Happy Birthday Rajinikanth: Top 10 lesser-known facts every Thalaiva fan should know!

Born in a Maratha family in Bangalore, Rajinikanth’s real name is Shivaji Rao Gaekwad. The superstar was named after the great Maratha warrior king, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj

Rajinikanth is arguably the first pan-Indian star whose popularity spans across from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. From flipping and rolling glasses several times before putting them on to rolling cigarettes in air and catching them with lips, Rajinikanth does everything in his own style and his fans totally love it! His on-screen shenanigans, powerful dialogue delivery, charismatic persona and his mannerism is what makes him larger than life. Addressed as ‘Thalaiva’ by his ardent fans, Rajinikanth is the only undisputed superstar whose mere screen presence is enough to pull crowds to the cinema halls. The actor who has been a part of Indian cinema for over five decades, Rajinikanth is being worshipped as God among his fans and his giant-sized cutouts and hoardings are put up before every release of his films. As today marks the 74th birthday of the legendary superstar, here are some interesting facts about the actor that every Rajini fan must know!

Also Read: Rajinikanth praises 'Kantara'; Rishab Shetty responds, 'You inspire me to do more local stories'

1. Born in a Maratha family in Bangalore, Rajinikanth’s real name is Shivaji Rao Gaekwad. The superstar was named after the great Maratha warrior king, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
2. At home, he was brought up speaking Marathi and Kannada. He learnt Tamil while pursuing diploma in acting from Madras Film Institute.
3. While this is no secret that Rajinikanth worked as a bus conductor before becoming an actor, very few know that he also worked as coolie and carpenter to make ends meet. 
4. One of the biggest celebrated superstar, before starting-off as an hero, Rajinikanth began his acting career by essaying villainous characters on the silver screen. From playing abusive husband to a womanizer, Rajini has done it all. In 1977, he got a chance to play a positive character with the film, ‘Bhuvana Oru Kelvikuri’.
5. The actor who is an inspiration for millions of people and budding actors across the country, for him, Bollywood’s living legend, Amitabh Bachchan is his inspiration. So much so that he acted in around 11 Tamil remakes of Amitabh’s films.
6. In his career spanning over 50 years, the Thalaiva has acted in 170 plus movies approximately.
7. A proud recipient of Padma Vibhushan and Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the superstar was named by Forbes India as the ‘most influential Indian’ in 2010.
8. For the unversed, Rajinikanth happens to be the only Indian actor who has featured in the Central Board of Secondary (CBSE) syllabus in a lesson titled as, ‘From Bus Conductor to Superstar’.
9. 'For the Love of A Man’, a film based on Rajinikanth’s fandom was premiered at the 71^st Venice Film Festival in 2015.
10.  In 2010, his sci-fi film, ‘Enthiran’ became the only Tamil film to make it into IMDb’s Top 50 films from around the globe. The Rajinikanth-starrer sci-fi drama has apparently been included as a case study in an IIM-A PG elective course.

Also Read: Superstar Rajinikanth to make a cameo appearance in daughter Aishwarya's 'Lal Salaam'

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