After MGR, the Tamil cinema looked void. There was no one to attract the masses as he did. Yes, there were a lot of heroes and they were appreciated, but not everyone was celebrated. There was something missing those days.
A few years later, a ticket collector from Bangalore joined the Madras Film Institute to pursue a diploma in acting. Lesser did he know, he is going to rule the cinema for more than three generations. Even while having a brief career as an antagonist.
People connect to movies. They relate. They root for heroes and hate the villains. A few do go a step ahead, hate even the actor who plays the villain, but in the case of Rajinikanth, most of the people fell for his style immediately.
Though K.B. sir opened the gates of cinema for the man, it was SP. Muthuraman sir who revamped his image and from then on, there was no looking back. He worked hard and hard, made film after film and almost every film did well at the box office. For years, he continued to make 15 to 20 film a year and hardly slept. His extraordinary amount of hard work made him the superstar now.
The king of style he is, whatever he did became the style factor. Those coolers, the moustache, the dressing style, the cigarette flipping, the walk, the smile, the punch dialogues made us all fall for him at least once. He redefined the swag and the mass for us all. You might not be his fan, but you would’ve admired him at least once in your lifetime.
He never stuck to a single genre role. Be it a psychopath or a pornographer he did it all. His activeness is matchless even at the age close to 70. He is like a lion.
The most beautiful thing about the superstar when it comes to acting is that his eyes convey emotions. The anger, the love, the laughter whatever might be the scene, his eyes acts along with him. He can pull off Raghavendra, he can pull off Kaala.
Both the musician enjoyed working for him and the lyricist took extra care to write about him. ‘Superstar yaarunu kaeta’ is an example for that. Also, his intro songs are inspiring, changes the mood completely. The BGMs are always acted to his plus. Whatever may be the song, his stylish walk is all enough.
He has a brilliant piece of humour and can make people laugh just by his actions. I remember laughing hard for those snake scenes.
Right from black and white time till digital, Watching his movie on theatres is the best thing for every movie lover out there. You can see three generations of people shouting when his name appears on screen with the background music. He might not give us THE best like he used to, but watching him in theatres itself is a treat for all of us. Even the name gives us all goosebumps, and it’s worth it.
There is always something about him which attracts us and which we will never understand.
He never acted in his interviews. He genuinely agreed on how he was addicted to cigarettes and how he used to fall for girls. Even though he knew that might tarnish his superstar status, but he stood for the truth. He even spoke about how he was not allowed inside a particular hotel and how he used to sit and smoke before that in the inauguration of the same hotel after renovation. Who does that?
The excellent public speaker he is, his short stories are a gem. His simplicity is yet another thing. The way he wears whatever he feels like. He never liked to show off.
I know I’m blabbering here, but I seriously don’t know what to write because he is more than just a star for all of us. He is our God when it comes to cinema.
To end this, people here are fighting for next superstar, but here he is breaking records even now. Just like he said in 2 point 0, he is the only one, super one. தலைவன் ஒருவனே.
