LIFE HISTORY

Rajinikanth (Tamil: ரஜினிகாந்த்; Kannada: ರಜನೀಕಾಂತ್; Marathi: रजनीकांत) (born Shivaji Rao Gaekwad on December 12, 1950 in Bangalore, Karnataka, India)[2][1] is an Indian film actor and one of the most influential and bankable movie stars in Indian cinema. Rajinikanth's mass popularity and appeal is largely drawn from his mannerisms and stylized delivery of dialogue. He received India's third highest honour, the Padma Bhushan, for his contribution to Indian cinema.[3] Apart from his film career, he is a well known philanthropist and also serves as a notable influence in the politics of Tamil Nadu. Other than acting, Rajinikanth worked as a screenwriter, film producer, and also a playback singer.
Popularily referred to and credited in films as "Superstar" and often called as thalaivar (meaning leader in Tamil), Rajinikanth debuted as an actor in 1975 under the direction of K. Balachander in supporting roles. He was later favored in portraying antagonistic characters and gradually rose to acting in lead roles. Being a well known film artist to several regional film industries of India, he also appeared in the cinemas of other nations, including American cinema. He was reportedly paid .26 crore (about $5.3 million USD as of January 2009) for his latest blockbuster Sivaji: The Boss,[4] making him the highest paid actor in Asia after Jackie Chan.[5]
Contents[hide]
1 Early life
2 Career
2.1 Debut and recognition: 1975-1979
2.2 Gaining popularity: 1980-1988
2.3 The superstar decade: 1989-1999
2.4 Indulging in politics: 2002
2.5 Making milestones: 2005-present
2.6 Future projects
3 Awards and honours
4 Notable filmography
5 Personal life
6 Politics
6.1 Supported political parties
6.2 Cauvery river strikes
6.3 2008 Mock party
7 Criticism
8 Philanthropy
9 References
10 External links
//

Early life
Rajinikanth was born as Shivaji Rao Gaekwad in a Maratha family in Bangalore, Karnataka. His ancestors are from the village of Nachikuppam in Krishnagiri district, Tamil Nadu.[6] He was the fourth child of his parents, Jijabai and Ramojirao Gaekwad, a police constable.[1] He lost his mother at the age of eight. He attended elementary school at the Acharya Paathshala in Basavanagudi, Bangalore and then at the Vivekananda Balaka Sangha. Rajinikanth struggled a lot during his early age because of his family's low income. Although his mother-tongue is Marathi,[7][8] he has not yet acted in any Marathi films.
He worked with various jobs in Bangalore and also attended a theatre for stage plays. Before starting his career in the film industry, he used to practice stunts at the Rama Hanuman Temple at a hill near his house. He then primarily worked as a bus conductor for the Bangalore Transport Service in Bangalore.[9] His charisma and style were noted by the passengers who travelled with him and gave him suggestions in becoming an actor. It was during this time that he nurtured his acting interests by performing in various stage plays.[9]

Career:
Rajinikanth joined the Madras Film Institute in 1973 along with a fellow bus driver and completed a basic course in acting. In the film institute he was helped by his Vice Principal, A. Prabhakaran.[10] [11]
Rajinikanth has acted in over 150 films, which includes Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi English and Bengali films. Rajinikanth made a foray into Bollywood with Andha Kanoon but did not make as much of an impact as he had in the south. He still appeared in several Hindi films, such as Chaalbaaz, Uttar Dakshan, Geraftaar and Hum. He made his debut in an American film, in a supporting role, with the movie Bloodstone in 1988 with much fanfare in India at the time of its release. However, the movie was unsuccessful in the United States. He also made brief stints in Germany and Japanese film industries. His film Muthu was dubbed into Japanese and later turned out to become a major hit in the country, ultimately creating a huge Japanese fan-following for him. In 2005, his film Chandramukhi was dubbed in German and released in all German-speaking nations.

Debut and recognition: 1975-1979
Rajinikanth's first film was in Tamil cinema, where he was initially casted in supporting roles, debuting as a cancer patient in Apoorva Raagangal in 1975.[12] The film was directed by K. Balachander, who is constantly referred to by Rajinikanth as his own "guru" or mentor. The following year, Rajinikanth acted in his first Kannada film, Katha Sangama, directed by Puttanna Kanagal. Though Rajinikanth refers to director K. Balachander as his mentor, it was director S. P. Muthuraman who actually revamped Rajinikanth’s image entirely and made films that portrayed Rajinikanth as man of the masses and as a superstar. Muthuraman first experimented with him in a positive role in Bhuvana Oru Kelvikkuri (1977) at a time when Rajinikanth was making waves among the tamil film audience as a dreaded villain playing a rough, thug in most of the movies. Rajinikanth made his debut as a hero in a Tamil movie, Bhairavi(1978) and the film was a decent hit. Around this time director J.Mahendran made a movie, Mullum Malarum(1978) with Rajinikanth in the lead role. The film was a huge hit and made Rajinikanth a popular actor among women and family audience. The success of Bhuvana Oru Kelvikkuri prompted Muthuraman to make a mushy melodrama with Rajinikanth as a hero sacrificing everything for his siblings in Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai (1979). These films were the turning points in Rajinikanth’s career; he changed from an actor who merely enthralled the audiences to one who could also evoke emotions. The acceptance of Rajinikanth sans his stylized mannerisms proved he had at last become a "star" from a "common actor." His film roles were mainly as a villain during the period 1975 to 1977, co-starring frequently with Kamal Haasan as the protagonist, in movies like 16 Vayadhinilae, Moondru Mudichu and Avargal.



