Rajinikanth

Rajinikanth

Rajinikanth (Dec 12, 1949) Biography Name : Rajinikanth Date Of Birth : Dec 12, 1949  (Age-62)   Family & Relations Parents : Ramoji Rao Gaekwad, Ramabai Spouse : Latha Rangachari Daughter(s) : Aishwarya, Soundarya   Mini Biography Early life Rajinikanth was born on December 12 1949 in Karnataka, India. He was the fourth child to his parents Ramabai and Ramoji Rao Gaekwad. His original name was Shivaji Rao Gaekwad. He lost his mother at the age of five. He had his schooling at the Acharya Patasala in Bangalore and then at the Vivekananda Balak Sangh, a unit of the Ramakrishna Mission. His mother tongue is Marathi, though he has not done any films in it. Before starting his career in the film industry, he had to take up all sorts of odd jobs. He served as a bus conductor for Karnataka state transport corporation in Bangalore. It was during this time that he nurtured his acting interests by performing in various stage plays. Acting career A friend helped him to join the Madras Film institute and Rajinikanth completed basic acting course in 1974 at the age of 25. He started his acting career in Kannada in the movie Kathaa Sangama directed by Puttanna Kanagal in 1976. In Tamil, he started with playing supporting roles, beginning as a cancer patient in Apoorva Raagangal (1975), directed by K. Balachander, who assigned him his stage name Rajnikanth. After several villainous roles, his first positive role was Bhuvana Oru Kelvikkuri (1979), in which Rajnikanth played a failed lover in the first half and a do-gooder in the second. After several hits in the Eighties, he played a Hindu saint in his 100th movie, Sri Raghavendra. Many others followed, among them dramas, comedies (notably Thillu Mullu) and, at the end of the eighties, action-oriented family entertainers like Velaikkaran and Manidhan. Several movies during his nineties were successful, like Muthu or Basha. At 53, his Baba released amid fanfare. Although the film grossed enough to cover its budget, it was viewed as a miserable showing and fell short of market expectations accumulating heavy losses for the distributors. Rajnikanth himself returned the losses back to the distributors who had immense faith in him. The whole affair cost him dear in terms of repute of making a comeback. Hit hard by the turnout for that movie, he was reluctant to accept any new offers until he was satisfied the script was a sure seller. Chandramukhi, a remake of the Malayalam movie Manichitrathazhu. Chandramukhi was claimed as one of the most successful Tamil films ever as it ran in theatres (particularily in one theatre in Mount Road, Chennai) for over 600 days since release and still running. His next film, Sivaji: The Boss, directed by S. Shankar will be released in 2007. Apart from Tamil, Rajnikanth has acted in over 160 movies, including Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi and Bengali and which were mostly the remakes of his Tamil movies. He has also acted in a Hollywood movie Bloodstone in 1988. Rajnikanth was awarded the Padma Bhushan award in the year 2000 and was rated as one of the most influential persons in South Asia by Asiaweek. Rajnikanth has won the Filmfare Best Actor Award, South on 2 occasions. He is the highest paid actor in India and the second highest paid actor in Asia after Jackie Chan. Rajinikanth was requested by his fans for many years to stand in the State election of Tamil Nadu, but has consistently resisted entering politics directly. Personal life Rajinikanth married Latha on 26 February 1981. The wedding took place in the holy temple at Tirupathi. He has two daughters, Aishwarya and Soundarya. Aishwarya married actor Dhanush on 18 November 2004. Rajinikanth has claimed tutelage from Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Sri Raghavendra. Rajinikanth frequently makes pilgrimages to shrines in the Himalayas and Rishikesh. Politics 1995 Announced that he is willing to support the Congress party after meeting Prime Minister Narasimha Rao. An opinion poll conducted by Kumudam magazine predicted that Congress with Rajini support may win upto 130 seats in Tamilnadu Assembly 1996 Congress decided to align with AIADMK. Rajinikanth supported DMK-TMC alliance. DMK-TMC alliance used Rajini photos extensively in political campaigning. The TMC used the Bicycle as their election symbol and used Rajiniganth riding Bicycle in Annamalai movie in their posters. Rajini uttered Even God cannot save Tamilnadu if AIADMK returns to power. 1998 Rajinikanth supported the DMK-TMC alliance in parliamentary elections. SUN TV broadcast Rajinis speech throughout the day of the election.AIADMK-BJP alliance won around 30 out of 39 seats riding on sympathy wave generated by Coimbatore bomb blasts. 2002 Rajini undertook one day fasting condemning Karnatakas decision to not to release Cauvery water to Tamilnadu. Announced that he would contribute 10 Million rupees towards interlinking of Indian rivers scheme. He met Prime Minister Vajpayee and many experts to canvass support for Interlinking Indian rivers scheme. Based on efforts taken by Rajinikanth and others, Prime minister announced committee to study River Interlinking scheme. 2004 Supported BJP-AIADMK alliance in Parliamentary elections and quoted PMKs violence and BJPs support to interlinking of Indian rivers as reason for his support. But the alliance failed to win any seats.