Rajinikanth is one of the most influential and bankable movie stars in Indian cinema. Rajinikanth’s mass popularity and appeal is largely drawn from his mannerisms and stylized delivery of dialogue. He received India’s third highest honour, the Padma Bhushan, for his contribution to Indian cinema. Other than acting, Rajinikanth worked as a screenwriter, film producer and also a playback singer.

He joined the Madras Film institute in 1973 with the help of his friend Raj Bahadur, a fellow bus driver and completed a basic course in acting. Rajinikanth has acted in a total 190 movies, which includes Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, English and Bengali films. Rajinikanth made a foray into Bollywood with Andha Kanoon, but did not make as much of an impact as he had in the south. He has been inspiration to many younger people who want to set their foot in acting industry.

Here are some interesting facts about ‘Thalaivar’ Rajinikanth.

1. Rajinikanth was born to Jijabai and Ramoji Rao Gaikwad, a Maharashtrian couple living in Bangalore, and was named Shivaji Rao Gaikwad. He is the youngest of four siblings.

2. His mother died when Rajini was five and the family went through tough times. As a young man, Rajinikanth did many odd jobs, including that of a coolie. He was working as a bus conductor before he made it big in the film industry.

3. Rajinikanth pursued diploma in acting from Madras Film Institute and also learnt Tamil during his course.

4. Rajinikanth made his debut in the Tamil film industry with Balachander’s Apoorva Raagangal, which also starred Kamal Haasan and Srividya.

5. After playing several negative roles and characters with grey shades, his first positive role was in S. P. Muthuraman’s Bhuvana Oru Kelvikkuri. After this, he collaborated with director Muthuraman in 25 movies.

6. T Rama Rao’s Andha Kanoon was Rajinikanth’s first Bollywood film. It also starred Hema Malini and Reena Roy, and Amitabh Bachchan had a special extended guest appearance.

7. In 1988, Rajinikanth made an appearance in the English action adventure Bloodstone.

8. Sivaji was his first film with director Shankar, and the first Tamil film to top the box office in the United Kingdom and South Africa.

9. The actor has shared screen space with Telugu superstar N T Rama Rao in the Telugu film Tiger.

10. Rajinikanth is one of the few actors who covers the losses of his distributors when his films fail – like he did for Baba and Kuselan.