Topic started by Seithigal (@ 202.184.134.8) on Tue Jul 30 05:07:08 .
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Malaysian newspaper The Star carries this article: http://star-ecentral.com/news/story.asp?file=/2002/7/30/movies/rajinikanth&sec=movies
In case, you are unable to read, here is a reproduction of the article:
Tuesday, July 30, 2002
Integrity and simplicity
THERE are fan associations across Tamil Nadu dedicated to him. Many more than for any other Tamil star, past or present. Periyar Thalivar Rajini, Big Boss Rajini, Rajinikanth, the carpenter-turned-coolie-turned-conductor-turned megastar says: “I couldn’t have asked God for more.”
In his first film, afflicted by a terminal illness, Rajinikanth’s character was supposed to die. “It wasn’t a very auspicious start to any actor’s career,” recalls Rajinikanth. “But it was my first film, and I was on a lookout for work.” The year was 1975, and the film was Apoorva Raagangal. “No one paid much attention to me,” he adds.
Rajinikanth: 'I believe in entertaining people, who pay their hard-earned money to come and see me, so that they get some pleasure out of it.'
In the land of Tamil cinema, this Maharashtrian who worked with Karnataka transport was everything the hero should not be – dark, with wild hair and stocky build. Which perhaps explains why he was cast as an anti-hero by his mentor. From 15 minutes in his first film, Balachander kept casting him in films that seemed to be made for him. While he was the central character he was neither a typical hero, nor did he fit the bill of an archetypal villain.
Gestures made the star
But his rise to cult status began when he trademarked his own gestures. The bewildered audience looked on in wonder as he made his cigarettes do somersaults, flipped his wrist and his sunglasses and smoked a bidi. Here was something not seen before. Along with that, the interesting roles he played, created a niche for him.
“After my debut film, Balchander sir offered me Moondru Mudichu,” he reveals. “It had me in a full-fledged role. The other actor in the film was Kamal Haasan, who dies in the first half.” The role was of an anti-hero, who kills his own friend out of sheer jealousy, because the girl he loves has fallen in love with his friend. This was the film in which he introduced several new gimmicks.
The actor is known equally for his famous one liners. Like in Badshah, which had him uttering: “If I say something once, it’s like I’ve said it a hundred times.” His fame is equivalent of Amitabh Bachchan’s and then too, his fans would insist that his character and roles are more enduring and fascinating.
One of the secrets of his lasting fame is that at each stage of his career he was typecast in a new role. His first image revamp came with Bhuvana Oru Kelvikkuri in 1987 in which the director, Mathuraman cast him as a villain in the first half, and a refined man in the second, who accepts a woman and her child, after they have been ditched by her lover.
From that point onwards, the fate of producers, and to an extent the entire film industry, hinged on him alone. This sudden fame and high pressure, however, gave a lot of stress to Rajini. And he decided to opt out. From the simple demands of a “Vespa scooter, a packet of Wills filter cigarettes and a one-bedroom flat”, the transition to a superstar was very radical.
Reflecting, he says: “That, I thought, was the ultimate happiness. And then suddenly I was showered with name, fame and money. I had everything I had never even dared to desire. I had much more than what I wanted. But it gave me no happiness. It shattered even my illusions. My needs, I suddenly realised, were not as simple as a scooter or a pack of Wills filter cigarettes or a car or a bungalow. The problem was much more severe.”
A low for Rajini
He went into depression, had a nervous breakdown, and had to be hospitalised for six months. “I couldn’t come to terms with my success. I took to drinking. I used to work 18 hours a day and the rest of the time, I only drank and drank,” he recalls those dark days. “There came a stage when even one bottle was not enough. It did nothing for me. From one bottle, it became one-and-a-half. Even that didn’t do the trick. I was driving myself to breaking point, but I couldn’t stop myself. Nothing interested me enough to pull me out of this rut. Till the nervous breakdown. I broke loose.”
It was Balachander, ultimately, who coaxed him into staying on. “Sir told me to take on few films, only the ones I really wanted to act in,” says Rajinikanth. That’s how the second phase of his life – consisting of films like K. Balaji’s Billa, followed by a row of hits like Pokkiri Raja, Thanikkattu Raja, Naan Mahaan Alla and Moondru Mugham, in which he took on a triple role – began.
