Rajinikanth’s Kabali is still breaking records. Its teaser trailer is the most viewed in the Asian continent with more than 20 million views. And now, super star has earned the most number of followers on Twitter than any other actor. On Tuesday his Twitter followers crossed 3 million. Though he joined Twitter only in 2013, which is much later than many other actors, his follower strength on Twitter has been growing multifold over the years.
For a man who rarely Tweets or sends messages to his fans through his Twitter page, 3 million is a very big number. Any guess how many Tweets the superstar has made from his Twitter handle superstarrajini? Just 29! And, he is following just 19 people through his Twitter handle. Rajinikanth is not tech savvy, sources say. He is a man who wants to deliver on screen, but is not very active on the social media unlike Amitabh Bachchan or ulaganayagan Kamala Hassan.
In fact Rajinikanth is a brand by himself, a one-man entertainer who enjoyed the success every time he appeared on-screen. For a man who rose from being a villain in the early 80s to a superstar, three million followers on Twitter might not be a big number. But Rajinikanth might be the one of the few actors in the country, who plays roles younger than his age with heroines who are the age of his daughters or less.
For an actor over 60, who continues to play the lead, bridging the divide between real life-persona and on-screen character should need a lot of effort. Unlike Amitabh Bachchan, who plays characters his age, or Chiranjeevi who has moved on to politics, Rajinikanth always plays the hero and not just the protagonist. And every time he romances young heroines, navigates mythical trajectories and beats up dozens of bad guys, he does it to appeal to all ages and to remain their super hero.
And despite this, his art of popping the cigarette, style of walking, laughing, his mannerisms on screen, never seem to let him down from the top star category that he enjoys. In fact, after Rajesh Khanna, he is the only superstar to maintain the status forever through his entire career.
He is an amusement for his fans. Though most of his fans in the fan clubs are in their 40s, he still attracts the young tech-savvy audience. His pairing young glamorous women doesn’t deter his image, rather his name is synonymous with style. Ask his fans what makes them stay with him, they say, “his style, his charisma, his on screen persona lures us.”
For a man who is worshipped and who has attained a demi-god status in the south, he has suddenly found a huge fan following in the North and also in countries like Japan, China and Malaysia. This is despite his movies like Lingaa and Kochadaaiyan tanking in the past. Of course, most of his movies were masalas that had brought in the masses behind him. But its Rajini style that still rules.
