Background and career
Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. In a career spanning over five decades, he has appeared in 170 films, including films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, and Malayalam. He is widely regarded as one of the most successful and popular actors in the history of Indian cinema. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 2000 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2016, India's third- and second-highest civilian honours, respectively, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2019, the highest Indian award in the field of cinema, and the IFFI Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to world cinema. Following his debut in K. Balachander's 1975 Tamil drama Apoorva Raagangal, Rajinikanth's acting career commenced with a brief phase of portraying antagonistic characters in Tamil films. His major positive role as a scorned lover in S. P. Muthuraman's Bhuvana Oru Kelvi Kuri (1977), together with his roles in 1978's Mullum Malarum and Aval Appadithan, earned him critical acclaim; the former earned him a Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize for Best Actor. By the end of the decade, he had worked in all South Indian film industries and established a career in Tamil cinema. He then played dual roles in the action thriller Billa (1980), a remake of the Hindi film Don (1978). It was his biggest commercial success to that point, earning him stardom and giving him an action hero image. He starred in a triple role in Moondru Mugam (1982), which earned him a special prize at the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards ceremony. The following year, he made his Hindi film debut with T. Rama Rao's top-grossing Andhaa Kaanoon (1983). Nallavanukku Nallavan (1984) won him that year's Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actor. In the latter half of the 1980s, he starred in several successful films in Tamil and Hindi, including Geraftaar (1985), Padikkadavan (1985), Mr. Bharath (1986), Velaikaran (1987), Manithan (1987), Dharmathin Thalaivan (1988), Mappillai (1989) and ChaalBaaz (1989). In 1991, Mani Ratnam's Tamil crime film Thalapathi earned Rajinikanth major critical acclaim for his performance. He collaborated with Suresh Krissna for many films including Annaamalai (1992) and Baashha (1995); the latter was the biggest commercial success in his career yet as well as the highest-grossing film in Tamil for many years. His other successes include P. Vasu's Mannan (1992), Uzhaippali (1993) and K. S. Ravikumar's Muthu (1995) and Padayappa (1999); the latter went on to become his and Tamil cinema's highest-grossing movie, exceeding Baashha. After a hiatus of a few years, Rajinikanth returned to acting with the comedy horror film Chandramukhi (2005); it went on to become the highest-grossing Tamil film of all time. His next film, S. Shankar's Sivaji (2007), was the third Indian film and the first-ever Tamil film to enter the 100 Crore Club. He then played dual roles as a scientist and an andro-humanoid robot in the science fiction film Enthiran (2010) and its sequel 2.0 (2018), both of which were India's most expensive productions at the time of their release. His action films 2.0 (2018), Jailer (2023), Coolie (2025), and Jailer 2 (2026) became major commercial successes in Tamil cinema, making him the only actor in the industry with four films surpassing the ₹500 crore mark. His latest movie, Jailer 2 (2026), shattered box office records by crossing 700 crores worldwide, topping 2.0 (2018) to become the highest-grossing Tamil film of all time. This also marks his second film to cross the 700-crore mark. Known for his unique mannerisms and one-liners in films, he has a huge fan base and a cult following. He has won numerous film awards, including the National Film Award, eight Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, a Nandi Award, a Filmfare Award and two Maharashtra State Film Awards. Rajinikanth was named one of the most influential persons in South Asia by Asiaweek. He was also named by Forbes India as the most influential Indian of the year 2010.
