46 years of Rajinism

Cigarette, Coolers, Towel, when most of us hear these words one man comes to our mind. He gave an identity to every property he held, he made it special. Audience wanted to smoke because that man smoked. People started wearing coolers because they wanted to feel like him, everyone must have done the towel thing which he did at least once in their life. The man I am referring to is none other than the only one super one “THALAIVAR SUPERSTAR RAJINIKANTH”.

IMPORTANT EVENTS

In 1975 K.Balachander introduced Rajinikanth through Apoorva Raagangal. He played a small role in that movie but the audience noticed something unique about him.

A review from The Hindu noted that: "Newcomer Rajinikanth is dignified and impressive"

He continued acting in negative roles and guest roles for a couple of years, through that time he became popular among the audience mainly because of his stylish acting and his cigarette flipping. In 1977 With 16 vayadhinile he made a name for himself as “Paratta”, even though he was a villain in that movie, the audience cheered for him. Bairavi(1978) was the first movie where Rajinikanth was cast as a solo hero, that movie unofficially earned him the superstar status.

During this phase of his career, Rajinikanth abruptly chose to quit acting, now this was the first time people said ‘Rajinikanth is done’ ‘Rajinikanth will not be shining anymore’. Some people close to him coaxed him to return. He came back with a bang; he came back with Billa which became one of the most successful movies in his career. Billa became an iconic character. The success of Billa established Rajinikanth as the top star of South Indian cinema, overtaking Kamal Haasan. Throughout the decade he did many successful commercial movies and cemented his place as a top star in south Indian cinema.

In 1991 he starred in Maniratnam’s Thalapathi which was a huge commercial success. Annamalai (1992) was the first movie that officially gave Rajinikanth the Superstar title. In 1995 an important event took place, Baasha was released and that movie turned Rajinikanth from a top star into a demigod. Baasha inspired many movies, we can clearly see the similarities in some movies. After that he did Muthu which became the first movie to be screened in Japan. Muthu's success in Japan led American news magazine Newsweek to comment in a 1999 article that Rajinikanth had "supplanted Leonardo DiCaprio as Japan's trendiest heartthrob". Muthu’s Box office record in Japan is still unbeatable. After the great success of Padayappa in 1999 there was a pause in Rajinikanth’s career.

In 2002 he came back with Baba which was a huge failure and people started saying that “Rajinikanth is done’ again. Rajinikanth himself repaid the losses incurred by the distributors. With Baba’s huge loss there was another pause for two years, this time he came back with a bang with Chandramukhi which became a huge success and set the record of longest running Tamil film. Rajinikanth collaborated with Director Shankar for the first time and made Sivaji in 2007 which was a huge success commercially and critically. At the age of 61 man decided to Enthiran

"Is there anything left to be said about a man who, at 61, still manages to star in one of the most successful films of the year, not just in the south, but across India? Superstar Rajni once again proved that he is the actor with the Midas touch with the sci-fi flick Endhiran, where he played an ambitious scientist, a naive robot and an evil android bent on destroying the world [...] He did it with such aplomb that he's been the talk of the town for months. He might do one film in two years, but when he does, he pulls out all the stops."

—Rediff.com on Rajinikanth's performance in Enthiran (2010)

2011 was a difficult year for both Rajinikanth and his fans, it was the year he was hospitalised. He was in a really bad state health wise but recovered in two weeks and Linga, Kochadayan both failed horribly. With that people once again started saying ‘Rajinikanth is done’ (some people just wanted to watch him fail) as usual when everyone wanted him to fail then again, he came back with Kabali which was a huge success and he continued with Kaala, 2.0, Petta and Darbar. As Darbar received a lot of negative reviews, maybe it is time for the same people to say ‘Rajinikath is done’ so that he can give a comeback in Annatthe.

WHY RAJINISM IS DIFFERENT

Many actors do the same thing that Rajinikanth does, so what separates Rajinikanth from actors nowadays? Well as said nowadays actors do what Rajinikanth did. He found the way for success and created a path to success and everyone followed him. Rajnikanth brought his own style to Tamil cinema and created history with it. Once he did that it was easy for the other actors to follow that. (Well not easy, easier than Rajinikanth)

M.G.R. was a big star, Sivaji was a big star, Kamal hassan was a big star but no one wanted to become the next M.G.R, no one wanted to become the next Sivaji Ganeshan, No one wanted to become the next Kamal hassan. No. Every actor in Tamil cinema wanted to be the next Superstar, everyone wanted to be the next Rajinikanth because that was the first the name became a brand internationally. Every actor wanted to sit on that throne, only later everyone realised the throne will never belong to someone else.

Rajinikanth didn’t have one of the biggest strengths that the new actors have nowadays – social media. Social media helps an actor so much in this modern way to grow his/her popularity. A person can become famous within weeks with the help of social media. Rajinikanth didn’t have that, he had to rely on his acting skills and his movies without those he would have failed. 

Rajinikanth didn’t rule Tamil cinema for 2 to 3 years. It has been 46 years since he stepped into Tamil cinema and he still is the king of kings and he will forever be one.

Many 2k kids know him as an old washed-up actor. Rajinikanth will at least be a minor factor behind the success of every commercial that has ever been made. Without Rajinikanth Tamil cinema won’t have the same commercial scope that it has today. Now every movie gets released in many countries. Muthu and Enthiran are the reason for that, it is because of those movies now Tamil cinema has a market in other countries too. For that we should forever be thankful to Thalaivar Superstar Rajinikanth.

செங்கதிர் வானில்  சிற்றொளி கீற்றாய் சிரித்ததோர் கருஞ்சூரியன்

 கன்னட கல்லிக்காட்டில் ஓட்டுநராய் களை எடுக்கப்பட்ட அவ்விதை

 திரை வானை திகழ வைக்க ஒளிப்பிழம்பாய் புறப்பட்டது

 பாரதியின் அக்னிக் குஞ்சாய் பாரெங்கும் அனல் வீசி

 தன் பார்வையிலே பொறி பறக்க

 முரட்டு காளையாய் 46 ஆண்டுகளை கடந்தும் வலம் வருகிறது

 அதைக் கூர் தீட்டிய வாளாய் சிலர் சுழற்ற

பட்ட இடமெல்லாம் பறந்தன

 பார்க்கும் பார்வையாளர் வியந்தனர்

 நடிகனுக்கென இருந்த ஓர் இலக்கணத்தை உடைத்தெறிந்து

 தன்னைப் போன்றோரும் அசாத்தியத்தை சாத்தியமாக்க வழி வகுத்து

 எவராலும் எட்டிப்பிடிக்க முடியா தூரத்தில் உயர் வானில் உதித்ததோர் சூரியன்

 திரை அரங்கில் விருந்தளித்து என் மன அறையை நெகிழ வைக்கும் பெயரே

                ரஜினிகாந்த்...

                                        -சிவபாரதி

 உமது படைப்புகள் அனைத்திற்கும் நன்றி தலைவா

Thank you for all the work you have done for Tamil cinema and love you Thalaiva.

DEDICATED TO THALAIVAR AND ALL THALAIVAR FANS

Hariesh (August 17, 2021)