What makes Rajinikanth such a big phenomenon?

There is a photo of a man which is being circulated on the social media. He is sitting on a chair on the open terrace of his bungalow. The photo is captured from a top angle. The atmosphere around him has an intriguing quietude and the photo, to a large extent, metaphorically means that the man is at peace and is easily accessible to the world without any inhibitions and misconceptions.One observer says he looks like Rajinikanth. Another says he maybe Rajinikanth. An admirer claims he is Rajinikanth. And lastly a fan believes he is none other than Rajinikanth himself. Whether the photo is real or fake is an immaterial question but the emotions expressed about the photo speak volumes of the kaleidoscopic range of emotions Rajinikanth evokes in his observers.
His persona has been so powerful that the characters which he essayed are nothing but a catalyst to bring him to his audience so that they could savour the same experience they had in their previous viewing of a Rajinikanth film. His recent film 'Kabali' seems to have emerged as one of the biggest money-spinners of the year despite being a regional film. So, what is that makes Rajinikanth such a big phenomenon? TOI interacted with five different people across fields to get a perspective of the man who has a demi-god status in down South. These include writer who wrote a book on him, a director who made a documentary on him, a creative director who closely followed his persona, a mythological writer who explores the myth around and lastly a fan who expresses his deeply-felt emotions about him.
Here are edited excerpts:



16 Vayathinile.

I remember being chilled to the bone by his villainy in 16 Vayathinile. But even at that early age I was impressed by his style and dialogue delivery. For weeks after watching the film I would annoy my immediate family by giving 'idhu eppidi irukku' ("How's this?") as an answer to everything.

His off-screen humility and his refusal to wear wigs and designer clothes endear him to the common man. And that automatically leads to them embracing his on-screen persona as well.

The content of his films has had a huge impact on his popularity. From the time of Murattukkalai, he has mostly played an everyman, a man of the people who rises from his humble origins to great heights. Also, after years of fair-skinned heroes, here was a man who actually looked like the audiences he was reaching and people loved seeing a representative of themselves on screen.

Casting my eyes around, I didn't find any definitive account of the rise and rise of the phenomenon that is Rajinikanth. But a simple biography wasn't enough for me. The advent of Rajinikanth cannot be seen in a vacuum. It was important to look at the socio-political context of South India at the time and place him and his films in that milieu. It was also interesting for me to analyse some of his landmark films and see the socio-political content crammed into them.

Age is merely a number for Rajinikanth fans. What matters is that ageless larger than life persona which, coupled with his off screen simplicity makes for a killer package.

Unlike other stars, Rajinikanth does not overexpose himself. He doesn't do commercials or endorsements, unless it is for charity, and there is always a gap between his films. His public appearances are also rare. That's why there is a natural need for his people to see him and express themselves whenever they can. And because of this, not much marketing is required. For example, when the Kabali teaser released, it reached 30 million views in no time. This wasn't due to any concerted promotional campaign. It is simply the love of the people.

In this day and age, it is very rare to find a humane uncontroversial Superstar and Rajinikanth fits the bill. For the youngsters, it is a cult that has been passed on from generation to generation. If you grow up in South India, Thalaivar is part of the air you breathe, so he becomes part of your DNA.

With Rajinikanth films there is no distinction between masses and classes. A Rajinikanth film is an event, a festival, a holiday and that's that.

What worked wonders for him was that in his initial years he totally surrendered to the director, right from K Balachander in his debut Apoorva Raagangal to all those films he did with S P Muthuraman and others. He would serve the script and that's what worked.

If you look at the phenomenon historically, he is the first people's hero - someone who looks like the average Tamil male (although he is of Marathi stock) and he is one of them - as opposed to the Brahminical heroes of past years.

He is not doing the same kind of films anymore. In Lingaa people complained that he was doing the same old cliched Rajinikanth film. But with Kabali, a densely layered narrative that touches upon burning social issues, and where he stylishly plays his age, Rajinikanth the actor is back with a very atypical film that rewards with different facets upon each repeat viewing.