Rajinikanth was born Shivaji Rao Gaikwad on 12 December 1950 in a Marathi family in Bangalore, Mysore State (present-day Karnataka). His mother was a homemaker, and his father, Ramoji Rao Gaekwad, was a police constable. His ancestors hailed from Mavadi Kadepathar, Pune district, Maharashtra. He is the youngest of four children in a family consisting of two elder brothers (Satyanarayana Rao and Nageshwara Rao) and a sister (Aswath Balubhai). After his father's retirement from work in 1956, the family moved to the suburb of Hanumantha Nagar in Bangalore and built a house there. He lost his mother at the age of nine. Rajinikanth had his primary education at the Gavipuram Government Kannada Model Primary School in Bangalore. As a child, he was "studious and mischievous" with a great interest in cricket, football and basketball. During this time, his brother enrolled him at the Ramakrishna Math, a Hindu monastery set up by the Ramakrishna Mission. In the math, he was taught the Vedas, tradition and history, which eventually instilled a sense of spirituality in him. In addition to spiritual lessons, he also began acting in plays at the math. His aspiration towards theatre grew at the math, and he was once given an opportunity to enact the role of Ekalavya's friend from the Hindu epic Mahabharata. His performance in the play received praise from the Kannada poet D. R. Bendre. After sixth grade, Rajinikanth was enrolled at the Acharya Pathasala Public School and studied there until he completed his pre-university course. During his schooling at the Acharya Pathasala, he spent a lot of time acting in plays. Upon completion of his school education, Rajinikanth held several jobs, including that of a coolie before getting a job in the Bangalore Transport Service as a bus conductor. He continued to take part in plays after the Kannada playwright Topi Muniappa offered him a chance to act in one of his mythological plays. He decided to take up an acting course in the newly formed Madras Film Institute after coming across an advertisement. Although his family was not fully supportive of his decision to join the institute, his friend and co-worker, Raj Bahadur, motivated him to join the institute and financially supported him during this phase. During his stay at the institute, he was noticed by the Tamil film director K. Balachander. Balachander provided Rajinikanth with his stage name to avoid confusion with fellow actor Sivaji Ganesan, having taken it from a character's name in his earlier film Gauravam. Balachander advised him to learn to speak Tamil, a recommendation that Rajinikanth quickly followed. Although he can read the language, he cannot write in it.
Rajinikanth began his film career with the Tamil film Apoorva Raagangal (1975), directed by K. Balachander. He was cast in a small role as the ex-husband of the female lead played by Srividya. The film explored relationships between people with wide age differences and was deemed controversial upon release. However, it received critical acclaim and won three National Film Awards including the Award for the Best Tamil Feature at the 23rd National Film Awards in 1976. A review from The Hindu noted that "Newcomer Rajinikanth is dignified and impressive." His next release was Puttanna Kanagal's Kannada anthology film Katha Sangama (1976). Rajinikanth appeared in the last segment of the film; he played the role of a village ruffian who rapes a blind woman in the absence of her husband. Balachander cast him in a pivotal role in Anthuleni Katha (1976), the Telugu remake of his own Tamil film Aval Oru Thodar Kathai (1974). In Moondru Mudichu—the first Tamil film to feature him in a prominent role—he played a character that "blithely row[s] away" when his friend drowns accidentally in the lake only to fulfill his desire to marry the former's girlfriend. His style of flipping the cigarette in the film made him popular among the audience. In his final release of the year, Baalu Jenu, he was cast as the main antagonist who troubles the female lead. He played similar roles in Balachander's Avargal (1977), and Bharathiraja's 16 Vayadhinile (1977). The same year, he made his first-ever appearance as a lead actor in the Telugu film Chilakamma Cheppindi (1977), which earned him his only nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu. S. P. Muthuraman experimented with casting Rajinikanth in a positive role in Bhuvana Oru Kelvi Kuri (1977). The success of the film brought the duo together for 24 more films until the 1990s. Rajinikanth played supporting and "villainous" roles in most of the films released during the year. In Gaayathri, he was cast as a pornographer who secretly films his relationship with his wife without her knowledge and in Galate Samsara, he played the role of a married man who develops an affair with a cabaret dancer. Fifteen of his films were released during the year.
