these Padayappa alone is estimated to have brought in Rs 27 crore, from theatrical rights.

But the box-office ?Badshah? has a king-sized heart or was it just a big match investor? It was a brilliant career move when Rajni gifted cheques totaling a reportedly Rs 18 crore to 110 exhibitors and 10 distributors compensating them for the losses suffered due to Baba's bombing at the box-office.

The secret of Rajnikanth's brand-appeal remains a mystery: it could be his more-eccentric-than-eccentric gestures (an early one was to throw up a cigarette and catch it between his lips); it could be his staccato dialogue delivery peppered with more one liners than Terninator 2 or it could be the campy storyline of his movies. Whatever the reason, Rajnikanth still remains the ultimate superstar of south. Rajnikanth loves to keep his audience in suspense. Every time he does a film he takes along break leaving his fans to ask- "What?s next? And when?"