Be humble. Preserve your mystique by not being overexposed and on every reality show and commercial under the sun

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Geraftaar

As someone from Mumbai, I had a very different impression of Rajinikanth from his Hindi cinema, in which I saw him more as someone with interesting gimmicks as opposed to his Tamil cinema, which is very different because in those he is much larger than life.

The idea came through the producer Joyojeet Pal who was a researcher in Microsoft in Bangalore and during some work in Tamil Nadu found that Rajinikanth's role in a film called Sivaji was a major factor in encouraging children to want to become software engineers. That got us started thinking about the value of the star in the lives of people.

There are clearly very deeply felt emotions about Rajinikanth among fans. In fact for several years, even when Rajinikanth has not had a film lined up, fans have very enthusiastically celebrated his birthday. Essentially as a producer, one can be sure that if one releases a Rajinikanth film, fans themselves will do a lot of things that will act as free publicity. So the producers may decide to benefit from this, and in many cases even encourage this, but the fact is this has become a ritual of sorts. Many people go to watch a Rajinikanth film not for the script but for the experience of watching the film.

I think the compactness of the market has a role to play. In all the four southern states, there is a culture of film fan clubs. Plus their language and the survival of their film industries has been part of their resistance to being taken over by the Hindi cinema market (compared to this many other language markets like Gujarati cinema have been wiped out by Hindi). Hindi cinema has a harder time establishing the same kind of connection because you could be from any linguistic group and be watching a Hindi film and may connect with the metaphor of Mumbai. So it is harder to create a sense of identity around cinema the same way it is with regional cinema

Rajinikanth frequently plays the "peoples' person" - common man roles. He has a series of punch dialogues which are aimed at the masses. If you listen to lyrics in his songs, they are frequently praising the masses, plus there are almost always hidden one-liners in the films that are nods at his fans. So the screenwriters are quite aware they need to write films that maintain that connection with the masses.

Being an outsider can also have its advantages. MGR was not a Tamilian in the strict sense, Jayalalitha is from Karnataka. If you are from within the state, you may have a certain fandom because of a caste/religion etc. But if you are an outsider who has come to Tamil Nadu and accepted the state, that is a greater tribute than someone who is there by birth. And yes, his apparent humility has definitely worked in his favour.

Rajinikanth appears as though he has not changed. You still see pictures of him in simple kurta pyjama and chappals. He is openly bald and ageing in real life unlike many stars who try to mask their real faces. So he comes across as more "real" than some of the stars who try to appear relatively more "star-like" - this adds to the value that people attribute to his simplicity.

The content of his films is highly driven by the fans and what is seen as a viable script for a Rajinikanth film. Essentially all the films will show Rajinikanth in a very positive light, someone who cares for and often saves the masses since that is what the fans want to see. And essentially it is the fans who ensure the success of the films since they go for multiple shows, conduct a series of events around the film release which serve as free publicity. As a result, the films have to cater to the masses broadly, and to the fans more specifically.

Rajinikanth is unique for one because of his rags to riches story, people -- especially those from the poorer classes -- affiliate with the idea that he is essentially one of them. Rajinikanth came into the industry alongside Kamal Hassan, at a time when the older superstars like MGR and Sivaji Ganesan were ageing and moving away from star roles, so he filled the gap with the "angry young man" roles in the same way that Amitabh Bachchan did in the Hindi industry. So the timing was very important.
Also unlike other stars of the time, Rajinikanth came up slowly, by first playing a number of villain roles which were often more popular than the hero roles in the same film such that producers eventually saw that he was more bankable than the leading stars of the time. Tamil Nadu has had a long culture of fan clubs for film stars, which is a sort of organized structure that does not exist in the same way for Hindi films. So while Rajinikanth has aged, so have the members of his fan clubs, and they have continued to manage those clubs, as a result the baseline of extreme fandom exists in those fans and thereafter gets extended into younger people who try to emulate the older fans.



