Happy Birthday, Rajinikanth, Tweet PM Modi, Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan

New Delhi: It's Rajinkanth's birthday today and Twitter is rushing to wish one of India's most beloved stars. Rajinikanth, 66, today is having a low-key birthday and has asked fans not to celebrate. Earlier this month, his publicist tweeted: "#Thalaivar @superstarrajini requests fans not to celebrate his birthday and avoid keeping banners & posters (sic)." News agency PTI reported that the decision was taken because of the death of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. The actor-politician died in a Chennai hospital on December 5 after a long illness. This is the second year in a row that Rajinikanth has asked fans not to celebrate his birthday. Last year, it was because of the flooding in Chennai and around.

On Twitter, birthday wishes were posted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rajinikanth's Hum co-star and old friend Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and cricketer Virender Sehwag:
 
 
 
 

Rajinikanth has responded to many of the messages, thanking his friends and well-wishers.

Rajinikanth's daughter Soundarya also tweeted:
 

Rajinikanth, real name Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, was born on December 12, 1950. He famously worked as a bus conductor before joining the Madras Film Institute. In 1975, he was cast in director K Balachander's film Apoorva Raagangal with Kamal Haasan. Over the next few decades, Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan often co-starred in films, usually with the former taking the villain's role. One such movie was 1976's Moondru Mudichu, in which the female lead was played by a young Sridevi.

Soon, Rajinikanth was being cast as the hero and appeared in blockbuster films like Billa (1980). He also made films in Hindi like Hum and Chaalbaaz, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and even English, starring in the obscure 1988 movie Bloodstone.

Rajinikanth's last film, this year's Kabali, broke several records upon release. He will next be seen in 2.0, the sequel to his 2010 blockbuster Enthiran. 2.0, in which Rajinikanth plays a double role, co-stars Akshay Kumar as the villain and is expected in October 2017.