The superstar decade: 1989-1999
The vast majority of his movies released during the nineties were extremely successful, notably Thalapathy, Mannan, Annamalai, Uzhaippali, Veera, Baasha Muthu,[16] Arunachalam and Padayappa. Rajinikanth wrote his first screenplay and acted as a special appearance in the film Vali(1993) which however failed to make an impact at the box office. His cult classic Baasha, released in 1995, went on to become a massive blockbuster and is routinely touted by his fans and critics alike as the movie which elevated him from being just another very popular actor with loads of charisma to an almost demigod status in the eyes of the masses. His film Muthu was the first Tamil film to be dubbed into Japanese as Muthu: The Dancing Maharajah and became very popular in Japan.[17][18] Throughout this decade, Rajinikanth established himself as a box office phenomenon; all of the films mentioned in this era were all formulaic mass entertainers which routinely succeed in box office. It can be argued that it was also during this time that Rajinikanth started to converge with politics, whether that confluence was voluntary or not is debatable, but the objective fact cannot be disputed that as his films began to take on a whole new dimension in terms of expectations, hype and revenue, his political clout also steadily rose with the cinematic tide as well. This trend began with the release of Annamalai in 1992 and arguably climaxed during the time of Padayappa's release in 1999. Being his 150th film, Padayappa, directed by K. S. Ravikumar, undoubtedly turned out to be the largest blockbuster in his career.

[ Indulging in politics: 2002
The new millennium began very well for Rajinikanth; Padayappa had rewritten previous box office records. Finally, after more than a three year sabbatical from cinema, at 52 years of age, he starred in his home production, Baba which released on August 15, 2002 amidst much fanfare and extreme hype. The film was a poor grosser box-office as it had failed miserably to meet the expectations due to a very weak screenplay, which Rajinikanth himself had written, his second stint at screenplay writing after Valli. The thin screenplay revolved around the story about a gangster who later engages in spirituality and when compared to his previous film, Padayappa, it was a colossal disappointment. Although the film grossed enough to cover its budget, it was viewed as a tremendous loss when compared to his previous box office successes throughout his career. It fell short of market expectations and the high bids reportedly translated to heavy losses for the distributors. Rajinikanth himself repaid the losses incurred by the distributors.[19][20] Rajinikanth thereafter reported that he was to quit acting, hence taking part in social and political activities.

[ Awards and honours
Rajinikanth was named as one of the influential persons in South Asia by Asiaweek.[29] He has won a Filmfare Best Tamil Actor Award for the film Nallavanuku Nallavan in 1984.[30] Rajinikanth, despite these awards, has not yet received a National Film Award.
Between 1977 and 2005, Rajinikanth received several awards from Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, Filmfare Awards, Cinema Express and Filmfans Association for his on-screen performances and off-screen contributions in writing and producing. He has received awards in the Best Actor category for his performance in the films Sivaji, Chandramukhi, Padayappa, Peddarayudu, Baasha, Muthu, Annamalai, Thalapathy, Velaikaran, Sri Raghavendra, Nallavanuku Nallavan, Moondru Mugam, Enkeyo Ketta Kural, Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai, Mullum Malarum and 16 Vayathinile. 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.
He has also received other honours such as the Raj Kapoor Award in 2007 from the Government of Maharashtra. He was named and honoured with the Padma Bhushan award, India's third highest civilian honour, in 2000 from the Government of India.[3] In September 2005, Rajinikanth won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor for his role in the film Chandramukhi. Recently, he was selected as the Indian Entertainer of the Year for 2007 by NDTV, competing against the likes of Shah Rukh Khan and Shilpa Shetty.[31]

[edit] Notable filmography
For a complete list of films, see Rajinikanth filmography.
Year
Title
Role(s)
Language
Notes
1975
Apoorva Raagangal
Tamil
1976
Moondru Mudichu
Tamil
1977
16 Vayathinile
Parattai
Tamil
1978
Mullum Malarum
Kali
Tamil
1979
Ninaithale Inikkum
Tamil
1980
Billa
Billa,Raja
Tamil
Portrayed a dual role
Johnny
Johnny
Tamil
Murattu Kalai
Kalaiyan
Tamil
1981
Thee
Tamil
Thillu Mullu
Indran,Chandran
Tamil
Portrayed a dual role
1982
Moondru Mugam
Alex Pandian,Arun,John
Tamil
Portrayed three roles
1984
Nallavanuku Nallavan
Tamil
Winner: Filmfare Best Tamil Actor Award
1985
Sri Raghavendra
Raghavendra Swami
Tamil
1991
Thalapathi
Surya
Tamil
1992
Annamalai
Annamalai
Tamil
1995
Baasha
Manick Baasha
Tamil
Muthu
Muthu,Ejamaan
Tamil
Winner: Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best ActorPortrayed a dual role
1999
Padayappa
Aaru Padayappan
Tamil
Winner: Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor
2005
Chandramukhi
Dr. Saravanan,Vettaiyan
Tamil
Winner: Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best ActorPortrayed a dual role
2007
Sivaji: The Boss
Sivaji Arumugam
Tamil
Nominated: Filmfare Best Tamil Actor Award
2010
Endhiran
Vaseegaran
Tamil
Filming

[edit] Personal life
He married Latha Parthasarathy, sister of actor Y. G. Mahendran's wife, on February 26, 1981, at the age of 31 in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh and they have two daughters named Aishwarya Rajinikanth and Soundarya Rajinikanth. Latha currently runs a school named The Ashram. His elder daughter Aishwarya Rajinikanth married actor Dhanush on November 18, 2004 and they have one son named Yathra.[32] His second daughter, Soundarya Rajinikanth, works in the film industry as a director, producer and graphic designer.
Apart from being a well known actor, he shows a keen interest and devotion to religious activities and spiritualism. He often takes periodic trips to the Himalayas where, according to the actor, it is a place that provides peace. He also visits Tirupati prior to the release of his films