First thing that comes to my mind is Rajinikanth is he is just awesome. It is awesomeness in every way. But there are so many things that make Rajinikanth 'the' brand. He is one superstar who does not take himself so seriously or does not consider himself superstar. He is very humble and down to earth. There is a little contradiction there. The more he is down to earth the more people give him god status. He has that god status. There is nobody above him. He is so real. I don't know how that works. He has not distanced himself from people. He does not sit in an ivory tower. Nothing like that. He has done nothing to make himself look cool.
He lives a simple life. When he is acting in a film he is clear he is doing a film and does what is required and expected of him. And it does not mean he has to take that in his real life. He is as human as he can get. That is incredible. There are actors who want to show what they do and in reality also they want to play a role. They are self-obsessed. and they do things that a star does. Clearly, brand Rajinikanth is so connected and close to the masses and due to his insane fan following even classes have started following him. The internet generation just went crazy about his jokes or the incredible things which people started making up. People love to jokes that say that Rajinikanth did this or that. Those are insane things. But the jokes are not just jokes. They make you love and adore him. It is not about bringing him down. It is about exaggerating about his superstar status.
Also he has a signature style and he is quite consistent about this style in his film. People love to see that. He is actually never tried to do anything 'very' different or 'experimental.' He is just awesome in this consistency and people just want to see this consistency in him. He lives up to the expectations of his admirers. One can make out he is doing it for his fans. He is very genuine and honest and cares about his fans. I think the biggest thing is he does not endorse a brand. That says a lot about a person. He can endorse any brand on this planet. But he does not. I think he feels that how can I sell anything to my fans. He does not believe in selling things to fans.
He thinks it may not be fair or right thing to do. Of course, that fits his philosophy. That is why everything that he does is so different from everyone. It does not bring down his popularity at all. Today's stars say "I want to be seen everywhere and endorsing every brand. It is one of the ways of sustaining my popularity." I would say he is a guy who has no agenda and does not want to build his image. I think that is just happening. You cannot create an image like this by planning. This is just happening. This kind of cult status you cannot create. I think genuinely people love him and he loves them back.

Geraftaar. After that I saw a few more films. It was quite evident that he was an anti-hero. He is dark. This was quite unusual in Hindi cinema especially where the hero's complexion is dark. Even in those Hindi films he gave entertaining performance on the sheer strength of his style. I observed that he was 100% into those films and did his roles effortlessly. He was not trying hard. He was so natural. Everything about him so natural. You just love the guy. He is so honest and committed to what he is doing. And all that showed. You feel it is the person one is seeing and not the character. You are seeing Rajinikanth all the time whatever roles he plays. I had gone to see his film Sivaji in a theatre. Every time he came on the screen people would scream. I could not see the film properly and then I realised one goes to watch a Rajinikanth film only for the experience of watching it.

I think it is 100 per cent natural expression of deeply-felt emotions. It is a natural outpouring. I don't think there anything beyond that. A question we need to ask is why would they not do that for all stars. It shows that the same principles do not work for all the stars. It is a genuine appreciation and craze for Rajinikanth. We also need to take into account the culture aspect of this frenzy. It is a part of south culture. They have been completely crazy and they have been like this for all their stars. Whether it is MGR or N T Rama Rao, their fans would love them to death and if the actor dies there will be some ten suicides in cities. Films are like 'life' to them. Having said that, there is this extra fondness or cult following for Rajinikanth, which is inexplicable. No advertising or marketing trick can work for such a long time. I mean it can work for some actors for some time but not so long.

I think you can ape a person. But you cannot 'be' that person. He is the original. It is not just that. You cannot really copy everything what Rajinikanth does. There are so many he does he does not care much about them. These stars who imitate or follow him cannot do that. People can see that. Even the most simple guy on the street who may not be able to articulate himself knows what is real and what is imitation. Instinctively they can make out why some things work with Rajinikanth and why they don't work with others. He was the original who created this flamboyant style.
Even his physical stature does not matter. They would just believe in what he does and says. So, that love will always be there for him. He is just technically a Maharashtrian. He is like a South Indian. He rose to stardom purely because of his energy. Today, if an actor chooses to play a role of boxer he would train himself physically to look like a boxer. But with Rajinikanth, he does not need to do that. He has a god-like status and fans would say, "Who are you to ask questions about his choice of roles?" It is the insane love for the man. I guess this cinema for Rajinikanth fans where they place so much trust and faith that logic seems immaterial. You know it is a classic case of representation. A common man wants to change the system, hit law-breakers and make the world a fair place. It is Rajinikanth who is doing these things for them in his films. I think it is a completely different kind of reality.

