Rajinikanth: The demigod of Tamil cinema

Although Rajinikanth has now moved to playing roles his age but he is still the demigod of Tamil cinema.

Three decades ago, Rajinikanth was playing the role of Surya, based on the character of Karna from the epic Mahabharata in Mani Ratnam's `Thalapathi'. An early morning sunrise time shoot sequence was planned in Mysuru but by the time Rajinikanth arrived at his reporting time of 5:45 am, the sun had already risen. Ratnam decided to shoot the next morning because he wanted a particular colour tone effect for Rajinikanth's character. In 'Rajinikanth - The Definitive Biography', the actor's biographer Naman Ramachandran narrates what happened the next day when Ratnam and cinematographer Santosh Sivan arrived at the same location at 4:30 am before the rest of the unit arrived. They found a man sleeping on the bench which was part of the shoot location. When they reluctantly moved to wake him up, the duo discovered that the man was Rajinikanth. The Superstar had come much before everyone else to ensure he was available for the sunrise shoot. On April 1, when the Dada Saheb Phalke award was announced for Rajinikanth, his fans and admirers celebrated his style quotient, screen mannerisms, acting talent and ability to pack a punch in his dialogue delivery. But as this anecdote reveals, Rajinikanth is as much the Superstar on screen as off it. His willingness to walk the extra mile and down-to-earth temperament sets Rajinikanth apart, his humility is his calling card to winning hearts.