In 1978, Rajinikanth had 20 releases across Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. His first film of the year was P. Madhavan's Shankar Salim Simon, in which he was among the three leads. Following that, he co-starred alongside Vishnuvardhan in the Kannada film Kiladi Kittu. He played the second lead in Annadammula Savaal, which starred Krishna; Rajinikanth reprised his role from the Kannada original. He then played an important role in the supernatural thriller Aayiram Jenmangal. In Maathu Tappada Maga, he was the main antagonist. Bairavi, directed by M. Bhaskar, was the first Tamil film to cast Rajinikanth as a solo hero. It was for this film that he earned the sobriquet "Superstar". S. Thanu, one of the film's distributors, set up a 35 feet (11 m) high cut-out of Rajinikanth. His next appearance, Ilamai Oonjal Aadukirathu, a quadrangular love story written and directed by C. V. Sridhar, saw him play the role of a man who sacrifices his love for his friend, played by Kamal Haasan. The film's success prompted Sridhar to remake the film in Telugu, Vayasu Pilichindi, which retained the original cast of the Tamil film. His next film, Vanakkatukuriya Kathaliye, had an introductory song to mark his entry, a trend that would soon become a feature of his later films. Mullum Malarum, released during the same period, received critical acclaim and earned him his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil nomination. The film marked the directorial debut of Mahendran, with a screenplay adapted from a novel of the same name published in Kalki. It won the Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Film and a Special Prize (Best Actor) for Rajinikanth at the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. Following this, he made a foray into Malayalam cinema with I. V. Sasi's fantasy film Allauddinum Albhutha Vilakkum, which was based on a story from the Arabian Nights. The same year, he acted in Dharma Yuddam, in which he played a mentally ill person avenging the death of his parents. He then co-starred with N. T. Rama Rao in Tiger. Upon completion of Tiger, Rajinikanth had acted in 50 films over a period of four years, and in four languages. Some other popular films released during this period were the youthful entertainer Ninaithale Inikkum, the Tamil–Kannada bilingual Priya, the Telugu film Amma Evarikkaina Amma and the melodrama Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai. Priya, based on a detective novel by Sujatha, had the distinction of being the first Rajinikanth film to be shot mostly outside India, mainly in Southeast Asia. Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai earned him his second nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. Rajinikanth, who credited Hindi film star Amitabh Bachchan as his inspiration, began playing Amitabh Bachchan's roles in Tamil remakes of his films. This began with Shankar Salim Simon (1978), a remake of Amar Akbar Anthony (1977), followed by Naan Vazhavaippen (1979), a remake of Majboor (1974). He was subsequently cast in a series of roles modelled after Amitabh Bachchan in Tamil remakes of his films. Rajinikanth starred in eleven Tamil remakes of Amitabh Bachchan films, as well as a Telugu remake of Amar Akbar Anthony, Ram Robert Rahim (1980), alongside Sridevi. The most successful of these were remakes of Salim–Javed films, such as Billa (1980), Thee (1981) and Mr. Bharath (1986). He would ultimately be known as the "angry young man" of Tamil cinema. During this phase of his career, Rajinikanth abruptly chose to quit acting, but was coaxed to return with the Tamil film Billa (1980), a remake of the Bollywood blockbuster Don (1978), written by Salim-Javed and starring Amitabh Bachchan. Billa had Rajinikanth playing dual roles and eventually became his first solo commercial success. His pairing with Sridevi continued in Johnny, in which he was once again cast in a double role, earning him his third nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. He also starred in Murattu Kaalai which was a commercial success. The success of Billa was a turning point in Rajinikanth's career, disproving detractors who claimed Rajinikanth was "finished" and which saw him accepted as a full-fledged hero. The success of Billa established Rajinikanth as one of the top stars of Tamil cinema. In 1981, he appeared in Garjanai, which was shot simultaneously in Kannada and Malayalam, making it his last film in those two languages up until 2023. In K. Balachander's first home production, Netrikan, he played dual roles as a womanising father and a responsible son. His first full-length comedy was Thillu Mullu, directed by K. Balachander. He agreed to it solely due to the strong suggestion by his mentor that he should do non-commercial roles, to break the stereotyped action-hero mould by which he was getting famous at the time. Thillu Mullu earned him his fourth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. 