Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, popularly known as Rajnikanth, is the megastar of Kollywood or Tamil film industry. He is a powerhouse of performance and till date unrivalled. Born to Marathi parents he did all kinds of odd jobs before making his foray into films. He also worked as a conductor for the Bangalore Transport Service in Bangalore. There he used to entertain the riders with his mannerisms. While he was doing all kinds of jobs to support himself he went ahead and nurtured his talent by acting in several stage plays. A man who once had trouble to make both ends meet, today he is one of the highest paid actors in Asia after Jackie Chan.
With the help from his friends he attended the Madras Film Institute in 1973 for a course in acting. His first break came in 1975 with the Tamil film, Apoorva Raagangal. Here he played the role of a terminally ill person. He was, however, part of the supporting cast. The movie was directed by K. Balachander. His next film was in Kannada, Katha Sangama, directed by Puttanna Kanagal. S. P. Muthuraman`s Bhuvana Oru Kelvikkuri (1977) helped him to exploit his histrionic skills. He teamed up with the same director and made Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai (1979). These films including J. Mahendran`s Mullum Malarum (1978) established Rajnikanth as a complete star in the South Indian films. His forte won him fans that were to last for a lifetime.
The best ting about Rajnikanth was he never hesitated to experiment with his roles and his audience accepted him in all kinds of roles. Apart from playing the virtuous hero he had also enacted the part of the villain with Kamal Hassan in the lead roles. Thus Rajnikanth emerged as a star in the film industry whose image was not restricted to a particular school of playacting. His fans uninhibitedly accepted him in all kinds of avatars. His later films include Billa, Murattukaalai, Pokkiri Raja, Thanikattu Raja, Naan Mahaan Alla, Pudukavithai, Netrikan, Anbulla Rajinikanth, Moondru Mugam, Padikkathavan, Thee, Velaikkaran, Dharmathin Thalaivan, Mr. Bharath, Sri Raghavendra and Maaveeran. These films in the 1980s made Rajnikanth popular with cinema going crowd.
Rajnikanth`s films during the 1990s were also immensely successful. Thalapathy, Annamalai, Uzhaippali, Baasha, Muthu, Arunachalam and Padayappa are some of the hit films from this era. In 1993 Valli was released. Rajnikanth, for the first time, wrote the screenplay for this film. His popularity was no longer limited within the sub continent. Films, like, Muthu were dubbed into Japanese. The film, which established Rajnikanth as the unrivalled star of Tamil films, is the 1995 blockbuster, Baasha. It completely changed the star status of the actor. From a popular actor he was hailed as a god and worshipped by his fans.
After a series of flops in the late 90s the critics had almost written off Rajnikanth. But the star rewrote box office history with Chandramukhi in 2005. His latest release has been Shivaji: the Boss, one of the top grosser in 2007. In his film career till date Rajnikanth has acted in over 200 films. He has acted in Tamil, Telegu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi and Bengali films and needless to say, with one of the top-notch directors. He has also been immensely successful in Bollywood with flicks, such as, like Chaalbaaz with Sridevi, Uttar Dakshin, Geraftaar and Hum.
In his lifetime he has received honors from the Filmfare twice for his films Baasha and Muthu. Apart from this he has also received awards from Tamil Nadu State Government Award, Cinema Express, Filmfans Association, Filmfare and others for his on-screen performances and off-screen contributions in writing and producing. He received an award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Bhuvana Oru Kelvi Kuri. He has also received awards in Best Story Writer and Best Producer categories for Valli. Other awards include Raj Kapoor Award (2007) from the Government of Maharashtra, Padma Bhushan (2000) from Government of India. He was selected as the Indian Entertainer of the Year for 2007 by NDTV, leaving behind the likes of Shah Rukh Khan.
