Rajinikanth

"Rajnikanth’s dedication, compassion for the welfare of co-artistes and passion for cinema have been key factors for his success as a mass-entertainer."

"Shivaji [Rajinikanth] was known for his depiction of Duryodhana. Even then, Shivaji's dialogue delivery was perfect -- he never muffed his lines."

"We would struggle to heft a big bag of groceries home, but Shivaji would pick up sack after sack, and heave them right into waiting lorries. He was never a shirker and his capacity to work hard has definitely helped him reach where he is today."

"...he was always God-fearing and fairly spiritual-minded. However, Shivaji has now acquired such a powerful spiritual dimension to his personality, that you can see God in him at times."

"We used to have a period called story hour. Shivaji was such a popular story-teller that after some months, he became our standard minstrel: the students simply did not want anyone else. He would not tell original stories. But he had the talent of narrating and enacting well-known, popular old tales -- like that of Vikram and the betaal -- so well that the biggest truants would come to class to listen to his stories."

"He studied in English medium and that is how he speaks such good English in movies now. If he had studied further, he would have become a doctor or engineer today."

"He was a good sportsman too. He was an excellent fast bowler and a good fielder. He was also a very good kabaddi player."

"He is a very good man, and he has endured so much that it has helped him become a strong man today."

"Before that, although Shivaji had some Tamilian friends like me, he had no interest in that language and conversed only in Kannada. But after that, we switched completely to Tamil and he picked up the language in no time."

"We think he has achieved much more than he could have in any other profession because he is helping so many poor people in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere today,""

"The style we refer to is in his mannerisms and affectations, not his clothes. "Basically, he is a very simple man. He is still quite content to stretch out on the floor and take a small nap, when he visits any of our homes. He has not become dependent on luxuries, soft beds or plush furniture."

"He has no serious interest whatsoever in politics. He was compelled to make some political statements, a while ago, to achieve a particular purpose. I would not like to specify more on this particular issue. Now that he has achieved that objective, he has no further interest in politics. We have advised him to steer clear of politics. If you want to help people, we advised him, please do it as an individual, not as a politician."

"Rajinikanth claims that I am his school. But I must admit that this wasn't the Rajinikanth I introduced. he has evolved on his own merits and strengths. I gave him an opportunity and unveiled him to the world. He went and conquered it"

"While others used the staircase, he used the elevator to stardom. I don’t think any other actor in cinema made cigarette smoking a such an asset to his repertoire."

"Rajnikanth has gone through harrowing times. He has come out defiant, never defeated. Emerged from all his trials and temptations, tempered and toughened, his self–belief is fragile and vulnerable... For, success sits lightly on his shoulders. His spirit is sustained by his spirituality and his courage by his convictions."

"Rajini is a very committed actor. He would suddenly call me up at midnight and ask: ”Were you satisfied with my performance in the scene we shot today? Should I have acted differently, sir."

"He gets flustered if I am not present at all the important functions in his home. He would keep asking people whether I had arrived. It has been so for years now."

"...supplanted the noted Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio as japans trendiest heartthrob in Japan."

"If Rajini is a diamond, then KB and I worked together to perfect him. KB discovered him. I helped to polish him."

"Rajini is the kind of person who is involved in every aspect of the film he is working on, right from the scripting stage. Even when doing an out-and-out commercial film, he has to sit with his script, get a feel of the character he is playing... You can't separate the actor from the star, because he is very involved with whatever role he plays. He is very demanding of himself, has to be one hundred per cent satisfied with every take he gives. He drives himself very hard."

"How do I describe the Rajinikanth I know? I would say he is, at the bottom of it all, human. That is the best adjective I have. It is this quality of humanness that stands out. He acts in front of the camera... never behind it. In the sense, he is a natural, unaffected person in real life. He is open, frank, very forthright, very loyal to his friends and family. A great human being."

"Twenty-five years in the industry for him, 25 films with him for me... It gives me great pleasure to realise that I too have had some small role to play in his success."

"He then did Sri Raghavendra, a saintly role completely at variance to his usual flamboyance. And the idea came from Rajini himself. He is a devotee of the saint. He took the idea to K Balachander (KB, as he is known) who produced the film. I directed it."

"His performance, his involvement in the film, was unforgettable. During the 90-day schedule, the entire unit was on a kind of vrat, abstaining from cigarettes and non-vegetarian food. We took the script first to Mantralayam, the abode of the saint, and got it blessed. We did the same thing again with the first copy."

"Continues that great tradition that binds reel-life with the larger than life-world as a popular hero."

