Shivaji Rao Gaekwad (Rajnikanth) was born on December 12, 1949 in Bangalore Karnataka. He was a bus conductor during which time he reportedly caught the fancy of the bus travelers with his mannerisms and style of issuing tickets and blowing the whistle and so on. Looking to become an actor, this Bus conductor moved to Chennai and joined the film institute. Even now Rajani is in touch with old friends in the bus conductor days. Film Institutes has produced many talented actors in the past. During his days as a student the film Institute, Mr. K. Balachander, a director known for introducing talented, new actors into the tamil film industry, noticed this young aspirant actor..Balachander gave him a small role - as the no-good husband of Srividya - in Aboorva Raagangal and the rest, as they say, is history. Rajnikanth soon graduated to playing villains and his style, swagger and casually unique brand of villainy vowed the movie-going public. Be it the sadistic husband of Sujatha in Avargal or the wolf in sheep's clothing in Moondru Mudichu or the lust-filled village rowdy in Bharathiraja's 16 Vayadhinile, Rajnikanth was the villain actor the people loved to hate.
From here, it was a small step for Rajanikanth, playing the anti-hero and finally, the hero in Bhairavi. Rajnikant firmly captured the vacant, action-hero slot in tamil movies with a series of movies where the hero routinely bashed up the bad guys who had done him injustice in one way or the other. Once in a while he did movies like Aarulirundhu Arubadhu Varai or Johny which gave us glimpses of his acting potential. But action was what the fans expected from a Rajni movies and Rajani delivered action with out disappointing fans. Rajani has been superstar for the past 25 years.
A veteran of more than 150 films, Rajanikant, as is popularly known, may not be a critics’ choice. But he essentially is mass’ choice. Eventually mass adulation, the thunderous rain of applause when Rajni delivered his lines, all put together, made him a phenomenon in Tamil Film industry.
Rajani has played the role of a bus conductor in films also. Rajnikant's latest flick is Shivaji. Shivaji also showcases his enormous acting potential. Along with Rajanikant Shriya Saran and Nayanthara does the lead roles.
Personally Rajani is admired as kind, warm, friendly and affable and is the sort who deserve the superstardom. Rajani is also described as Periya Thalaivar (Big boss) in Tamil.Rajnikanth has decided to return money to the distributors of the film "Kuselan" as the film incurred huge loss. This trend of compensating distributors and theatre-owners was started by Mani Ratnam, when his film, Iruvar (1997) failed. Rajnikanth has earlier returned money to distributors when his film Baba failed.
