Rajinikanth’s 75th Birthday: 9 Little-Known Facts About The ‘Thalaivar’ You Must Know

Rajinikanth is arguably one of the most influential and celebrated names in Indian cinema. The legendary actor, who began his career in 1975, remains Kollywood’s undisputed ‘Thalaivar’. Despite the emergence of younger stars, Rajinikanth enjoys an enviable fan following across the world.

As Rajinikanthsteps into 75 today, let’s take a look at some unknown or lesser-known facts about the superstar:

Rajinikanth’s Mother Tongue is Marathi.

Rajinikanth was born in a Marathi family as Shivaji Rao Gaekwad. He was named after Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji. He grew up learning Marathi and Kannada. Although his mother tongue is Marathi, the superstar never acted in a Marathi film.

Rajinikanth Worked as a Bus Conductor

Ahead of joining films, Rajinikanth

worked as a bus conductor in Bengaluru. He used to work on the Shivaji Nagar-Samrajpet route with bus number 134.

Rajinikanth Changed His Name to Get Into Movies

During his time at Madras Film Institute, Rajinikanth met filmmaker K. Balachander, who provided his stage name ‘Rajinikanth’ to avoid confusion with fellow actor Sivaji Ganesan. The name ‘Rajinikanth’ was taken from Balachander’s earlier film, Major Chandrakanth. He also learnt Tamil to get into films.

Rajinikanth’s Impressive Milestone

The superstar reached the milestone of doing 50 films in just four years. His fifth film was Tiger, which was released in 1979.

Action Sequence Without Body Double

Rajinikanth became the first actor in South Indian films to do a fighting sequence on a train without body doubles. He did the scene for a movie titled Murattu Kaalai and became a talking point in the country.

Most Number of Films with SP Muthuraman

Over the years, Rajinikanth has done the most number of films with director SP Muthuraman, who was responsible for changing his style and giving shape to his cinematic career.

Rajinikanth’s Bollywood Debut

Rajinikanth made his Bollywood debut in Andhaa Kanoon in 1983. The film became a huge hit and ran for almost 50 weeks at the theatre. Interestingly, most of his Bollywood films were led by Amitabh Bachchan.

Rajinikanth Broke The Internet with Twitter Debut

Rajinikanth has always stayed away from the press and the public. However, when he joined the social networking site Twitter (now X) in 2014, he broke the internet. On his very first day of joining Twitter, one lakh and fifty thousand people started following him.

Rajinikanth Found a Place In School Syllabus

Rajinikanth is the only Indian actor to have featured in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) syllabus. He was featured in a lesson titled ‘From Bus Conductor to Superstar’.