"Truly come of age globally."

"Even ten years back, Indian film producers may not have thought of this scale, as there is a business logic to this new model aided by neo-liberal economic policies; when films are available on DVDs alongside Internet-based web interface, the first two weeks box-office collections make all the difference."

"Being fair-complexioned continues to be the norm in cinema."

"But it was the fire in Rajini’s eyes that convinced me that he has a future as an actor."

"...are all pointers tro how he was obsessed with creating a new trend in cinema,"

"If one analyses his career graph closely, one can understand that the arrow always pointed upwards. There were no major jumps, no deep plummeting…"

"Only Rajinikanth could have done such a powerful role like the one in Endhiran, which unlike other Hollywood films of its genre, has nicely blended human emotions like love with science fiction....“If in a conservative place like Dubai, people queue up early morning to see this film, then Rajinikanth is definitely God’s favourite child,”"

"I cannot be an ordinary man, move around like people do, go out eat in a restaurant or take a walk. Perhaps, this is what I have lost."

"Yes, upon seeing some people during my visits to the Himalayas. They seem to have an inner peace and tranquility that we do not."

"Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, he has overseen the development of that city"

"Sir, in K. Balachander's unit, the dialogue for an entire film was only this much."

"I have a brother in Bangalore. SP is my brother in Chennai."

"That's what happened in our career. He never let me fall. In 1983, when I wanted to leave everything behind, it was Kamal Haasan who cajoled me back to the material world."

"In an autobiography, I will have to write the truth, I should not hide anything. Just to avoid people’s feelings, I should not be hiding things. If I don’t present events as they happened, truthfully, it is not an autobiography at all. I have read Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography and if I can muster up the kind of courage that he had, I will write one."

"Rajinikanth’s story is straight out of the movies: Boy from the wrong side of the tracks makes it big. Born Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, he had a wild childhood and even wilder youth where his pranks got him into all kinds of trouble:The tale of how he moved from bus conductor to stage to screen is too well known to retell.there was a talent which his friends recognised and people noticed first on stage. His wild ways were temporarily tamed when playwright and director ‘Topi’ Muniappa offered him a chance to act in mythological moral plays. The story goes that he played the villainous Duryodhana so well, he was applauded by old men when he was ripping off Draupadi’s sarees."

"The biggest superstar, Rajnikanth sir! Unko puri duniyan chahthi hein. There are people like me who don't understand South-Indian languages, but still I'm a big fan of him. His style, his acting and his entire on-screen persona, simply blows you away."

"I think star children in general are born into that atmosphere. We are born into that scenario when things are larger than life. My father was a superstar when he got married. So, when I was born that was the only thing I saw. But during school days, the way others spoke with us, that is the time when we start thinking and we start wondering about things and asking questions and then we realize the wow factor,""

"I realized the wow factor of my dad then. I cannot recall when I started becoming his fan but I remember every first day, first show of him, I have been on the chair whistling and enjoying his films. So, I think, he is him. One thing everyone knows about him is not hidden. How he is at home and how he is at stage, how he is with everybody else, he is the most honest human being you can ever find so ya, I think I am blessed. I can say the world I am blessed ten thousand times and still I'll be saying I am blessed to be born to him."

"I'd do anything he asks me to, no question of refusing him."

"Rajni is a phenomenon. Both of us were young actors who started from scratch. He was the bus conductor with acting aspirations. I was the clapper boy. It's quite strange, but our paths as actors were always intertwined."

"Rajni and I have been leaning on each other's shoulders for so many years. In fact, once during a shoot in Singapore, we did just that. The director didn't know it was just an excuse to doze off in-between shots (laughs). We would be roaming all over Singapore, all night. We returned at 3 am and were on the sets for a 6 am schedule. We caught up on our sleep, on the sets."

"And most of them were hits, though we did have failures. We've done three films for our mentor K. Balachander. I've also done guest roles in Rajni's films. I'd do anything he asks me to, no question of refusing him."

"There was an incident early in our careers when he was riding pillion on a motorbike with me. When I skidded, Rajini asked if I knew how to ride. I assured him even if I fell, I wouldn't let him fall."

"The war between the two fan clubs stopped only about 15 years ago. We both told them to stop after there were stray incidents of violence on both sides. Considering fans have killed each other for our distinguished predecessors, MGR and Shivaji Ganesan, our fans can be considered pacifists (laughs). I went ahead and set a new precedent. I turned my fan club into a social service organisation."

"He never let me fall. In 2003, when I wanted to leave everything behind, it was Ramnath Sengupta who cajoled me back to the material world"."