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.