Super Star's New Movie - "Robot"

Ayngaran International and Eros Multimedia have officially announced that superstar Rajnikanth, ace director Shankar, and music wizard A. R. Rahman are teaming up once again for their new film 'Robot'.

'Robot' is all set to become grand and entertaining film ever made i Indian cinema. The movie will be simultaneously produced in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and other languages. 'Robot' will have the state-of-the-art technology.

Eros International is an established global player in the fast-growing Indian media and entertainment arena. It has built a successful business model around the release of 30 new films every year and has film library containing more than 1,300 titles, making it one of the largest content owners in the business. Eros has the possession of the distribution rights for films including ‘Devdas’, ‘Om Shanti Om’, ‘Munna Bhai MBBS’, and ‘Partner’. Eros is now producing and co-producing around 70 films in Hindi with leading artists such as Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan.

Ayngaran has been the pioneers in Tamil Film Distribution in theatrical and home video formats in the International Market. The History of Ayngaran business dates back to 1987 when it had the vision to acquire the International Rights across formats of many Tamil films that became blockbusters.

The Ayngaran library has over 1500 films including ‘Sivaji’, "Padayappa’, ‘Chandramukhi’, ‘Mudhalvan’, ‘Indian’, ‘Jeans’, ‘Boys’, ‘Pokkiri’, ‘Gilli’, ‘Sivakasi’, ‘Kaathalukku Mariyadhai’, ‘Alaipayuthey’, ‘Kandukondain Kandukondain’, ‘Kannathil Muthamittal’ and ‘Billa 2007’ amongst others.

As far as 'Robot' is concerned, it is like a roller coaster ride for the movie, as Shankar has been contemplating with many names for his dream project. First it was said that Kamal Haasan would act in it. Then Vikram’s name surfaced. Post ‘Sivaji’, we heard that Hrithik Roshan would be the dream hero. Then came the name of Aamir Khan. Finally Shankar made an official announcement that it would be Shahrukh Khan, who would don the role in his most intimate project.

However, it came as a setback to the director when Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan had pulled out from the project. Some leading Tamil magazines speculated that Ajith would be roped in. but finally superstar has agreed to act in the movie and that puts an end to all speculations about the project.

Since the project would cost hundred crore rupees, it goes without saying that it needs a star like Rajini, who has incredible market value, to redeem the money and ensure profit for the investors.

Awards and Honours

Rajinikanth was named as one of the influential persons in South Asia by Asiaweek. He has won the Filmfare 21 Best Actor award and many other awards during his acting career.

Between 1977 and 2005 Rajinikanth received awards from several organizations, like Tamil Nadu State Government Award, Cinema Express, Filmfans Association, Filmfare etc., for his on-screen performances and off-screen contributions in writing and producing. He has received awards in the Best Actor category for his performance in the films Chandramukhi, Padayappa, Peddaryudu, Basha, Muthu, Annamalai, Thalapathy, Velaikaran, Sri Raghavendra, Nallavanakku Nallavan, Moondru Mugam, Egeyo Ketta Kural,Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai, Mullum Malarum and 16 Vayathinile. He received an award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Bhuvana Oru Kelvi Kuri. He has also received awards in Best Story Writer and Best Producer categories for Valli.

He has also received other honours such as Raj Kapoor Award (2007) from the Government of Maharastra, Padma Bhushan (2000) from Government of India, Kalaichelvam Award (1995) from the Nadigar Sangam, Oshobismit Award (1995) for Spirituality from Rajinish Ashram, MGR Award (1989) and Kalaimamani Award (1984) from the Government of Tamilnadu.
Recently (Sep 2007) rajini won the Best Actor award,given by the Government of Tamil Nadu for his role in the film Chandramukhi(2005).

Rajini in his personal life

Rajinikanth was born to a Maharastrian family in Karnataka. He was the fourth child of his parents, Jijabai and Ramojirao Gaekwad. He was named Shivajirao Gaekwad. Gaekwad is a family name. He lost his mother at the age of five. He did his schooling at the Acharya Paatshala in Bangalore and then at the Vivekananda Balak Sangh, a unit of the Ramakrishna Mission. Rajnikanth struggled a lot during his early age because of poverty. Although his mother-tongue is Marathi, he has not acted in any Marathiv movies yet.

He began his career doing various jobs in Banglore. He also attended a theatre for stage plays. Before starting his career in the film industry, he worked as a bus conductor for the Bangalore Transport Service in Bangalore It was during this time that he nurtured his acting interests by performing in various stage plays.