1981 also saw the release of Thee, a remake of the blockbuster Hindi film Deewaar (1975), also originally written by Salim-Javed and starring Amitabh Bachchan; in Thee, Rajinikanth reprised Bachchan's role. In 1982, he starred in Pokkiri Raja, Moondru Mugam, Thanikattu Raja, Pudukavithai and Enkeyo Ketta Kural. Moondru Mugam, which featured Rajinikanth playing three different roles for the first time, earned him his fifth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. By 1983, he was a popular actor across South Indian cinema, including Telugu and Kannada films. In 1983, Rajinikanth starred in his first Bollywood film, Andhaa Kaanoon, alongside Hema Malini, Reena Roy and Amitabh Bachchan (in an extended cameo appearance). The film opened to an excellent response from the audience and emerged as a blockbuster at the box office. In 1984, he appeared in Naan Mahaan Alla, a remake of Subhash Ghai's directorial venture Vishwanath. The film proved to be a superhit. That same year, he played a small role in Anbulla Rajinikanth and delivered three more successful Hindi films, Meri Adalat, Gangvaa and John Jani Janardhan (in which he played a triple role). His performance in Nallavanuku Nallavan earned him his first and only Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. In his 100th film, Sri Raghavendra (1985), he played the Hindu saint Raghavendra Swami. In the second half of the 1980s, Rajinikanth acted in commercially successful films, such as Naan Sigappu Manithan (1985), Geraftaar (1985), Padikkathavan (1985), Mr. Bharath (1986), Dosti Dushmani (1986), Velaikaran (1987), Manithan (1987), Insaaf Kaun Karega (1987), Guru Sishyan (1988) and Dharmathin Thalaivan (1988), with Velaikaran earning him his seventh nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. In 1988, he made his only American film appearance in Bloodstone, directed by Dwight Little, in which he played an English-speaking Indian taxi driver. Rajinikanth finished the decade with films including Rajadhi Raja, Siva, Raja Chinna Roja and Mappillai while also starring in a few Bollywood productions. Raja Chinna Roja was the first Indian film to feature live action and animation.
Rajinikanth began the new decade with a mega blockbuster in Panakkaran (1990), which was a remake of Amitabh Bachchan's 1981 film Laawaris. The film earned him his eighth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. His next two Tamil films, the fantasy comedy Athisaya Piravi (a remake of Chiranjeevi's 1988 film Yamudiki Mogudu), which was also released in 1990, and the family drama Dharmadorai (1991), did above-average business at the box office. His stint in Bollywood, which began in the previous decade, continued as he starred in more Hindi films. Hum, released in 1991, featured him as the second lead alongside Amitabh Bachchan and became an inspiration for Baashha. In 1991, he worked with Mani Ratnam in Thalapathi, which was heavily inspired by the Mahabharata. He co-starred with actor Mammooty in the film, which dealt with the friendship between two unknown characters based on Karna and Duryodhana, respectively, and was set in a more contemporary milieu and was both critically acclaimed and successful upon release. He received his ninth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil for the film. He went on to appear in remakes of films from other languages, mostly from Hindi and Telugu. Annaamalai, which released in 1992, was yet another friendship-centric film and was loosely based on the 1987 Bollywood film Khudgarz. The film was the first to have the Superstar graphic title card. He received his tenth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil for the film. Mannan, directed by P. Vasu, a remake of Kannada actor Rajkumar's 1986 blockbuster Anuraga Aralithu, was also released in 1992 and became a box office success. Rajinikanth wrote his first screenplay for the film Valli (1993), in which he also made a special appearance. He also starred in the film Yajaman, in which he played the role of Vaanavaraayan, a village chieftain. His romantic-comedy Veera (1994) was controversial for its climax but went on to become one of the highest-grossing films in 1994. That year, he earned his eleventh nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil for the action-drama Uzhaippali. He joined hands with Suresh Krishna for Baashha (1995), which emerged as an industry hit, and is routinely touted by fans as the film which elevated him from a star to demigod status among the masses. He made a cameo in Peddarayudu for his friend Mohan Babu and also helped him obtain the remake rights. The same year, he acted in yet another gangster film, Aatank Hi Aatank with Aamir Khan which was also his last Hindi film in a major role to date. His film Muthu, a remake of Mohanlal's blockbuster Malayalam film Thenmavin Kombathu, was another commercial success, directed by K. S. Ravikumar and produced by K. Balachander, and became the first Tamil film to be dubbed into Japanese, as Mutu: Odoru Maharaja. The film grossed a record US$1.6 million in Japan in 1998 and was responsible for creating a large Japanese fanbase for the actor. Muthu's success in Japan led American news magazine Newsweek to comment in a 1999 article that Rajinikanth had "supplanted Leonardo DiCaprio as Japan's trendiest heartthrob". During a visit to Japan in 2006, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh acknowledged the success of Muthu in the country during a speech, justifying the positive relationship between the two nations. He received his twelfth and thirteenth nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil for his performances in Baashha and Muthu. He also entered Bengali cinema through Bhagya Debata, which was released at the end of 1995. 