That is a completely different connection. It is just cool to like Rajinikanth. It is cool to talk about Rajinikanth. It is cool thing to write cool things about Rajinikanth. Now there is a Whatsapp joke that is circulating which says Salman Khan releases his film on Eid, Shah Rukh Khan releases his films on Diwali but when Rajinikanth releases his films, it is a holiday. There are so many such exaggerations about him and it is a cool thing to do. I don't think they have real love for him. It is a cult which has been cultivated. He has become an internet phenomena for the internet generation. They would not be eagerly waiting for his films. But anything topical or something happens they would connect it to Rajinikanth and post it online. and it becomes a big link for connecting with others.

It is actually tough question to answer. But I would add one thing: He is Rajinikanth and he decides. If he decides he wants to reinvent I guess people will accept him. Let us if he decides to do a very different type of roles, people will still accept him. But I guess people want him to be what he is. They would not want him to drastically change. There is this constant expectation of him.

I think his biggest thing about him is he is so real. I just saw one of his interviews. He was narrating an incident related to his film Robot. His neighbours asked him who is the heroine of the film and he said it is Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. And then they asked him about who is the hero of the film. He said it is him and they could not believe it. They could not believe it because he is so real. He looks like a sixty-year old man. He can make fun of himself and he is so real.
What is interesting is he spoke about this incident at the launch of the film. I think this one aspect about him he does not think too much about himself and try to live up to your superstar image makes him more adorable and inspiring. That is why everyone loves him. He is not trying to be somebody or prove a point. It seems he does not even harbour the idea of making bigger and bigger films and send them to the Oscars. He just want to make films and he is out of it. That is it.



It is a natural outpouring of love, affection and respect towards a person who people can identify with and admire at the same time. All Rajinikanth films are aspirational. They invariably have a positive message. You come out of the theatre with a smile after watching any Rajinikanth movie.

We have always deified our heroes. We call Sachin Tendulkar the God of cricket. Throughout history, we have made great poets, writers and singers as saints or holy men and the warriors or kings have become gods. If you go to villages, you can see that many of the local deities were heroes of a different era who got elevated to godhood over the years. We make temples to politicians, cricketers and film actors. So it is no wonder that a person like Rajinikanth who has been a larger than life figure both off-screen and onscreen for more than four decades is revered as he is now.

It is easy to identify with Rajinikanth. He is accessible, simple in his life, and never fakes his personality like many other celebrities. He does not require controversy to sell his films. He has the confidence to appear exactly as he looks in both public and private. He looks like the man next door, a typical Indian and not like a Greek God with a chiselled six-pack body. When he does heroic things, subconsciously he is instilling confidence in us that, we too can achieve something in life. One's humble beginnings doesn't matter, one's looks, body shape, skin colour, race, religion, language--nothing is important than having belief in oneself. He makes you believe in yourself. He inspires us to deal with obstacles in life.

I have grown up watching Rajinikanth films, right from his K Balachander days to the present Kabali. Mullum Malarum was the first Rajinikanth film I watched.

There is no dichotomy between the man Rajinikanth and the superstar Rajinikanth. He is an open book. People can sense the goodness in a man. They can easily understand if one fakes sincerity. He is sincere to the core. There may be many people who don't like him as an actor, but there are hardly anyone who don't like him as a person. Rajinikanth is not a commodity to be considered as a brand. He had already achieved this status in the pre-liberalisation era. If some business establishments are hitchhiking on his personality for their own commercial reasons, we cannot blame him.