He married Latha on February 26, 1981, at the age of 31 in Tirumala - Tirupati and they have two children: Aishwarya and Soundarya. Latha currently runs a school named - The Ashram. His daughter Aishwarya married actor Dhanush on November 18, 2004 and they have one son, Yathra

Rajini's Career

Acting career

He joined the Madras Film institute in 1973 with the help of a friend and completed a basic course in acting.

1975-1979

Rajnikanth's first film was in Kannada, Katha Sangama directed by Puttanna Kanagal in the year 1976. In Tamil cinema he was initially cast in supporting roles, the first being that of a cancer patient in Apoorva Raagangal (1975), directed by K. Balachander. It was Balachander who assigned him his stage name Rajinikanth. Though Rajinikanth persistently refers to K. Balachander as his "guru" or mentor, it was director S. P. Muthuraman who actually revamped Rajinikanth’s image entirely. Muthuraman first experimented with him in a positive role in Bhuvana Oru Kelvikkuri (1977), as a villain in the first half and a do-gooder in the second, accepting a woman with a child abandoned by her lover.Around this time Mullum Malarum (1978), directed by J. Mahendran, established Rajinikanth on the Tamil film arena. The success of Bhuvana Oru Kelvikkuri prompted Muthuraman to make a mushy melodrama with Rajinikanth as a hero sacrificing everything for his siblings in Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai (1979). Even while the film was in the making, Rajinikanth had misgivings about whether the audience would accept him in tear jerkers of this kind. But its box-office success made Rajinikanth popular among women audience. These films were the turning points in Rajinikanth’s career — he changed from an actor who merely enthralled the audiences, to one who could also make them cry. The acceptance of Rajinikanth sans his mannerisms proved he had at last become an "star" from a "common actor." His film roles were mainly as a villain during the period 1975 to 1977, frequently with Kamal Hassan as the hero, in movies like Pathinaaru(16)Vayadhinilae and Avargal (both 1977).

1980-1989
At this crucial phase in his career when he was reaching dizzying heights, Rajinikanth abruptly chose to quit acting, but was coaxed back. As an answer to critics who were claiming that "Rajini was finished" came Billa, which was a remake of Amitabh Bachchan starrer Don. With its phenomenal success he was accepted as a full-fledged hero. Billa was followed by a row of hits like Murattukaalai,Pokkiri Raja, Thanikattu Raja, Naan Mahaan Alla and Moondru Mugam. K. Balachander’s first home production, Netrikan proved to be yet another milestone in Rajini’s career. . He even acted as himself alongside Meena, who was a child actor then, in the movie Anbulla Rajinikanth (1984). More box-office hits dominated the 80's with Padikkathavan, Thee, Velaikkaran, Dharmathin Thalaivan, Mr. Bharath, Maaveeran, few of them were re-makes of hit Bollywood Amitabh Bachchan starrers. In his 100th movie, Sri Raghavendra, he played the Hindu saint Raghavendra Swami.

1990 - To till date
Most of his movies during the nineties were also successful, like Mannan, Muthu, Baashha, Annamalai , Veera and Padayappa. Rajinikanth wrote his first screenplay for the film Valli (1993). His film Muthu was the first Tamil film to be dubbed into Japanese as Muthu: The Dancing Maharajah and became very popular in Japan. When he was 53, Baba released amidst much fanfare. Although the film grossed enough to cover its budget, it was viewed as one of the miserable movies in his career. It fell short of market expectations and high bids reportedly accumulating to heavy losses for the distributors. It is also rumoured that Rajinikanth repaid the losses incurred by the distributors who laid immense faith in him. His latest film, Sivaji: The Boss, directed by S. Shankar released on June 15, 2007, has become the first Tamil movie to make the UK and South Africa Top 10. Rajnikanth will now be lending his voice to the lead character (based on himself) in an animation film for Adlabs titled Sultan:The Warrior to be directed by his daughter Soundarya Rajinikanth. The movie is scheduled for a 2008 release.

Other work
Apart from acting in Tamil, Rajinikanth has acted in 173 movies, including Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi and Bengali. Rajinikanth made a foray into Bollywood with Andha Kanoon but couldn't make as much of an impact as he had in the south. He still made a few films in Hindi, like Chaalbaaz with Sridevi, 'Uttar Dakshin', Girafthar and Hum. He also had a brief stint in Hollywood with the movie Bloodstone in 1988. Sivaji The Boss was reported to be Rajinikanth's 100th Tamil movie.