1980: I was five when I walked down the long staircase in my ancestral home wearing bell-bottoms with sleeves rolled up, imitating his long stride. The soundtrack in the background was Namma ooru Singaari (Ninaithale Innikkim 1979) My other favourite was Aagaaya Gangai (1979 Dharmayudham) I would’ve practised his walk, filmed at a low angle a zillion times, as he takes off his big black specs, twirls it and effortlessly lands it on his nose. Doordarshan’s Oliyum Oliyum brought him closer as he blends into pouring rain in Kaatril Yendhan Geetham from Johnny (1980)
1984: Alex Pandian of Moondru Mugam (1982) was a terror and my fandom was justified as he transformed himself as the gentle lover walking on the Ooty hills for ‘Kadhalin Dheepam Ondru (Thambikku Yendha Ooru 1984). By then I had seen his black and white films multiple times! I added his name R-a-j-i-n-i-k-a-n-t-h to mine and wrote it out in my school rough notebook like it was Sriramajayam! ‘How would he be outside of the silver-screen?’ was my sole thought then.
1991: I saw him in new light! Mani Ratnam’s dialogues in Thalapathy were impactful and easy to remember, the scenes so good to re-enact. By then his comedy track from Padikkathavan (1985) had become legendary and he had remade enough Amitabh Bachchan movies and established himself as the Superstar — an adage he came to own.
December 7, 1994: Poes Garden. I wanted to interview him for a magazine-competition run for colleges by a popular publishing house. After a trillion attempts, his then manager Sathyanarayana got us five minutes. Five became 60 as he answered my 50 questions — all rapid fire! His first political blockbuster Muthu (1995) was under-production and his dialogue, ‘Naan eppo varuven eppadi varuvennu yarukkum theriyathu...’ had leaked as a press headline. I met the man whose voice, style and fast-paced gestures I knew by-heart. ‘Rajinikanth is real’ was my only thought then! He was never dismissive of us; throughout the interview, he treated us like professional reporters and not college-kids.
January 12, 1995
The pinnacle of Rajinikanth’s success crown arrived in Baasha. Mannan and Annamalai (1992) had tripled his box-office stature.Rajinikanth was synonymous with style, humour, action and do-gooder roles like MGR. Baasha saw him score and like how! He always gave a rocking performance whenever he played Don or anti-hero. I had met him just a month and five days before Baasha’s release.
1999: Padayappa released to great fanfare and for the first time Rajinikanth took on a female adversary. A different idea yes but I was also upset as he espoused ‘rules about what qualifies a good woman’. My impression on my superstar altered a bit. And in
2002, Baba tanked! It took him a great deal of introspection and the way he handled that fall and the way he bounced back was admirable!
2005: Rajinikanth played to his comedy strengths with Vadivelu for company in Chandramukhi and sans political undertones, the film ran to packed houses because like me, everyone else too wanted to see him win his box-office clout back!
2010: He gave a resounding No as an answer in Enthiran, as Chitti the Robot took the box-office by storm! His love-track and villain-track were equally convincing because the good actor in him came alive in quintessential ‘Rajini style’.
2016: His Kabali won post the disastrous Linga. Rajinikanth won despite his physical and financial setbacks from the past!December 12, 2016
Today my Superstar turns 66 but he is not playing father to Amy Jackson in Enthiran-2! At the first-look launch Chitti the Robot tells Karan Johar that Sana (Aishwarya Rai from part-1) had ‘friend-zoned’ him. Cool huh? Though Rajinikanth may have aged in real-life but the Superstar from my school notebook hasn’t aged at all!
Happy Birthday Sir.
The writer is a former journalist who has worked in the film industry for several years and is passionate about movies, music and everything related to entertainment