Except in the first few years of his career, I don't think there are any Rajnikanth films which doesn't ooze positivity. Even the songs in his films, if you can understand Tamil, given a positive message about life. I use them in my motivational talks. Many management consultants use his dialogues to teach management concepts. The positive message his films gives is one of the major factors which has endeared him to the masses

They believe in him. More than blind adoration, it is love. It is a belief akin to belief in God. They believe in his message that it conveys through the films. In a world where actors need to generate one controversy over another, constantly have to play spoiled brats to attract attention to themselves and get news bytes, here is a man who has no masks.

You call it a marketing gimmick, when the actor times it to make some controversial remark or another, just before the release of his films. You call it a marketing gimmick, when the star depends on making a controversy out of his life or acts in films which can become controversial by the very nature of it. Have we seen any such manufactured controversies during the release of any Rajinikanth films? Have we heard Rajinikanth giving any timed statements to generate controversy? He does not do films with an international audience in mind. He acts in stories which are deeply rooted in Tamil ethos. Yet, he manages to outdo others by a huge margin. His films get celebrated from Trivandrum to Tokyo.

How many Hindi stars have stayed at the top for 40 years? Rajinikanth does not create hysteria. Hysteria is a mental disease. When people condescendingly think Rajinikanth fans as hysteric, they are missing the truth. People love him for the man he is. If despite commercial success, other stars are not getting the kind of fan following Rajinikanth has, it is not because people are fools. It is because people know who to adore and who to watch just for entertainment.

The greatest winning factor of Rajinikanth movies is their simplicity. Most of his films follow the classical plot of good versus evil. Indians are wired to follow the good versus evil stories right from their childhood. Our heroes in the mythology rarely have any flaws. Irrespective of the class, everyone enjoys seeing the Ramayana. Rajinikanth films follow the classical Ramayana characterisations often. That may be one of his secrets of success.

Tamil film industry has always welcomed outsiders and made them one of their own. Before Rajinikanth there was MGR who was a Malayalee and he was a bigger phenomenon than Rajinikanth in an era when there was no TV or social media to amplify your image. He became the Chief Minister of the State riding on his popularity and charisma and remained as chief minister until he died. Rajinikanth grew up in Bangalore and was a Kannadiga for all practical purpose until he was adopted by the Tamils. If we see, there is not much of a cultural difference between the states of the South. And Rajinikanth always appealed to the fundamental human emotions which remain the same throughout the world. That is the reason why he has a huge fan following in places like Japan or Indonesia, apart from India.

Films are about make belief. The looks of the hero is irrelevant if one can tell a story that resonates with the audience. When Rajinikanth does an action scene, it is for the victory of good versus evil that people cheer for. They are not bothered about the number of muscle packs he flaunts. When we study in school in smaller classes, it is the strongest boy in the class who is admired by other kids. When we grow up, we admire people with honesty and integrity. We emulate people who are achievers. The physical strength and looks will just get a passing interest.

Rajinikanth is not doing the same kind of films. Each film has been different. Maybe only the films which have some similarities are being dubbed into Hindi and hence this question. He has been at the top for four decades which almost amounts to the age of some famous stars. He is in his mid-60s now. He will remain at the top until he decides to retire.

That he does not do advertisement or endorse a brand itself talks about the integrity of the person. Had he chosen, he could have played a very prominent role in politics. That he did not, shows he is not after power or prestige. I don't think he would be worried about preserving his stardom. He is not a man who sits with image consultants and calibrate each of his actions. He does not create calculated controversies to be in news. A man who can appear with his bald head and white stubbles in public is a man who is confident of himself and a man who is contended with his life.

