~this is happening in Our lifetime ~

Year 1969 :
The Karnataka State BTS bus no. 10 A between Majestic to Srinagar ( two cities in Bengaluru) was crowded with passengers and the 20 years old bus conductor Shivaji Rao Gaekwad was busy giving tickets to the passengers and the driver Raj Bahadoor was busy thinking which movie to go that night with Shivaji.

Year 2007 :
One of the highly spent movies in the entire Indian film industry, acted by one of the highest paid actor in the entire ASIA is going to be released on this Friday (15th June).

Many of you might have already found out the resemblance between above two incidents. Yes you are right. The ordinary bus conductor few decades back is now the superstar of Tamil movie industry and his new movie SIvaji the title of which resembles his original name is much awaited by his fans in the entire world.

It’s not strange that many people who don’t have enough money even sell their blood for the sake of money in Tamilnadu when this movie gets released in order to watch it on the first day. No functions are any ceremonies are held there before and after one month of his movie release.

“Thalivar” as he is usually referred by Tamilians, the carpenter-turned-coolie-turned-conductor-turned Super Star Rajanikanth’s life story itself will be substance for many movies.

Born in a Marathi Family on December 12 1949 in Karnataka, India, with the original name was Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, Rajanikanth lost his mother at the age of five. He had his schooling at the Acharya Patasala in Bangalore and then at the Vivekananda Balak Sangh, a unit of the Ramakrishna Mission.

A small roll in “Apoorva Ragangal” directed by K Balachander opened the gate way of movie land for this now Superstar Rajanikanth. From Antihero to Blockbuster Superstar, Rajanikanth is loved and applauded by millions of his fans across the globe for his unique style and mannerism – both onscreen and off screen.

In the initial stage as an actor Rajanikanth established himself as an Antihero till the movie “Bhuvana Oru Kelvikkuri” was released which depicted him in a positive role. Many movies were released which were especially made for him and all were huge success. But at that crucial time in his career when his market price had just begun to zoom, he decided to opt out of films completely, sending shock waves to his fans.

But the reentry was even more colorful. Many block busters like Billa, Pokkiri Raja, Moondru Mugham and Nettrikkam were made at this time.

His sense of humor and comic timings with his natural talent made all movies acted by him in the last decade were trendsetters. The movies Badshah, Annamalai, Arunachalam, Ejaman, Muthu Padayappa, Baba and Chandramukhi ( ran in the same theatre for more than 800 days) all broke records set by his own films.

You have to believe the fact that his movie songs have become a rage in Japan and Padayappa was shown to packed houses in the UK and USA. And now the posters of Sivaji are displayed all over Malaysia.

He became the superstar not just because of the films but his behaviors off screen. Whatever stories you have heard about his helping hands to his friends, his simplicity are true. Ego and starry airs are unknown to Rajanikanth. During breaks he hardly ever rushes to his air-conditioned makeup room. Instead, he prefers to sleep on the sets, even without a pillow. All people who helped him during his hard days have been rewarded suitably by him, not just that they are all remembered by him all the time.

It’s everyone’s dream to make friendship with Rajanikanth or to have one of our friends like him. He's the sort who deserves all the superstardom he's earned. Such men, indeed, are rare.

Shashi Shetty.
shashzzz@gmail.com