On the advice of his “Sir” he stuck to the one-film-at-a-time formula. “I don’t want to overwork myself,” he says. “I have achieved whatever I wanted to do.” His last film Padayappa was released in 1999, in the 25th year of his career.
As an actor, Rajinikanth’s greatest asset, apart from his style, is his sense of humour and comic timing. Just as Amitabh Bachchan is popular for his drunken soliloquies, Rajinikanth is famous for his comic encounters with snakes, repeated umpteen times.
He confesses: “I completely play to the gallery. I believe in entertaining people, who pay their hard-earned money to come and see me, so that they get some pleasure out of it.”
In the early 1980s, Rajinikanth made a foray into Bollywood with Andhaa Kanoon, a super-hit. He did a couple of more films, including Chalbaaz with Sridevi. “But I could not concentrate on Hindi films because I had a lot of work back home and the Hindi film industry is very undisciplined and chaotic,” he opined.
One of the more important films in his career was Mani Ratnam’s Dalapathi, in which he played a don, who was also a Godfather and a messiah to a lot of people. “Working with Mani Ratnam was a dream, and Dalapathi was one of the best films I acted in,” he says.
In 2000, his film Muthu made him an overnight star in Japan. Till Muthu happened, the Japanese’ exposure to Indian cinema was restricted to Satyajit Ray’s films, which were screened at festivals from time to time.
Kamal Haasan is probably Rajinikanth’s only competition at the box office and they were last seen together in Ninethaley Innikum. The two still meet each other, to compare notes, perhaps, and exchange goodwill.
My home, my ashram
In his personal life, Rajinikanth is very spiritual. “I was brought up by the Ramakrishna Mission and it’s from there that I have inherited this religious frame of mind,” he says. He is involved in a lot of charities, along with his wife Latha, who hails from an elite Iyengar family. They got married in 1980, even though her parents were opposed to the match. Their home today is a palatial bungalow in Poes garden, Chennai, just next to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha’s bungalow.
Latha is a classical musician who runs a music school, The Ashram. His entire family, including his daughters Aishwarya and Soundarya, keeps away from the limelight. Though now, his elder daughter Aishwarya has decided to enter films. “But she is more interested in direction,” he says.
Rajini neither shows ego nor puts on airs. During breaks, he never ever rushes to his air-conditioned make-up room. Instead, he prefers to sleep on the sets, even without a pillow, merely covering his eyes with a damp piece of cloth. He never comes to functions with a retinue behind him, and prefers to drive his own car.
The quintessential rebel, his private life is very similar to his portrayals on screen. He never forgets a friend. Not one to forget the past, he constantly talks about his days as a bus conductor in the Karnataka Road Transport Corporation. “Yesterday I was a conductor, today I’m a star. Tomorrow, what I’ll be, only God knows. It is always essential not to forget your past. It is my friends from the Corporation who gave me money to carry on, when I was struggling in Madras.”
Rajinikanth’s idea of relaxation when he is in Bangalore is to call his old friends over for a drink. They don’t discuss films or his superstar status. He is extremely fond of drinking and can debate for hours on the philosophy of Raghavendra Swami or Ramanna Maharishi. “As I see it, enjoying the pleasures of the world are part of the trappings of my worldly avatar,” he laughs, “while my trips to the various ashrams and Rishikesh is my spiritual yogi avatar.”
His phenomenal success and his sway over the masses have led to speculation of his entering politics, especially since he has clashed head-on several times with his famous Poes Garden neighbour, state chief minister Jayalalitha. There has been a lot of pressure on him to enter politics. Actor-turned-journalist Cho Ramaswamy says: “Rajinikanth is the best person for chief-ministership because he has basic integrity and simplicity, a quality that is very rare these days.”
Rajinikanth himself demurs from joining politics. “I would not deny there are several attempts to induct me into politics. But I have made enough money out of acting. Why should I join politics? If it is to serve the people, I am of the opinion that first you should serve yourself and your family and friends and only later on should you think of serving others.” – Leisure Media News
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