Rajinikanth’s movies inspired me: Leander Paes

Rajinikanth’s movies inspired me: Leander Paes

There seems to be no end to the number of people who have been inspired to try their hand at acting in a movie by our very own Superstar — India’s longest standing Tennis sensation Leander Paes now finds himself on the list, just ahead of the release of his debut film, Rajdhani Express. “I have seen plenty of movies by Rajinikanth and I have to admit that I was inspired to enter movies because of him,” he said.

In the city for the Chennai Open, the 39-year-old Tennis star ensured that he made time to pop into the M A Chidambaram stadium to cheer the Indian cricket team on and then stopped off to make a publicity run for his movie. Luckily for him, he picked the ever-packed Express Avenue, on a Sunday evening at that, to stage a late but fashionable entry.

Whether his long mane (Paes has let his hair grow out again, as he reportedly plays a terrorist in the film) pulled the female fans towards the atrium or not, his comment about being inspired by Rajinikanth certainly got the masses going — despite it being a promotional event for a Hindi film.

“I have been exploring opportunities and I feel that I’m open to acting in movies in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada,” he said, raising interest in the possibility of seeing Paes in a South indian movie soon. Though he won’t be playing with Mahesh Bhupathi as his partner for this edition of the Chennai Open, he looks fit and confident ahead of his doubles game, “People have always been supportive of my career and success through all these years of tennis, and I hope that they will extend the same support for my movie career as well,” he signed off.

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