1997's Arunachalam, another commercial success, earned him his fourteenth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. Rajinikanth released his last film of the millennium with Padayappa (1999), which went on to become a blockbuster success, and earned him his fifteenth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. It starred Ramya Krishnan and Soundarya, the former receiving critical acclaim for her performance. It was also the last prominent role for veteran Tamil actor Sivaji Ganesan. After a brief pause, Rajinikanth starred in Baba in 2002, for which he had also written the screenplay. Released with much fanfare and hype at the time, the film featured a story revolving around the reformation of a gangster who is later revealed to be the reincarnation of the Hindu saint Mahavatar Babaji and fights against political corruption. It fell short of market expectations and the high bids reportedly translated to heavy losses for the distributors. Rajinikanth himself repaid the losses incurred by the distributors. The film drew comments such as "the bloom was off the rose" and that "the gold does not glitter any more". Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader S. Ramadoss condemned him for smoking and posing with beedis in the film. He was criticised for spoiling the Tamil youth by glorifying smoking and drinking. PMK volunteers attacked the theatres that screened the film and seized film reels and burned them. Two years later, Rajinikanth signed up for P. Vasu's Chandramukhi (2005), a remake of the Malayalam film Manichitrathazhu. Upon release, the film was highly successful at the box office, and in 2007 it set the record of being the longest-running Tamil film. Chandramukhi was also dubbed in Turkish and in German as Der Geisterjäger and released in the respective nations. Following Chandramukhi's release, it was reported that AVM Productions was set to produce a film directed by Shankar starring Rajinikanth – the largest collaboration yet for a Tamil film. The film was titled Sivaji and was released in the summer of 2007, following two years of filming and production. It became the first Tamil film to be ranked among the top ten films at the United Kingdom and South Africa box offices upon release. Rajinikanth received a salary of ₹260 million (equivalent to ₹860 million or US$8.9 million in 2026) for his role in the film, the highest of his career at that time. He received his sixteenth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil for his performance in the film. During the production of Sivaji, Soundarya Rajinikanth announced her intention to produce a computer-generated imagery film starring an animated version of her father titled Sultan: The Warrior. The film was set for release in 2008. However, it entered development hell, and its development status would become unknown over the next few years.
He worked with P. Vasu again for Kuselan, a remake of the Malayalam film Kadha Parayumbol, which was made simultaneously in Telugu as Kathanayakudu, in which Rajinikanth played an extended cameo role as Ashok Kumar, a film star in Indian cinema, and as a best friend to the film's protagonist. According to Rajinikanth, the film somewhat narrated his early life. The film, however, performed poorly at the box office and led to many distributors incurring major losses. Rajinikanth also stated that he would work with Pyramid Saimira again to compensate for Kuselan. Rajinikanth worked again with Shankar for the science fiction film Enthiran. The film was released worldwide in 2010 as the most expensive Indian film ever made, ultimately emerging as an all-time blockbuster and the second highest-grossing film in India of its time. Rajinikanth was paid a remuneration of ₹450 million (equivalent to ₹1.1 billion or US$11 million in 2026) for the film. He received his seventeenth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil for his performance in the film. The film's success led the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad to use the film as a case study to analyse the business of cinema and its success story in a postgraduate elective management course called Contemporary Film Industry: A Business Perspective. The course would also study Muthu.
