Happy Birthday Rajinikanth: His upcoming film 'Kaala' is expected to release in 2018
Superstar Rajinikanth was born on December 12, 1950 in a Maratha family in Karnataka. He turns 67 today. Starting out as a bus conductor and growing to become one of the highest paid film stars, Rajinikanth's journey is a source of inspiration. His on-screen persona, larger-than-life portrayal of characters and off-screen simplicity has earned him fans across the world. On Rajinikanth birthday, we bring you some of the lesser known and interesting facts about the Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan awardee:
1. The real name of Rajinikanth is Shivaji Rao Gaekwad. He was brought up speaking Marathi and Kannada.
2. Before entering the film industry, Rajinikanth used to work as a coolie, carpenter and a bus conductor.
3. Rajinikanth pursued diploma in acting from Madras Film Institute and also learnt Tamil during his course.
4. Latha Rangachari, Rajinikanth's wife is 8 years younger than him. The two met when Latha came to interview him for her college magazine. They got married in 1981. Latha runs a Chennai-based school called 'The Ashram' now and the couple has two daughters Aishwarya and Soundarya.
5. In the first two years of Rajinikanth's career, he got only negative roles to play - of an abusive husband, a rapist, a womaniser, a pornographer, an adulterer etc, but it was in 1977 when he first got to enact in a positive role in the movie Bhuvana Oru Kelvikkuri.
6. Rajinikanth has starred in eleven Tamil remakes of Amitabh Bachchan films like Deewar, Amar Akbar Anthony, Laawaris and Don among others.
7. For his blockbuster movie Shivaji, Rajinikanth received an acting fee of Rs 26 crore in 2007. This made him the second highest paid actor in Asia after Jackie Chan.
8. His elder daughter Aishwarya is married to actor Dhanush. His younger daughter Soundarya is married to industrialist Ashwin Ramkumar.
9. Rajinikanth commands a huge fan following. On Twitter alone, the superstar has 4.38 million world-wide followers as of December 12, 2017.
10. Rajinikanth is a follower of Hinduism and a strong believer of spirituality. He practices yoga and meditation.
On Rajinikanth birthday, his fan clubs organise blood donation, eye donation camps and also distribute food for the poor. Happy Birthday Rajinikanth!