There is Rajinikanth and there are other celebrities who strive to be a brand. A few of us and perhaps some celebrities may think how lucky this short, bald, dark skinned man is. He has no six pack muscles or a fair skin and still he towers like a giant. Management experts will rack their brains and muddle it with countless theories about what makes Rajinikanth. And in our analysis, we forget that we cannot measure love. We cannot measure respect. We cannot measure how a man has influenced two generations and inspired them to dream big, act big and live big. So you miss the wood for the trees and keep wondering how he did it. It does not matter how he did.
What matters is what he did and what we can learn from him. If we see him as a man, we will learn everything. We will learn the importance of being humble, we will learn the value of honesty and we will learn to be always true to oneself. We will learn gratitude to the people who made us what we are now and feel thankful to the country that gave us everything. We will learn to give back to the society and we learn to cherish the value of relationship. We learn the importance of family, friendship, loyalty, integrity, patriotism, kindness and large heartedness. We will learn being human is more important than stardom, fame and money. We will learn life.

I have a dream. When I wrote my first book, Asura, tale of the vanquished, which told Ramayana from Ravana's point of view, I always imagined Rajinikanth in a double role- Ravana, the Asura emperor and Bhadra, the common Asura. These two are the two heroes of my book. One day, I am sure, the book will become a great film. I dream of Rajinikanth acting as Ravana and Bhadra in an international film that would better any Hollywood films ever made. It is an audacious dream, but for a man who grew up watching Rajinikanth films, no dream is too audacious. Everything we wish for with our heart will happen. That is one lesson that this man has taught me and millions of his fans through his films. Live positive for we know, in the heart of our heart, in the dreams we cherish, in the secret life we hold close to our self, we all are Rajinikanth's and we can do anything we want..



The first Rajinikanth I saw was Bashaa. I remember vividly watching it in a theatre. I sat on the armrest. I remember one particular scene in the film. One of the villains in the film ties Rajinikanth and he beats him up. I asked my father, " Appa, why is he hitting him" my father replied, "wait for some time Rajinikanth will hit him back". I saw it and it was an experience. I saw an old man dancing the moment Rajinikanth hitting one of the villains. We all admired the way he tied his shirt. He is something beyond the theatre. He is part of our lives. Apart from my family, Rajinikanth is next to Sachin Tendulkar who has given us so much happiness.

Earlier Tamil cinema was dominated by white men who would speak chaste Tamil. Rajinikanth emerged as an anti hero who will be a hero but act like an anti hero . Once someone is a demigod there is no logic around him when it comes acceptance. We accept everything and anything he would do. We have not seen that kind of humility any other film actor. Here is a man who earns 25 crore, wears white kurta and pyjama wherever he goes, does not cover his bald head and still connects with us. He has enough money to do a hair transplant. But because he is real he wouldn't do that. It is this acceptance of reality and shunning of the make believe in real life connects with us. There are so many superstars who carry their onscreen persona also in their real lives. But Rajinikanth is far superior, confident and bigger than them in understanding and accepting realities. In distinguishing between the reel and the real

His acceptance as a star is a testimony to the fact that ethnicity does not matter in Tamil cinema. Even MGR was not a Tamilian. But he ruled hearts of Tamilians for years. In my assessment, I think some the antiques we hear or associate with Rajinikanth are not true. In fact, I saw a scene in a B-grade Hindi film where one actor lights a cigarette through gun, which people associate with Rajinikanth. He never did this

The reason he cannot so realistic roles because producers and directors of those cannot afford him. Even we as admirers cannot accept him play character roles. Because for us a film just a medium or catalyst to watch Rajinikanth. If you look at the journey if Rajinikanth you will realise he did critically acclaimed films in the beginning of his career. He did critically acclaimed films of K Balachander and Mahendran. Films like and showed his mettle as an actor. There were quite a number of films where Kamal Hassan would be hero and Rajinikanth would be villain. There came a point they decided to separate. So, Kamal Hassan took character-driven roles and Rajinikanth took the path of mass entertainers. He did a lot of critically acclaimed films for the first ten years of his career.
And when he chose mass entertainers the 1980s kids connected with it and they began to ape him. This includes me also. But now I think the generation born in the 90s does not seem to connect with him. I got the legacy of Rajinikanth from my father. But I don't see that legacy being passed on to my cousin's generation which does not connect with him the way we kids of the 80s connected. Today's generation is looking for stories in his films. Maybe that is the reason they might have been disappointed from his recent films.