Rajinikanth 72nd Birthday: Interesting things fans should know about Thalaivar

On Rajnikanth's 72nd birthday, we bring you some lesser-known and exciting facts about the Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan awardee.

Getty Photos

Rajinikanth's unique path from a typical Bengaluru youngster to the 'Thalaiva' of the south cine industry continues to excite Indians. Fans and the Indian film industry are celebrating Rajinikanth's 72nd birthday today (Dec 12). On the occasion of the living legend's birthday, here are some lesser-known facts about him:

Photo Courtesy: PR Handout

Rajinikanth was born Shivaji Rao Gaekwad and was raised speaking Marathi and Kannada. Before entering the film business, Rajinikanth worked as a coolie, carpenter, and bus operator.

Getty Photos

Rajini acquired Tamil as part of his acting studies at the Madras Film Institute. Rajinikanth's wife, Latha Rangachari, is eight years his junior. Latha came to interview him for her college magazine and the two met. In 1981, they married.

Photo Courtesy: Instagram

The first two years of Rajinikanth's career were spent playing terrible characters such as an abusive spouse, a rapist, a womaniser, a pornographer, an adulterer, and so on, but it wasn't until 1977 that he got to portray a positive role in the film Bhuvana Oru Kelvikkuri.

Rajinikanth had a cameo role in the Bengali film Bhagya Debata, which was released in 1995. P Vasu's Chandramukhi, starring Rajinikanth, became the longest-running Tamil film in 2007. The film was a smash hit, and it was also dubbed in Turkish and German.

Rajinikanth has appeared in 11 Tamil remakes of Amitabh Bachchan films, including Deewar, Amar Akbar Anthony, Laawaris, and Don.

Rajinikanth earned Rs. 26 crore in performance pay for his blockbuster film Shivaji in 2007. After Jackie Chan, he was the second-best-paid actor in Asia.

Photo Courtesy: Twitter

Enthiran's success was so significant that the film was used as a case study in an IIM course called Contemporary Film Industry: A Business Perspective to analyse the business of cinema and its success. Muthu, which became a magnum masterpiece in Japan, is also covered in the course.

Photo Courtesy: PR Handout

Rajinikanth has a massive fan base. As of December 12, 2018, the celebrity has 5.1 million worldwide followers on Twitter alone. The celebrity practises Hinduism and believes in spirituality. He does yoga and meditation.

Getty Photos

He is the only Indian actor to have appeared in a lesson titled From Bus Conductor to Superstar on the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) syllabus.

For the Love of a Man, a film by Rajinikanth's fans, debuted at the 71st Venice Film Festival in 2015.

Enthiran, his sci-fi picture, was the only Tamil film to make it into IMDb's Top 50 films from across the world in 2010. It was used as a case study in an IIM-A PG optional course called Contemporary Film Industry: A Business Perspective.

Rajinikanth, who has received the Padma Vibhushan and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, was rated the most influential Indian in 2010 by Forbes India.